Pinecil Guides to Soldering

This article is a list of convenient links to guides on soldering. Although it's not directly related to Pinecil hardware, many pine64 members ask for this kind of infomation in daily live chat. If you don't find something here, then try an Internet search as this is just a starting point for convenience.

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?

• Does Solder quality matter?
• When to use Flux
• 63/37 or 60/40 Solder?

How to keep the tip clean?

• Clean & Care for Tips
• How to Clean Soldering Tips
• Sodering Tip Maintenance

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, try starting lower and increment up until a good working temperature is reached that melts the solder. Try an Internet search and find a chart like below for your specific type of solder alloy:

• Alloy Temperature Chart - Kester

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 in several articles and videos.

Using the Conical tip

How do I use the conical tip that comes default with Pinecil to get enough heat transfer?

1. 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

2. 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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