Monday 11 February 2013

Still not able to understand the basics of soldering process? Let us try 'learning by doing' theory


Someone has said this very correctly - learning by doing is the most effective way of understanding. People tend to forget what they read very easily but they do not forget what they experience. Let us see whether this works for you as well. You may not understand what exactly a solder flux or solder bars would do. You can learn almost anything by doing it. First things first, do not forget that soldering is different from welding. Welding involves melting and combining two metals and soldering involves combining alloys that have low melting point. 

From the point of view of learning, we will start with the most basic work in electrical work - soldering of wire joints. You just need to check that the splice between the wires to be soldered is strong and you can easily check this by twisting the wires. After this, follow the below mentioned steps:

  • Stripping of wires is the first step. After this you need to insulate the splice by using heat shrink tubing method that is of two types - adhesive and non-adhesive lined. Just remember that you should use non-adhesive lined only when the joint will not come in contact with moisture or environment elements. You just need to strip an inch from the end of each of the wires
  • This is very easy step. Here, you need to keep the ends of wires in an 'X' shape and twist them together so that they are tied. This is to establish a strong mechanical connect in the wires
  • Apply heat to the wires. The amount of heat required will depend on the level of thickness of wires
  • Solder the joint. When the joint is hot enough, the solder will start to melt. Just keep adding the solder unless you see that it covers the joint completely
  • Cleaning the flux is done to prevent corrosion using methyl hydrate etc. is the next step
  • Insulate the splice with the help of a heat gun or a lighter
This was it. By now, you can confidently say they you 'know' soldering process. Slowly you will also learn to use solder bars, solder sticks etc, wires etc. 

1 comment:

  1. excellent

    as basic principles you mention.
    also added to check cables metals, since they may be corrocion, or mixture of metals added

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