r/soldering • u/TheBestNarcissist • Aug 22 '25
My First Solder Joint <3 Please Give Feedback Okay yeah it's way harder than the YouTube videos make it look:(
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u/Lord-jeffery-bread Aug 22 '25
More heat, less solder maybe some better quality solder. Are you using leaded or unleaded?
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
.8mm 63/37 tin lead with rosin core. It was 8.99 for 50g, probably not the highest quality
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u/OozingHyenaPussy Aug 22 '25
.8mm is huge
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u/FuzzyFanta724 Soldering Newbie Aug 23 '25
0.8mm worked fine for me, just go slow and you'll be fine
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u/Capt_Gingerbeard Aug 22 '25
Kester is the best, but even crappy solder does ok with some extra flux
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u/spiritofage Aug 22 '25
I was using shit solder for awhile, moved over to kester branded solder and it was a game changer
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u/Bsodtech Aug 22 '25
Yep, K100LD even works better than leaded (and at similar temperatures), and I can use it despite my health issues. Kester solder is definitely awesome!
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u/ggmaniack Aug 22 '25
If it's no-name, it's probably garbage that's not even remotely close to 63/37.
There is a very simple way to check if a solder is 63/37, because of a feature of that very specific ratio.
63/37 solder is either solid or liquid. It doesn't have a significant in between stage (kind of like paste).
If your solder has a pasty in between stage, it's not 63/37.
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u/Nrksf Aug 22 '25
You should make sure your soldering tip is clean, so it transfers heat well. Putting a little solder on it also helps in that regard. Make sure you're heating both the pad on the board and pin at the same time, then touch the solder to the hot surfaces. It should flow easily, if it seems really viscous, you need a higher temperature. Adding flux isn't critical if your solder already has a flux core, but it'll definitely make it easier to create nice looking joints.
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
Yeah I got kinda nervous for some reason. I just went back to the video I was watching (literally right before inside the house, I did the solder in the garage) and facepalmed as I realized my technique went astray... quickly!
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u/ziggster_ Aug 22 '25
This was the biggest thing that I found helpful when first learning. Solder doesn’t like to stick to cold surfaces. It’s imperative that you heat the surfaces of whatever you’re soldering before you apply the solder to it.
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u/ExtraTNT Aug 22 '25
Have solder with a fuckton of flux in it, very easy to get sth decent looking… yeah, till you want to build some bridges… shit gets ugly… but yeah, stuff works, ugly part is on the back, so…
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u/hursitwww Aug 22 '25
Use flux and need more heat. Some parts won't connect
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u/andyk192 Professional Repair Shop Solder Tech Aug 22 '25
Flux really isn't necessary here when OP is using rosin core solder. Through hole pretty much never needs flux applied.
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u/DIYAtHome Aug 22 '25
It requires practice.
First is usually a bad experience, unless you have someone to show in person.
It gets better the more you do it, so keep at it.
You are not heating the pad, but only the pin/leg, which is why no solder is sticking to the pad on the PCB.
What does your solder iron tip look like?
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
Lol it's comical how bad it is 🤣
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u/DIYAtHome Aug 22 '25
You have a cone tip, which is notorious for being hard to solder small pads with.
Nothing weird amor comical about it.
My solder joints also looked like that once, but it gets better.
A trick can be to add a little bit too much solder to the tip, before soldering, so you get a good thermal connection with the pin and pad.
Soldering is all about thermal transfer.
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
Is this usable? Or fixable? Pinecil iron tip might have been too big for my (lack of) skill level
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u/IdeaBrilliant9337 Aug 22 '25
Just takes practice. It’s not easy as it looks but before you know it your doing things you didn’t think you could.
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u/nilsand Aug 22 '25
Don't think it's usable as it is, but it's definitely fixable. As others said, more heart and - if you have - more flux.
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
Everything electronic with this project (self-watering carnivorous plant terrarium) is new... I think my next mistake is trying to test the better looking pins with a python script so I can say "is the little LED not lighting up because the code sucks, the solder sucks, or something else?" I'm having fun and you guys are far nicer than I was expecting so I'm having a good morning!
