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Old 23-02-2009
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josh_smaxx josh_smaxx is offline
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Default Soldering guide

I was just looking through some of my old, backed up documents (for a bit of nostalgia, yeah) and found this that i wrote a few years ago, might come in useful for someone out there.

Then again i might of already posted it a while ago, who knows...

Quote:
Soldering guide for beginners - part 1

This guide should answer any question you have about soldering in the RC hobby, it will serve as a step by step guide to solder and walk through all the equipment needed to solder properly.

Safety
This isn’t the safest part of the hobby by all means, it involves melting solder at over 400° into a liquid and applying it to batteries (in some cases) that with excessive heat can vent harmful gasses and chemicals and in some extreme cases, explode. But don’t let this put you off, if take all necessary safety precautions specified in the products and don’t do anything silly then nothing should go wrong, if finding you are unable to apply solder to cells in less than 10 seconds, or solder them together, then cease heating and leave cells to cool down or it could be dangerous. For best safety in the work area it would be a good idea to purchase a soldering mat, a heat proof mat the solder, the soldering iron or your work piece will not be able to burnt through, these can be picked up very cheaply (like £5) from B&Q, in the plumbing section.

Equipment
The first thing you will need is a soldering iron, naturally. The best types of soldering irons are LCD soldering stations, although the most expensive, will last the longest and have controllable temperature so they can safely be used for every job, these can be picked up for around £50 from maplins (at time of writing): http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...9133&doy=21m12
For soldering battery packs or other large jobs then an 80W+ iron is ESSENTIAL, I personally use the weller 80W iron with 9.5mm chisel tip, this can be bought for around £20.
Next on the list is good quality solder, 60/40 solder with flux does the job, but for the best power flow I recommend silver solder with a flux core, like that from maplins: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...=34965&doy=3m7
Next up is a desoldering pump for when things go wrong, it is basically a plunger which you place on the melted solder that you don’t want, press the button and the spring pushes the piston up and sucks the melted solder inside. They can be picked up for £10 from maplins (at time of writing): http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...=97040&doy=3m7
After this all we need it specific tools, apart from the odd pair of pliers and some wires strippers. If making your own battery packs, which a lot of people do as it works out a lot cheaper, then it is very beneficial to use a battery jig, these come in sizes of 6 cells and some of the better ones even have a little arm to hold the battery bars in place to avoid burnt fingers. The best one on the market at the moment will be the ‘Deans speed jig’ which can be purchased for as little as £14 from respectable online hobby shops (at time of writing): http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/prod...421&tamiya=258
Other things you may need is a ‘third hand’ which is a stand with two arms coming off and two croc clips on so you can hold things while using the iron and not burning the kitchen table. Also you will need is varying sizes of heat shrink tubing, this can be purchased from maplins in a varerity of different sizes. Soldering flux can be used but I choose not to as it is corrosive and most modern solders com with a flux core anyway.

Process
When soldering the most important thing is to have the iron up to full temperature required for that piece of work, to start with we will solder 2 pieces of wire together. For this we will need our soldering iron, solder, a pair of pliers and possibly the third hand tool if available, heat shrink is also needed.
First thing to do is to plug in the iron and leave it to heat up, while heating up, wet the supplied sponge (if not supplied one will need to be purchased or a washing up sponge will do), leave this to drip till no longer dripping, this is the best wetness. When the iron reaches the desired temperature (around 300°) then apply a little solder to the tip of the iron, make sure this is just a slight coating, if it appears on the iron tip in a little bead then the iron is not hot enough yet, or if it is a blob you have applied to much solder, wipe it on the sponge and try again. After ‘tinning’ the iron tip, wipe it on the sponge and tin again. Now take your two pieces of wire, strip of about 5mm of coating off the end and twist the strands tightly together. Once you have done this take your tinned soldering iron, touch the stripped end of the wire and start applying solder, apply enough solder so that the end of the wire is coated, but not in a blob, this is tinning the wire. Remember to clean the tip on the sponge every time you use the iron. Repeat this with the end of the other wire. To solder them together you need one wire securely held down (put reel of solder on top of it maybe) and the other needs to be held with pliers (till your fast enough to hold it and not burn your fingers). Tin the iron again, hold the wire in pliers in your left hand and have the soldering iron in your right hand, push the two tips of the wire together and heat up with the iron applying small amounts of pressure, if the wires were tinned enough then they should be no need to apply any more solder. Once the wires have appeared to have been fused together then remover the iron and let cool down naturally, do not blow on the joint, this could create a ‘dry’ joint which is a dull grey colour and doesn’t allow optimum power flow. If these wires are attached to something then before soldering it is wise to pop about 15mm of heat shrink over the end of one, so once soldered you can cover the bare joint with the heat shrink.
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Old 23-02-2009
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Part 2

