Soldering 101 for Recording Studios
Part 1: Getting Started
by Dan Richards

With a little practice and patience, soldering can become an empowering skill, resulting in more control over your recording environment. Soldering can actually be fun and even meditative. You know you've done the work and can personally control the quality. Take care of simple repairs yourself. Make custom-length cabling for your studio/system. Make cables/snakes with custom connectors specifically for your system. Give you a better understanding of the signal flow in your studio. Save money.

The Basic Tools

Solder iron [Radio Shack or Weller is up to you.] 40W standard solder iron will do the job.

Soldering stand with spong

Thin rosin-core from .050 to .062 diameter solder wire

Flat 1" thick unfinished wood board approx 1' X 2' for work surface.

Wire cutter (diagonal)

Needle-nose pliers

Wire stripper (self-adjusting recommended)

Options would also include heat-shrink tubing, heat gun ( a lighter works, too, if you're careful ), stand with alligator clips ( AKA "Extra Hands"), solder sucker, Tip Tinner and Cleaner.

Soldering Cautions!

Never ever use acid-core solder for electronics.

Solder contains lead. Area should be well ventilated.

Keep the soldering iron tip clean. [use a wet spong ]

Don't try to "paint" the solder on with the tip of the solder iron.

Liquid solder as well as the solder iron are hot enough to seriously burn you and damage property. Stay alert!

If you're learning to solder for the first time, practice on something you don't care if you goof up – like a busted guitar cable.

Tip Tinner & Cleaner will prevent oxide build up and depletion of tin on the tip, prolong tip life, and allow for better heat transfer.


Links to Online How-To Solder Guides

Soldering Basics - highly recommended

Soldering tips

Better Soldering - highly recommended

How to Solder Electronics MPEG Videos!

Soldering Tips

Soldering tips for y'all Tape Op BBS

Soldering

Soldering Basics - recommended

Soldering Basics - recommended, extensive

How to solder - pics

Soldering tips for the novice

Solder types

Solder Alloy Chart - recommended


Links to Soldering Tools

Weller soldering irons

Cooper Tools Soldering Station WLC100

Weller Soldering Stand

Radio Shack Solder Tools & Tips

Radio Shack "Extra Hands" with magnifier

DIY Soldering Station

Weller Soldering Stand

DIY Soldering Stand - smart!

DIY Soldering Station

"Extra Hands" Clip Stand – cheap!


----------------
Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

[This message was edited by Dot on 09-06-03 at 08:00 AM.]

WOW!!

What a great way to start out the new forum!
You rock, Dot!

-tkr

______________________________
'Cause I don't wanna read the book, I'll watch the movie.

more claps

It's tough to be a good solder guy these days. Thanx for the info Dot

Soldering 101 for Recording Studios
Part 2: Adventures in shopping for The Basic Tools
by Dan Richards

In "Part 1: Getting Started" of this series on Soldering 101, I outlined some Basic Tools and certain cautions for the neophyte. Next comes actually gathering your soldering station together. I took a shopping trip today to assemble what I'd listed as needed and thought my experience had some lessons learned enough to make the adventure part of this series. I've recently relocated and hadn't done soldering at home before, but I've got some serious wiring coming up in the near future, so rounding up the Basic Tools was in order.

Home Depot – Strike 1
I started my trip early, at 7:30am thinking surely the nearby Home Depot would have everything I needed. Fact: They had nearly nothing needed. They did have a 25W Pencil-Tipped Weller Solder Iron. All of their available solder wire was lead-free and most of it was acid-core. The one or two spools of rosin-core wire was much too heavy and still lead-free.

Lowe's - Strike 2
While I was feeling underwhelmed at the lack of solder paraphenalia in Home Depot, the thought came to me that surely the Lowe's just down the highway would come through for me in my search. I arrived at Lowe's at 8:00. After entering their Tool World with the assistance of an enthusiastic employee, I discovered that the selection of soldering tools was slim at best. A few irons, but no soldering stations or wire in sight. Turns out the wire was over in plumbing. Once over in plumbing I found mostly acid-core, all lead free and mostly very large gauge. This was the place to get what you needed to fix a patio chair but not wire up a recording studio.