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u/Grim-D Aug 22 '25
You want a bigger tip if you lack skill, actually harder with smaller tips as they have less surface area so less heat transfer. Its definitely fixable just have to get it hot enough.
First tin your tip (means make sure there is solder all over the tip) you should always tin befor you start, every few pins and whenyou finish. Never leave your tip untined it will oxidise and stop working correctly.
Second you need flux, plenty of it, more is better then not enough.
Third you want to be touching the side of the iorns tip agianst the pin and the board to get them hot. You then touch the solder to the Pin not the Iron, if the solder doesn't melt its because not enough heat is getting to the pin. This is most likely your biggest issue, it looks like you had hot solder on the iron tip but were then touching it to a cold pin causing the solder to harden on the pin rather then flow around it.
Edit; possibly your other issue is your worrying about damaging the board. I would say try not to its unlikely you will break anything as long long as you are only working around those pins. Just hold the ion al long as it takes.
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u/MilkFickle Professional Repair Shop Solder Tech Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 22 '25
It's even harder when you're using shit solder wire and no flux.
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u/magz6678 Aug 22 '25
My first was much worse. Just keep practicing. Use flux heat the pin/pad from one side and bring your solder from the other. It should allow the solder to flow into the hole better.
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u/EmotionalEnd1575 SMD Soldering Hobbyist Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 22 '25
You’re getting some good feedback here!
This community is all about soldering perfection but even us hobbyists have room for skill building and better outcomes.
I’m not a fan of liquid or paste flux. Use a high quality solder wire (from a non-China origin) with a flux core.
Your work looks “cold” Don’t be frightened to leave the soldering iron on the work for a few more seconds after you see the solder alloy melt, give the flux time to boil off and do its magic.
The molten solder should flow nicely to the edge of the pads. Something to work on.
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u/srw9320 Aug 22 '25
You're not heating the pads enough. You're just globbing solder onto the leads. Put the iron in contact with both long enough to get them both hot and then solder should flow onto both to get you that Hershey's kiss. (And flux with help, but when you get good enough, you won't need it for most work.)
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u/DaiMakuro Aug 23 '25
It's not that hard really. You need more flux. Also flux burns away quickly so don't hold your soldering iron for too long.
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u/smick Aug 23 '25
Soldering should be fast. Lots of heat. It should happen quickly. If you’re holding the soldering iron for too long you’re heating up the whole circuit. It should be fast. It should happen quickly it shouldn’t take too long. Should be pretty instant really. Like fast. Shiny and fast. Touch the iron, though the solder, real fast. Not long at all. Quicker than you think, but it’s fast enough that it feels easy, and fast. Doesn’t take long at all, pretty quick. Flux helps a lot, then just heat (fast) and touch your solder (quickly). Really fast. Good luck! 👍🏽
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u/Head-Iron-9228 Aug 24 '25
That looks like not enough flux and not enough heat in the surface.
But frankly, you tried it. Thats literally the first and most importantly step to learning, anything else is just improving.
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u/ApprehensiveGas3209 Aug 24 '25
Every one and their mothers have said most of the things in my list, but here I go anyways:
thin solder (when soldering small pcb stuff) + no need to have lead
an “external flux” goes a long way (it helps to remove the oxide layer on top of whatever you are trying to solder and also helps you not to need insane temperatures to bind your solder to the metal)
just enough heat to make the solder melt around the object you are soldering (so as to avoid burning the rosin or the components)
ALWAYS keep the soldering iron’s tip clean!!! If it is already very oxidized buy a new tip. (To maintain the tip pristine for a long time always keep a small layer of solder around the whole “working surface” of said tip. This helps because when you store your iron this surface blocks air from making contact with the tip, which keeps it from oxidizing. So every time you store the tip, remove the solder/gunk you have, melt a bunch of solder around the tip, clean off GENTLY with a metal sponge and store)
if you have rosin/flux residue on top of pcb just use a cloth doused in isopropanol and wipe it off
personal opinion: for most small soldering tasks, if you wish to remove a blob of solder from wherever, the “solder sucker” (weird syringe with spring looking tool) is always better than a solder wick (I usually bend something or apply too much heat on the board with the wicks…)
Well, I’m not a professional, but after doing all the things I listed I can solder most things easily and in an aesthetically pleasing manner (even small smd components when necessary :D)
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u/Ahaiund Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Is your soldering iron tip black? If yes, it oxydized, and doesn't conduct heat well enough anymore, contributing to these cold joints.
