Pinecil Guides to Soldering
This article contains guides regarding soldering with the Pinecil.
Guides for Soldering & Maintenance
General soldering guides
- Why have different tips?
- Easier method to solder SMD, and a clever Cleaning method
- How to Solder SMD & Small Components - Mr. Solder
- Pace Basic Soldering lesson 1-9
- How to Desolder/Correct mistakes
- Mr. Solderfix - Remove Components
- Ultimate soldering guide
- Should I switch to Lead-free solder?
- Beginner's Guide to Soldering - Mr. Solder
- Fine SMD Soldering
- Comic book - Soldering
Does solder type and flux matter?
How to keep the tip clean?
What temperature should I use?
1. General Formula: add 120°C to the melting point listed on the solder label, and adjust up/down as needed for different tasks.
- Example: the solder says 220°C melt point, then
220 + 120 = 340 °C - One could also try these common working temperatures below, start lower and increment by 5 °C until you get a comfortable working temperature (thicker wires & situations dictate more or less).
Common working temperatures: - For Lead solder: 300°C - 320°C - For No-lead solder: 350°C - 365°C
2. If there is no listed melting point on the solder label, do an Internet search and find a chart like below for your specific type of solder alloy:
3. Adding a small amount of solder to your tip before starting increases the thermal mass of the tip and could help instead of cranking the temperature super high. See the soldering guides above for demonstrations of this.
Using the Conical tip
How do I use the conical tip that comes default with Pinecil to get enough heat transfer?
Conical tip, hold it to the side of the item and not vertically like a pen. See https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_tutorials/5/8/4/SolderingAdvice_1edit.png
Correct amount of solder and solder flow. See https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_tutorials/5/8/4/SolderingAdvice_2.png
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