I did go back to Tool World in Lowe's and looked through their "solder department" again. I finally settled on a Lenk model L40K 40 W Soldering Iron Kit with three interchangeable tips ( pointed, chisel, and fine) for $14.99. The package and the name Lenk struck me as possibly being German. It looked solid enough and had everything I needed. Turns out Wall Lenk Corporation is headquartered in Kingston, NC. My new Lenk L40K is Made In The USA. Good enough. And since I ws in Tool World I grabbed a pair of Task Force brand 5" mini needle nose pliers $3.98. I already had the wire stripper and the diagonal wire cutters.

I asked the man that helped me at Lowe's if he knew of any electronics shops in the area. He said there was a Radio Shack at the mall. Oh, no, not Radio Shack. I hate going to Radio Shack. And it was 8:15am. The man at Lowe's said Radio Shack would be open at 9:00am. I arrived at the mall and dodged and weaved around the mall walkers and arrived at the Radio Shack and looked at the sign on the front window: Hours: 10am - 8pm. Yippee.

I went to a diner and had breakfast, read a newspaper and for some strange reason went into a service station and bought a small Phillies Blunt Cognac cigar for 89¢. I'd never bought one before. The anxiety of the hunt, maybe.

Radio Shack - Home Run
I got to Radio Shack at 9:45am and the doors were open. I walked in an a nice young woman approached me and asked me if she could help me. After describing what I needed, she led me to the back corner of the store – to the "soldering section". Things were looking up. There was a Soldering Iron Holder/Cleaner $6.99. Bingo. How about wire? She pointed to the bottom of the "soldering section" and lo and behold, there was a huge selection of all kinds of solder wire. I stooped down and looked the labels on the spools – lots of 40/60. Lead! On closer examination, they hardly carried any lead-free solder wire at all. On the other hand, none of their very cheap-looking solder irons looked like anything I wanted to buy. Good I'd already grabbed the Lenk. Lots of rosin-core solder in different alloy ratios and diameters. I finally settled on High-Tech Rosin-Core Solder .050 diameter in a 1.5 oz spool for $2.99. Things were defintely looking up. I decided to push my luck and asked the sales lady if they had something called, Helping Hands. She didn't recognize the name. But when I held my arms up like a spastic crab and moved my hands like you do when you make dog shadows on the wall and said to her, "Oh, it's this little holder with these alligator clips on themm to hold wire while you solder" – then I saw her face light up. She lead me around the corner to what looked like it must have been called the "miscellaneous section, and there they were, Helping Hands with magnifying glass for $10.89. I went back to the "soldering section" to have a closer look to see if they actually had tip tinner. Score! Tip Tinner & Cleaner $5.99.

Home Depot Revisited
On the drive back home I stopped by Home Depot to get the "Flat 1" thick unfinished wood board approx 1' X 2' for work surface" I'd listed in the Basic Tools. Over the years of working in studios and even a stint at International Robotics in NYC where I worked on Robot Sico, I've found that a good, solid board of those dimensions is perfect as a workspace for a solder station. I also use the back of the board as a buffer layer when using a drill. I went in to Home Depot and was asked by a salesman if he could help me. I said I was looking for a one inch thick and one foot by two feet solid pine board. I asked if they might have any scraps. He said they didn't carry scrap lumber there. I said, "But don't people get boards cut here..." I wasn't getting through to him. He led me over to a section that had all these panels of pressed boards. I knew exactly what I wanted and nothing he was showing me was anything close. All the wood was rough and splintery. I told him I was going to set a soldering station on it, so my hands would be making a lot of contact with the wood, and that I wanted a solid pine board. I didn't seem to be registering with him. For those of you familar with Doctor Slang, this guy was LOBNH, code for Lights On But Nobody Home.


He wandered over to someone else and I wandered around the corner, and not ten feet from where I'd just been with the salesman were three huge stacks of solid pine shelves! Well, these were boards – and they measured one inch thick and one foot by three feet. Exactly what I was looking for – just take off a foot. I rubbed my hands over a few of the shelves and they were baby-butt smooth. I went through one of the stacks and found one that had interesting knot patterns, and with an intuitive shamanistic third-eye sort of perception, I could "feel" I had found just the right board. The stack of solid pine shelves was right next to the big circular saw they have in the lumber department. The saw that sits right under the sign that say they don't do precise cuts. I thought, "Well, they're going to cut this board at precisely one foot – no more and no less – and I am going to walk out of there with my one inch thick and one foot by two feet solid pine board. A sales lady was walking by and I asked her if there was someone who could cut the board for me. I told her what I wanted, she measured the board, put on some protective glasses and fired up the saw and gave me a precisely cut one inch thick and one foot by two feet solid pine board. Cut was free, board cost $4.19.