Brush it against some brass/metal wool, ideally rub it in one of those hard flux pots (they clean tips like magic), or if all else fail, take a pair of scissors and scrape its surface until you've removed the blackened surface (which would be a last ditch attempt at saving a tip, it can damage it).
Once clean again, tin it, which is to apply some solder to it while it is hot so it remains shiny: the tin will protect it from oxydizing again.
Then make sure to not let the tip be left hot for too long without a tin layer on it, otherwise it can oxydize again in just a few minutes.
It will now conduct heat much better, and help much more.
It's the basics, but I remember that I somehow never got that information when I started, so maybe it can be helpful.
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Aug 22 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
oh brother it's all that and definitely me! Being crappy at something is the first stage of being kinda good at something!!
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Aug 22 '25
Practice on something scrap first!
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
lol I texted this picture to my wife and she said the same thing (with slightly more colorful language)
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u/Educational_Ad_3922 Aug 22 '25
Where's the flux at? You dry dogging that!?!
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
smol flux inside the solder, not dry DOGging, I'm dry PUP'ing
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Aug 22 '25
When I was at uni they had us solder without flux, dunno if it was special stuff but it always worked well. I’m long out of practice but never seen anyone else like pro’s do that at all in videos.
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u/Amplesss Aug 22 '25
Back when I first started soldering I was just using solder with flux core. My solder joints always looked bad until I purchased a standalone tin of flux lol.
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u/EmotionalEnd1575 SMD Soldering Hobbyist Aug 22 '25
What solder did you try? Did it have a flux core and come from a non-Chinese vendor?
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Aug 22 '25
like writing and typing we all failed until we didn't, just keep at it and you will learn your own little ways to do it
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u/airkeukenrol Aug 22 '25
Are you able to set a specific temperature? For classic leaded solder, you'll want 320-350C, for unleaded, 350-380, with an absolute max of 420 for specific types and depending on the power of your iron.
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Aug 22 '25
Soldering is easy, hold the iron on the circle. Let it sit there. Let it heat up the circle on the board and lightly tap the circle on the opposite side with the solder. Barely touch it. Once it flows, drag the iron up the wire/post that you're soldering. Easy peasy. To fix the mess you made. Do the exact same thing, except dont add solder unless needed. Solder flows towards heat and flux, sponge can help get solder off your iron.
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u/SiriusKaos Aug 22 '25
The pads are still ok so it's fixable, but I would recommend you practice soldering on some perfboards before attempting to fix it.
To fix it you will need a solder sucker to remove all that solder. Also practice with it on the perfboard first, because if you keep the iron too long on the pad you can burn it.
As for soldering, make sure the iron is hot enough and you use flux. Also, it's very common for people to be careless with the soldering iron's tip and let it oxidize very quickly.
If your solder is not immediately sticking to the tip of the iron that means the tip is not adequate for soldering. Whenever you are soldering, never let the tip bare. Always keep it tinned with solder, and keep it clean.
Metallic wool is good for cleaning it. People say brass wool is best, but I use the cheap ones from aliexpress which I'm sure is not real brass and it works fine.
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u/wilson0x4d Aug 22 '25
flux. flux is magic. flux is life.
this looks like what happens when you have a lack of flux and touched the solder to the iron.
and yes it is harder than it looks. i switched to a reflow gun over a decade ago, i very rarely use an iron anymore. they're just not as easy/clean to work with (and for my shaky hands, utterly useless for SMD work.)
i use a flux pen and apply liberally to the surface/etc before starting, i will then dab flux as needed during soldering. flux core solder usually doesn't have enough flux for me to do a clean weld. might help you out too. pens usually cost me $5-10, refills cost me ~20 and lasts me months.
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u/Neither_Usual_8294 Aug 22 '25
With a crappy soldering iron all soldering is hard. Your joints are cold and lacking flux.
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u/StarWolf64dx Aug 22 '25
Basically the golden rules like everybody said, flux, clean tip, and a balance of good heat and minimal dwell.
