Thermal Performance - less chance of damaging contacts?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: dman777
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2020, 09:20:59 pm
content: I am new to soldering.... at least doing it correctly with decent equipment. In the past, I would just use a cheap soldering iron. There were many times where I could not get the solder to melt so I would have to hold the solder iron longer and sometimes I would burn the contact on the circuit board.Now I that I have a good job in life I would like to buy a nice soldering iron. I watched one of the reviews on youtube from EEVblog and the person mentioned thermal performance. Meaning, with a nice soldering station like JBC CD-B station, I can use the lowest temp. to get solder to melt in the least amount of time. This means I have less chance of damaging contact points. Am I understanding that correctly? If so, wouldn't that make a expensive machine like the JBC CD-B station worth it even if it's just for hobbyist purposes?

author: Jwillis
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2020, 11:24:31 pm
content: Although temperature is an important factor in a soldering iron , watts is the ability for a soldering iron to sustain that temperature. To low watts and the iron cools to much when applied to the material being soldered and takes time to heat the material back to the welding temperature. This can cause the components to heat excessively for extended periods of time.The higher the watts the the better the temperature can be sustained the faster the weld without transferring excessive heat into the component . For many years 60W has been good enough. As components get smaller the dangers of transferring excessive into components becomes more apparent. Many iron stations are 70W to as high as 150W. This allows a faster weld because the heat remains more localized at the point of contact without the transfer of excessive heat into the component.Some will try to offset the temperature drift by turning up the heat but that can have draw backs as well. To high a temperature accelerates the oxidation of the solder which can create failed welds. It can also boil off the flux to fast which can also prevent a proper weld.So regardless what station you purchase look for the most watts for your money .

author: dman777
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 04:44:29 am
content: On my original Xbox motherboard there are these tiny holes in the pcb board filled with solder.... they used to call them points. So I might need to solder a wire to that point.... I would hold the solder iron on that point till the hole full of solder liquifies and I insert my wire quickly. With doing that job..... would it be better to use a low heat(like below 370) and hold the iron on the contact longer..... or would it be better to do 370 and hold the iron there for less time but take a chance on burning the contact? I guess either way could burn the contact but I was wonder which way would be more proper.

author: TheHolyHorse
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 05:34:11 am
content: Quote from: Jwillis on April 27, 2020, 11:24:31 pmI agree with this except that soldering isn't welding. Welding involves melting the work pieces. In soldering you're only melting the filler ie the solder.

author: Raj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 12:29:58 pm
content: Get any iron, with grounded tip and which can temperature adjust and can indicate that it has reached that temperature. Also, make sure you can by spare tips for it later-on. I had a really good iron that I had to make my own tips on lathe for, cause the old one got corroded