Quote:
Soldering guide for begginers - part 2

Soldering Deans connectors
Deans are regarded as one of the hardest connectors to solder because of the small size, don’t let this put you off, with this guide they are fairly easy. The key to having well soldered Deans that perform well is speed, putting to much heat into them will deform the casing and you will loose pressure on the connection inside, thus loosing performance from the cells. Use the highest heat setting so you can melt the solder as quickly as possible. Take a small pair of pliers, place the connector in the pliers so the soldering contacts are coming out of the top, wrap an elastic band around the pliers to hold the connector in. To tin the connector, place the tinned iron tip on the soldering contact and apply about 8mm of solder, this should evenly cover the contact area, this should only take around 2-3 seconds. Repeat for other contact. Next take your tinned wire end, place about 10mm of heat shrink tubing over the end, relevant to the colour of the wire. Place the pliers with the connectors in on a brick or block of wood around 3” high and put the reel of solder on top of it to stop the pliers moving. Holding the wire with the pliers again place the tinned end on the tinned solder contact and heat from underneath with the iron, the wire and tinned contact should appear to melt together, once fused remove the iron and leave to cool, this should take around 2-3 seconds again. Once cooled, pull heat shrink tubing up and heat with a cigarette lighter for about 2 seconds till completely shrank over the connection. Repeat for the other contact.

Soldering corally connectors
Corally connectors are one of the most widely used ways of connecting battery packs to the ESC as they have an incredibly low electrical resistance and are easy to use. First thing when soldering a male corally is to make sure it is held securely, the best way to do this is holding it in a pair of pliers held shut or in a vice. Most corally connectors have 2 holes at the wire end, one going into the connector from the back and one into the side, use one of these holes to feed in solder till it is well tinned inside. Now insert the tinned wire into a hole of your choice, melt more solder through the other hole till its filled with solder and the wire is embedded in it inside the hole. Now pull shrink wrap over the hole to cover the bare joint and that’s all there is to it. For the female connectors going onto the battery pack the best way is to tin the cell/tab, the hold the tube (female connector) onto it and heat from side (or underneath if using tabs). This way should hold the tube onto the cell with a very good connection. If you are finding it difficult to get the tube to stick to the cell/tab then you can roughen up the outside of the tube to give the solder a better surface to stick to, this may not be necessary though.

Soldering cells together
Soldering your own battery packs together takes skill, practice and speed. It is by far the hardest thing to solder but once mastered can be extremely cost effective, I recommend nipping down to your local club and asking around if anyone has any old, ruined cells you can practice on, because there’s no point burning out those brand new matched IB4200 World Champion edition cells. Use the highest heat setting, 60W will be adequate but a lot of people tend to go for the more powerful 80W+ irons. First thing to do to prepare the cells will be to take a file, or even better a dremel with sanding disc on, and rough up each end of the cell so the solder has something to stick to. Once you have done this you will have to tin each end of the cells, for this you will need a 8mm or bigger chisel tip for your soldering iron. Start by tinning the tip, then place tip on the cells and apply about 12mm of solder and move it around the cell to form a thin layer on top, this should take around 3-4 seconds maximum. Then place all the cells in the assembly jig, make sure all the labels are facing up to make for a neat looking battery pack and that they are opposite polarities at each end (-+-+-+, not ++++++ or ------). Place the battery connection bar (gold plated bars are the best, but practice on cheap nickel bars) across the two cells you want to solder together, next apply the iron tip to one end of the bar and apply around 12mm more solder so it flows into the solder underneath, it will appear that the bar has melted into the cell, this should take around 3-4 seconds maximum to complete. Repeat this for the rest of the bars. Once the cells have cooled you can solder on the wires for the connection if not using corallies, the red wire being the positive will go onto the smallest button on the cell, if the cell does not have the + and – markings on. Tin the wire the same way and then apply it to the tinned cell with the iron and the wire will appear to melt in the cell, this, again, should take around 3 seconds maximum. Repeat with the other wire. If using corallies and tabs then solder the tab on in much the same way as you would a connecting bar, the tab is like a bent connecting bar going up the cell and bending over at the top to allow a good surface to solder wires or tube connectors on.

Conclusion
Thank you for reading this guide, I dearly hope that it will help you on your ways and that soldering will never haunt you again, and remember this, a good quality soldering iron will improve your soldering, it worked wonders for me. If you are a beginner at soldering then I'd suggest you stay away from gas-powered irons; they can be dangerous if used incorrectly, and are only for experienced users. Tips on gas irons also tend to "wear out" more quickly than on their electric counterparts.
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