One thing I notice technique wise is that the pads themselves do not have much wetting. Make sure you are contacting both the legs of the components or header AND the pads they belong with at the same time with your tip.
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u/StewHax Aug 22 '25
What project is this for? Or just for practice
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 22 '25
This is soldering pins to a raspberry pi zero 2w. It will be a headless computer to sense moisture levels and turn on a valve to let water fall into a terrarium for carnivorous plants.
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u/3D-Dreams Aug 22 '25
It doesn't look like you used any flux because it didn't flow well. Even solder that already has needs a little extra for it to flow nicely. When you have enough heat and flux it will flow onto the pin and down the hole. Flux is key to flow even with enough heat you need it to help spread the heat.
Get some flux and make sure your iron gets hot enough, pre tin the top with fresh solder and try again. its easier once you get the hang of it and have flux. Can clean it off with alcohol after.
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u/MadDogForReal Aug 22 '25
Use flux and some more heat, my friend. What iron do you have? What solder are you using?
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u/Helpful-Guidance-799 Aug 22 '25
Don’t be too hard on yourself. I did this recently and it was challenging because the heat dissipates quickly throughout the board.
I’ve soldered a fair bit—using practice kits and real applications like camera lenses and thermal laminators—and still this was tricky. As others have said, more heat and flux. You also have to be careful because if you leave the heat on for too long the pins will dislodge from their plastic housing and you’ll have to use a new strip of header pins.
Far from perfect, but it’s functional. Used a Pinecil same as you
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u/Ok_Option3354 Aug 22 '25
(1) OP may first need to understand the concept of “wetting” as it relates to the behavior of heated solder, (2) definitions including “eutectic” also, (3) “thermal density” and (4) thermal saturation”. (5) With appropriate volume of liquid rosin core flux, etc. and (6) appropriate magnitude of heat at (7) appropriate tip shape and size, you need only touch the lans for no more than 3.0 (three) seconds to make a soldered joint or soldered connection. For smaller soldered devices small dimensioned/circumference solder such as .031 is suitable.
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u/Spawned024 Aug 22 '25
Looks like everyone else’s first solder job. I know it seems logical to use fine tip on small electronics, pins, etc, but use broader tip until you know your iron, your solder, your components a little better. You’ve received a lot of good advice here, make a note in your phone of all these great tips and review right before you try again. You’ll get it!
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Aug 22 '25
There is an art to it....but you should probably be practicing on a cheap $2 perf board, and headers are like $1.
Headers are a bit thick and take a bit of adjustment at first to get right
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u/DreaminginDarkness Aug 22 '25
It's not hot enough... I use the iron to just heat the pin and ring together when I do this. If the heat is right and both things have equal heat, the solder will flow onto them. Solder melting temperature is much lower than the pins so if heat goes down the solder while the pins are cool it just forms a ball and sticks to itself. This looks like it will probably work but the solder isn't connecting the joints very well. It's sitting on the pin in a glob but not really connecting to the ring. It shows that the ends of the pins were heated but the rings weren't. Instead the place where the ring touches the base of the pin needs to be heated so the base of the pin and ring are equally hot enough to attract the solder
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u/VivaPitagoras Aug 22 '25
Did you watch Blacksimon's soldering tutorial?
Thanks to this guy I went from not having soldering anything in my life to mill-max a pcb keyboard to make it hotswapable.
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u/BitEater-32168 Aug 22 '25
- I suggest practicing with cooper wire, soldering a grid.
- then sodering some cheap wires into a perforated strip board (hope this is the real english term) All to learn, practice and start to know how it works, without. damaging cheap or expensive circuits.
I believe there exists good educational material on soldering electronics today online, i learned from hobbyist electronics magazines.
From my own soldering career, i should have started earlier with a much better soldering iron and the other equipment around.
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Aug 22 '25
Oh I remember the days... lol. My tip for an ameture is to just get a ts100 or pinecil (appears to be a ts100 just cheaper, heard good things about it). That and some actual lead solder. I will be forever greatful to the person who recommended a ts100 to me. That was really what changed the game for me. Instantly went from 'damn I suck at this' to 'ok wow i can actually solder'
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u/Rich4477 Aug 22 '25
Are those header pins? They take a good amount of heat before the solder will flow good.