And after all my hard work and running around, I am now the proud owner of a nice little solder station – total cost around $54.00.

If you've taken the time to read through this, you, too, might be needing to round up your own solder station – and because of that I wish you luck and hope you may have learned some things from my adventure! Stay tuned for more Soldering 101.




Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

[This message was edited by Dot on 09-06-03 at 07:50 AM.]

This is beautiful!! I think I'm going to retrace your steps on Monday.

Thanks Dan

Jason A.

A couple of things I'll toss in...

Tip # 1:
If you end up building something major or just do a lot of soldering, do yourself a big favor and get a good Weller that used the tips that control the temperature. That is, a tip with a "7" on the bottom is 700 degrees, an "8" on the bottom is 800 degrees, etc... I'm not sure why but soldering is just so much easier with one of these. Probably because they cost more - around $130. Again, if you're just doing occasional "fix-ups" the cost probably isn't justified.

Tip # 2:
They make solder with water soluble flux, so you can clean the flux off the board just using a brush and water. I've used it for years and it works great! You can get it at Digi-Key and it doesn't cost any more than any other type. The Digi-Key part # is KE1300-ND and it's made by Kester. The Kester part # is 24-6337-6403.

This is a great start.

Not long ago, inspired by what I saw over at RO, I broke down and bought the adjustable temp weller soldering station. When I buy my board, I will go a little larger, as I like to spread out a little, and becuase I make a larger mess than others.

Here are some more notes on soldering.

1) Clean is king. Every connection you make should be as free of dust, dirt, finger oils, chocolate pudding or anything else as possible.

2) Make a good physical connection. Wires and terminals should be crimped slightly to make a connection that is basically free of movement whenever possible.

3) Heat the connection, not the solder. Hold the iron at the point on the connection where you are applying heat to both parts that are being joined. Then, add solder to the area where the iron and the connection are making contact, and let the solder melt at that point and flow around the end of the iron tip and the connection. Don't jiggle the connection as you move the tip away after applying the solder, or you can end up with a gray, non-glossy joint instead of a nice shiny one. If it's gray and dull, do the job again. At its worst, a gray joint is a "cold solder" joint, which can mean high resistance or even worse, a "diode" effect. Bad thing!!

4) Clean the tip regularly on the damp sponge. You're removing oxides that inhibit good flow and bonding charateristics of the solder. The tip should aways be clean and shiny as you begin a solder process, with a little bit of solder coating the end of the tip. This is called a "tinned iron".

5) Many compontents don't like heat, so use a hemostat or other similar device to prevent the heat of soldering from taking an op amp and turning it into an inop amp. Sockets for delicate components are good, since you can solder the socket into the board and then push the component into the socket with no heat exposure at all.

6) When you are done soldering, unplug the thing. Someone is sure to walk by, maybe even you, and knock the whole thing to the floor. A cool iron hurts less if it falls into your lap. ouch.

I never call myself an expert in this area because I know people who ARE experts. I have built kits and repaired TV's, and I built two studios, one a recording studio in 1973, and a new broadcast studio (along with a chief engineer and three other cabinet builders) in 1983.

I want to learn more about all this "vintage" stuff people talk about, and why I might want to assemble $800 in parts in order to have this stuff in my signal chain.

I hope this helps those who have never joined two components in electrical matrimony.

"Wait a minute. Tom flys Britney Spears and I'm flying Madelaine Albright?"

This is great! I was looking for info about making my own cables. Now who can recommend good places to buy bulk high quality cables and connectors? Thanks.

Larry

http://www.cdbaby.com/fragilistic

Jason just mentioned this place. It might help.

http://store.haveinc.com/Ebus30/Default.asp

"Wait a minute. Tom flys Britney Spears and I'm flying Madelaine Albright?"

Thanks Dan! Lots of good info.

Later,

Joel

I've had a much easier time with my Weller than with any Radio Shack iron I've ever used. Also, if you have a Fry's Electronics in your vicinity, they should be good for a lot of the basics.

Bear