Soldering and Electronics Workbench

This guide will provide you with an introduction to soldering. You may or may not have already some experience, but its always good to practice more.
Soldering is a work of art on its own and you can only master it by practicing a lot. Don’t wait to solder a day before a deadline, start early with soldering small projects. In this key guide we will solder some wires without electronics to get started.

We will cover in this guide:

• Introduction
• Tools in the Hatchlab
• Must read resources
• Key Guide

Introduction

• Be cautious when handling hot irons

Do’s

• Do leave a bit of solder on the tip when turning the station off. It’ll keep the tip from oxidising.
• Do wipe the tip frequently on the wet sponge and brass sponge found in the soldering iron workstand.

Don’ts

• DO NOT melt plastic or anything else with the iron
• DO NOT try removing the tip. Please approach a techniciain if there is a problem with the soldering iron.
• DO NOT leave the iron idling and powered on. It heats up in a matter of seconds - it’ll be instantly ready when you turn it on.
• DO NOT move the station from the shelf. The cable is long enough to handle it comfortably on the bench.

Through hole & SMD soldering
In this key guide, but also mostly what you will be working with, it through-hole soldering. Through hole soldering uses components with leads that goes into holes drilled in printed circuit boards or proto boards. In the consumables in the Hatchlab we have components with leads. This is great for prototyping and soldering most projects.
SMD stands for Surface Mount Soldering, where you solder components on the surface of the board. Sometimes these components are smaller and makes it easier to create small electronics boards. However, it is another level of soldering to master, and isn’t advised to start with. But when you have mastered soldering well, it might be interesting to research this further.

Solid core and multi-stranded wire
We have two different types of wire in the Hatchlab.
Stranded wire is much more flexible than solid wire of equal size. For this reason, stranded wire is used when the wire needs to move around frequently, in a robot arm for example. Conversely, solid wire is used when little or no movement is needed, such as prototyping circuits on a breadboard. Using solid core wire makes it easy to push the wire into a breadboard. Trying to use stranded wire on a breadboard can be very difficult, as the strands want to separate as they are pressed in. (Information form the this Sparkfun tutorial)

More information on this, wire thickness, strip a wire and how to crimp can be found in this Sparkfun tutorial

Tools in the Hatchlab

We have some ready work stations set up with tool board and soldering iron. There are some additional kits on top of the shelves. Please keep things tidy and organized.

1. Power Supply

• Supplies constant voltage and current which you can use to test and power your projects
• Datasheet

• Diagonal Cutters
  • Cuts small amounts of electrical wire
• Needle Nose Pliers
  • Bends and grips electrical wire
• Bent Nose Pliers
  • Bends and grips electrical wire. The bent tips allow easier access to hard to reach parts of your circuit/ electronics.
• Desoldering Pump
  • Removes solder
• Multimeter
  • Measures voltage, current, resistance and continuity
• Wire Strippers
  • Removes the protective plastic coating of electrical wire
• Soldering Station Power Supply
  • Supplies power and regulates fixed temperature of soldering iron
• Soldering Iron in Workstand
  • Melts solder and operates between 300 - 470 C
  • Soldering irons sits safely in workstand when on but not in use
  • Sponge (when wet) and the brass sponge clean corrosion off the soldering iron tip
• Fume Extractor
  • Extracts fumes generated when soldering
  • Read more about why it is important here
• Wash Bottle with Water
  • Used with the sponge
• Third Hand
  • Used to hold wire/ circuit board/ generally make soldering easier
• Soldering mat
  • Highly temperature resistant, essential for when we are working with solder/ soldering irons

Must read resources

• read this through hole soldering guide on Sparkfun
• Watch this video from Sparkfun
• Watch this video from Make on soldering
• Watch this video by Make on Multimeters, their other videos are great too!
• Read this guide on using a multimeter from Sparkfun

There are many resources and videos to be found online, feel free to check others to get a better understanding.

Key Guide

To go through this guide you must have read through/ watched all the must read resources above. We will create a little key chain made from proto board, solder and different coloured electrical wire. The wires must be connected at all points and we will use the multimeter to test the continuity of the connection. Solid core wire is easier for creating connections across the board.

• The keychain should include your initials using different coloured wire

• There must be a connection between all wires. This does not mean soldering each wire to every other wire.

What you will need:

• Everything listed and photographed in the Tools in the Hatchlab section
• Everything pictured below:
  • Small proto board not strip board
    • If there are only big pieces then cut the board down to a smaller size using the Scroll Saw (or ask a technician if you are not comfortable doing this)
  • Solder
  • Different coloured solid core wire
• Water to wet the sponge of the soldering iron workstand.

Creating your keychain

1. Wet the sponge in the soldering iron workstand using a wash bottle (you are less likely to spill the water if you use a wash bottle). A dry sponge will damage the tip. Use the wet sponge and brass sponge to clean the soldering iron tip between connections.

2. Cut wire down to size.

3. Strip wire at each end.

4. Place the wire through the perfboard with the plastic coated wire NOT on copper-plated side.

5. Solder the wire to the associated copper pad. Consider the quality of your solder connections (between the wire and the proto board). The illustration pictured below goes through some Do/Don’t practices that help with creating quality connections. The solder we use contains flux so don’t worry about adding flux manually. Go here for more information about flux.

6. Repeat step 1,2 & 3 with a new piece of wire. When cutting the wire ensure that one of the stripped sides of wire will be able to reach one of our existing connections. Don’t directly copy this design - start placing your wires to spell your initials.

7. Repeat step 4.

8. Bend one of the stripped wires over to reach the other copper pad. This is how we will create the connection. Use the pliers to help position the wire.

9. Melt the solder to create a connection between the two wires. Add more solder if needed.

10. Test the connection between the wires after every time you solder a new point using the continuity mode on the multimeter. This is good practice and will save you hassle in the future. (This can be seen in the photograph below)

11. Repeat all steps adding new wires until you have a continuous connection and the front design is finished.

12. Leave your soldering iron with a little bit of solder on it (tin the soldering iron before putting it away)! It protects the iron from oxidation. For more information on Soldering Iron maintenance look at this instructables guide.

Once you are finished please assess the result with a lab technician.