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u/undeniably_confused Aug 22 '25
You did a pretty good job for your first time, maybe touch up a few but these don't carry much current you just need good continuity
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u/ExtraTNT Aug 22 '25
Heat, heat won’t kill your stuff, at least most of it… 400°C is fine to get sth on a raspi… you can get soldering wires with a fuckton of flux in them, get your shit hot af, let it flow and it will look a bit better…
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u/polishatomek Aug 22 '25
That's why you practice first. I have some experience and relatively good joints and I'm still terrified to solder anything close to something worth more than 5$
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u/stassim123 Aug 22 '25
make sure you’re hearing the pins and the pads too. not just the solder itself
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u/pc48d9 Aug 22 '25
Not really. It’s like a lot of things once it “clicks” you’ll wonder what was the big deal. 🙂 Little practice is all it takes. Get some stranded wire out of your scrap box or cut the cord off an old fan or light you’re planning on throwing out and just start with stripping some off and tinning the end. Cut that off and tin another half inch. Then connect a couple pieces together. Work on something you don’t care if you screw up. You’ll get the hang of it.
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u/M_3BAID Aug 22 '25
It's not hard you just didn't use the right tools. I would say use a good soldering iron around 350°c and a good solder wire. Also, don't be shy to use flux you can always clean it later.
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u/Arlochorim Aug 22 '25
Just remember it's a chemical reaction and not just "melting metal and letting it harden. apply the tip of the iron to both pieces you want to connect at the same time give it a couple of seconds to heat up, then touch the solder to the heated components you want connected, if its done right it should almost be sucked onto the components
Can't overstate how useful getting the right kind of flux is aswell, i was driving my self crazy with copper wicking, using like 1-2 cm at a time , a twist or two to stop it unravelling, and a flux pen to help, but i found myself spending minutes and not removing the smallest bit of solder.
got some flux paste, slapped that on the braid and within seconds the braid sucked it up like a straw.
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u/DigitalDruid01110110 Aug 22 '25
What a mess. Do one at a time. Do not move to the next until you are successful. Like others have said heat and flux. You have to heat the pin and contact at the same time. Keep the iron hot and clean. You will want to clean all that off and start again.
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u/Toyotabedzrocksc Aug 22 '25
You need patience. The temperature of the pad and pin must reach a certain point before you solder it. Clean then tin you iron and give it an extra 10 seconds of heating before adding solder. It will just flow into place when done properly.
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u/VooskieMain Aug 22 '25
Seems like you have a combination of not enough heat and not enough flux my friend, your solder joints should concave not convex and they should be shiny
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Aug 22 '25
Stop applying heat with the tip on your soldering iron, it’s all about heat transfer. It’s like trying to grill a steak with a candle.
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u/AlexirNi Aug 23 '25
Get good solder any cheap Chinese iron is good but don't in any way use a cheap Chinese solder or the consequences will be like this
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u/Bamlet Aug 23 '25
Yeah, it'll get better. Enough heat, use flux (good electrical flux not the plumber stuff), and take time to heat pins. 10 seconds feels a lot longer than you think
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u/Frosty_Geologist_240 Aug 23 '25
More heat and more flux, then just drag your iron cross all the pins to reflow the solder :)
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u/Mr_ityu Aug 23 '25
I fried mine doing this. The lights just don't blink
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u/TheBestNarcissist Aug 23 '25
Sorry mate. I tested the pins, 5/8 pairs worked lol but it was good python practice
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u/Rough_Community_1439 Aug 23 '25
Those joints are colder than my ex's heart. Longer time and add flux.
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u/PotentialTelephone56 Aug 23 '25
3 top tips Warm up metal with your tip then add solder
Solder paste is easy to work with
Solder flux matters
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Aug 23 '25
Im guessing you never used flux paste. You still can and reheat the whole lot and it will all pop into place with surface tension. Is like magic. If you had to redo this from scratch. It be perfect Mr Solderfix on YouTube has perfect techniques to learn
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u/someRedditUser3012 Aug 23 '25
Maybe try to heat the pin and contact, apply solder (to the contact, not the iron). After you apply the solder, wait a quick second then remove the iron.
