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PostPosted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:39 am 
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I prefer to leave the leads at full length when soldering. The leads act as a heat sink and help to draw some of the heat away from the actual component.

I've been soldering for over 40 years and my dad who is going to be 80 soon has been soldering for a lot longer. I told him about the "cracking solder joints" thing and he agrees with me. That is the biggest load of horse crap he has heard.

I've changed my mind regarding the Hershey kiss look of a solder joint. If these were single sided PCBs without plated thru-holes it would stand. Soldering a dual sided PCB with plated thru-holes is a bit different. It's possible to get a "kiss" look and still have a poor solder joint. As long as your solder joint has a cone shape to it (even if it's after the solder has flowed thru the hole and the cone shape is now on the component side of the PCB) you should be good to go.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:21 am 
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I was populating a PCB recently and noticed that solder would often flow on the trace away from the hole. Is this poor soldering technique, or is something else going on?


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:44 am 
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Stephen wrote:
I've been soldering for over 40 years and my dad who is going to be 80 soon has been soldering for a lot longer. I told him about the "cracking solder joints" thing and he agrees with me. That is the biggest load of horse crap he has heard.


I've always clipped the leads after soldering, because that's how I was taught to do it. And for our purposes (guitar effects), I think this is fine.

HOWEVER - clipping the leads before soldering is not unheard of. Some Mil specs require it. Clipping the leads after soldering can cause micro-cracks (invisible to the naked eye), and these cracks can grow over time and under extreme conditions. Not a big deal for an effects pedal, but a very big deal in, say, a nuclear submarine.

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It's now ok..........but i feel like it's not completely hard yet.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:49 pm 
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I noticed that there are a few different kinds of perf board. In reference to what I will be using with a BYOC kit which should I be using?

I purchased a sheet of perf board that doesn't have any metal or etching on it and it is nearly impossible to solder too. Is this different to what I will be using on the kits or should I be looking for perf board with soldering pads. The one I picked up didn't have soldering pads as it is just perf board.

I bought about 25 cheap diodes and I am trying to practice before my kit arrives.

Thank you!


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 5:40 am 
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buskers. wrote:
I noticed that there are a few different kinds of perf board. In reference to what I will be using with a BYOC kit which should I be using?

I purchased a sheet of perf board that doesn't have any metal or etching on it and it is nearly impossible to solder too. Is this different to what I will be using on the kits or should I be looking for perf board with soldering pads. The one I picked up didn't have soldering pads as it is just perf board.

I bought about 25 cheap diodes and I am trying to practice before my kit arrives.

Thank you!


If you want to practice soldering components to boards, look for "pad-per-hole" perfboard. It sounds like you got the "no-pad" type, which I suppose has a purpose - but you won't be able to solder to the board with that.

I think it's a great idea to practice your soldering skills before diving in to a kit. Good luck!

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It's now ok..........but i feel like it's not completely hard yet.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:43 am 
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Duh, that makes sense.

Thank you for your input. I was going to say, I was able to solder to the diodes but not to the board! Ha, I am excited to learn this stuff.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:16 pm 
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Thank you Steve for so much great information I bought a cheap iron with learn-to-solder kit and a couple other beginner kits over the holidays and ordered my first BYOC kits today. One if the beginner kits was a duplicate of the one with the iron and I considered sending it back, but after reading this guide I'm going to build the second, and do it right. I also ordered a little better iron, as mine definitely takes more than a few seconds to make a junction even when well tinned. I'm sure I'll be re-reading this often.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:19 am 
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Amazing thread. Thanks for all the wonderful tips/information. I love the use of the heat-sink tubing. Makes everything very professional. I'm going to try this sometime.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:04 pm 
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I have done some basic soldering on my guitars and guitar builds. After reading all the above I never saw where a heat sink is needed. I had always heard the Diodes. Transistors and Caps under 1uf can be damaged my heat. I was just interested in your thoughts on this subject.
Thanks in advance for anyone that care to respond.
-Steve


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:55 pm 
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verticleman wrote:
I have done some basic soldering on my guitars and guitar builds. After reading all the above I never saw where a heat sink is needed. I had always heard the Diodes. Transistors and Caps under 1uf can be damaged my heat. I was just interested in your thoughts on this subject.
Thanks in advance for anyone that care to respond.
-Steve


40 pedals in and I've yet to use one and have not burned up one tranny or any other part. Now, with IC's you socket or you would kill those with heat.

There really is no need for a heat sink IMHO. As long you don't lay that iron on there for 20 seconds while soldering but then if you do that your lifted traces will be a much bigger headache than a dead component.

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warm places theory sounds plausible. Occasionally, I wake up and think my snake is missing too, but it turns out it's just a chilly morning. :P


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 2:20 pm 
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If I were soldering an expensive germanium tranny, I'd break out my old heat sinks, simply because those parts are expensive, and why not take a little precaution? Other than that, yeah, just try to get in and out real quick with the iron.

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It's now ok..........but i feel like it's not completely hard yet.


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 5:20 pm 
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Thanks so muck for this,it's super helpful. I ordered an optical compressor,and while I'm waiting,I rewired the input jack on 1 bass and installed a 500k potentiometer in another using these great soldering tips. Hopefull my kit will be here before thanksgiving so I'll have another project over the holiday! :D

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:00 am 
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Amazing thread thanks a lot for all the work you put into that to share your knowledge. Great work


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PostPosted: Sat May 03, 2014 5:13 pm 
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This thread has been so helpful. Thank you for taking the time to document the process and for answering questions. :D


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:09 am 
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Thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed howto. this will be a great help on my first build.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:54 am 
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i know this is an old thread but this is amazingly helpful. just wanted to say thanks. I just recently finished my first build and the pedal works great but I wish I had read this first to help out. especially the part about using some needle nose pliers to bend the component leads and tinning wires before putting them into the lugs. for the wires i have been twisting them to prevent them going all over the place. cant wait to use these tips on my next pedal for a much cleaner build :mrgreen:


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:31 pm 
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^^^^^


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:00 am 
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I have not taken the leap into the building process yet but WOW! this is full of amazing information.


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:02 am 
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Hans914 wrote:
I have not taken the leap into the building process yet but WOW! this is full of amazing information.
I did extensive research before building. I looked at this and support threads to see what the common problems were. About 95% came down to bad soldering.


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