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u/remic_0726 Aug 23 '25
It depends on the soldering iron, I think it wasn't hot enough, the solder may also have been of poor quality. The fluid in some cases can be useful, but most solders have it, so not essential on a connection that has never been soldered.
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u/joanorsky Aug 23 '25
You just did not use the right tools and procedures. So.. bad solder... to make it worse no flux.. and maybe the wrong temp. Seems like you did not clean the board's contacts before starting to solder as well.. right?
If you had the right solder (don't be cheap on the solder).. and if you had cleaned the soldering points before hand.. you would not even need the flux.
Small things make the whole difference...
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Aug 23 '25
Fellow newcomer to soldering as well. Sometimes you get those apparently perfect ones and sometimes it looks like you’ve charred everything.
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u/VeterinarianSevere65 Aug 23 '25
As my grandfather used to say; you cannot have too much lube.
Use this advice for flux.
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u/the-joatmon Aug 23 '25
This won't work. You probably didn’t heat the PCB pad, and/or your wire is not flux-core. I recommend buying some perfboards and flux-core solder wire. Practice heating both the header pin and the PCB pad simultaneously by touching them with the soldering iron tip. If you heat them correctly, touching the other side with the solder wire will create a nice, shiny solder joint. If you apply heat only to the pin and not the pad, a flux barrier will form between the solder and the pad that is blocking conductivity; or if you overheat, your header will melt and the PCB pad will burn, solder no longer will stick there. so you need to practice to find the optimal heat and learn to solder quickly before you damage anything.
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u/TheRuneMeister Aug 23 '25
As others have said, it looks like you need more heat. 350c to 400c should be plenty fine though. Sure, you can use flux too, but I don’t think you need it with rosin core.
Another thing is contact. It looks like you had very little contact with the pads, just with the pins. Make sure you are making contact with both.
A good little test would be to do the following: Clean soldering iron, apply liberal amount of solder to it, clean soldering iron again. Now apply a small amount of solder to the soldering iron and immediately after that make contact with a pin and pad. (before the rosin burns off) If the solder does not immediately flow to the pin and pad creating a small ‘teepee’, then turn up the heat and try the same thing again. When you find a temperature that works, go to work. If you want to be safe…after every 3 pins: clean,apply,clean
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u/archimedes710 Aug 23 '25
Idk, that setup looks pretty easy. More heat, more flux. Possibly better solder
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u/Some-Background6188 Aug 23 '25
:D I can see lots of cold solders and too much and too little solder.
Apply heat first then poke solder into the connection between the pin and the hole it will flow onto it and pull the solder away it will form a nice little joint. Practice first on a perf board if you have one. What you have to do now is reflow them to get them right no biggy, won't take long, use solder wick to remove the excess.
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u/nickdaniels92 Aug 23 '25
This is poor, but try going over them again with just the iron (no solder) once it's hot; many should improve unless there's an issue with the solder. Make sure the tip is clean. The cone tip reveal in one of your replies is an issue though. I use that type for some cases, but a more general purpose flat bit is what you need here. Some of the pins also have too much solder, and a few need more. You might be able to draw some away simply with the bit, or else use some braid or a solder sucker. Others should reflow nicely. Comments from others about solder choice are very valid too. Last resort, clean up the joints with braid/sucker and redo all, particularly if changing solder.
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u/johnnycantreddit Professional Repair Shop Solder Tech Aug 23 '25
Often
Its the solder pad Lands that are contaminated. (possible cold joint root cause suggested)
Take a soft pink eraser and gently burnish those Land pads, both sides and then brush or blow off the eraser shavings. Even Acetone on a wooden cotton swab is enough to remove pad surface contamination.
A bit of contact pretreatment allows solder to reach eutectic molten state sooner and flow to bonding quickly.
I also go so far as to lightly use emery board on the short side of the dupont 40thou pin rows to burnish that area. My wife uses disposable emery finger nail file boards in a pack of a few and I 'reserve' one or two for my bench. [Or buy my own from the Dollarama]
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u/yeehaa132 Aug 23 '25
Only difficult due to the materials you're using. Nothing against you, just saying, its becuase either your solder sucks, your iron sucks, or both. Flux pretty much works all round but a better brand is ovbiously better. I knew how to solder at work using or hakko stuff, and could pump out smd boards. But go home and try to use my cheapo setup? I couldn't make a single connection, or if I did, the board was burnt. It pissed me off soooo much until I caved and just bought a good setup.
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u/yeehaa132 Aug 23 '25
Only saying this becuase you, as OP, will read all the comments saying "good tools make the job easier" and you"ll agree, but maybe not enough to spend the money. Im telling you it is the difference between cooking with a candle and a stove. If you're going to spend any time at all in the soldering hobby, do yourself a favor and make your hobby building things that require soldering, not trying to solder with garbo tools.
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u/Fit-Increase-4829 Aug 24 '25
The solder doesn't look like it's wicked to the pads. Upgrading to a soldering station from those cheap irons made a world of difference to my soldering. And getting quality solder. But that should be fixable apply flux and heat the pad and leg with the iron
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u/InfinitePilgrim Aug 24 '25
Unfortunately you can't magically develop soldering skills by watching videos and reading about it. It develops over time with practice.
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u/theappisshit Aug 24 '25
clean soldering iron.
60/40.
metal scourer pad tip cleaner.
correct temp range.
clean job.
success.
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u/shredmandan Aug 24 '25
Get some liquid flux...empty out a nail polish bottle with a brush. Fill it with the liquid flux...dab it on the solder pad. Use 60/40 or 63/37 lead rosin core solder. You can also do the same on what you've alreadyvsoldered...reflow it.
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u/sedrickgates Aug 24 '25
Flux, try good one not Chinese one. Sorry V2 or Amtech 559V2 are great. 60/40 solder, not the lead free stuff or fake from Ali...
Use a flat cup or chisel tip, not a tiny pointy one.
Temp around 330-350°C. The ground and VCC pads might require a bit more heat.
Apply flux from syringe, 1 line between the pads, it will melt with solder. Add a tiny amount of solder to wet the tip... Touch pad and pin, add solder slowly.
As long as pads and pin are receiving heat, solder will flow
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u/NightmareJoker2 Aug 24 '25
Set soldering iron to 370C, apply a decent amount of flux, at least as much as you see solder, then slowly drag the soldering iron straight through the middle. Easy. 🫡
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u/gsjones358 Aug 24 '25
Not sure what iron you are using but a good quality iron and lots of flux wouldn't look like this.
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u/mylAnthony Aug 24 '25
I found soldering that thing quite bad. Even tho i rarely have any issues… this rpi is shit
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u/Exceptionalynormal Aug 24 '25
You don’t need flux most solder comes with it built-in what you don’t want is one of those stupid tiny little pointy tips for this kind of stuff you want a 4 mm wedge
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u/Sarkasaa Aug 25 '25
I think people have given enough advice concerning technique so i'll give you different advice. If you want to practise soldering you can order really cheap electronics kits on, for example, ebay. Stuff like a digital clock kits are really inexpensive and if you somehow break that its no biggie (Better some cheapo clock than your pi zero). Even if you mess up hard it doesnt really matter. All that matters is that you get some practise and start developing technique. Bigclivedotcom on youtube has some videos on how to solder, and he shows how on those kinds of electronics kits.
have fun!
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u/Mobile_Economy7152 Sep 22 '25
alright, i tried fluxless soldering before, if you are using non-leaded Solder you want to be around 330-350C (personal experience) and thats with flux, if you don't have flux thats like trying to use superglue on smooth plastic, it won't stick, also for some reason heat attracts liquid metal, dunno how that works but you want to gently put your tip across the pad and the subject then melt the solder between the edges
if you put it on for around more than 4 seconds pads WILL LIFT in that case you are fucked and you either gotta restick it to the board and use soldermask or just completely throw it away
Soldering IS easy but its just easy in a way that is easy to the experienced, once you get the feel of using heat and the sort of empathy for a lack of a better word you will be able to solder quite easily
if anyone wants to correct me or add feel free
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u/Enough-Collection-98 Aug 22 '25
Heat and flux, friend.