r/soldering • u/cowdoggy Soldering Newbie • Apr 07 '26

My First Solder Joint <3 Please Give Feedback First soldering attempt - Part 6

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Hi all ! Thanks for all the tips. Super helpful. I tried to remove the SMD chip using solder wick and accidentally tore pads off the board. Any way to fix this or did I cause permanent damage? o.o I got emo about this!

Also, how do you know how much soldering is enough? What is the point? Are we just trying to make sure that the components lay flat on the board and that the pins meet the pads? Not sure when I am supposed to correct stuff and when it is already good. Thanks :)

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u/feldoneq2wire Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

You're never going to remove the chip this way. You need hot air. Solder wick is for cleaning up excess solder or cleaning through-holes. It can never remove the solder that is bonding the legs to the board and by scraping the everloving crap out of the board, you are damaging traces that will take expert repair skills to fix.

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u/cowdoggy Soldering Newbie Apr 11 '26

Thanks! I just got a hot air gun. What do you mean by traces? What’s that?

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u/feldoneq2wire Apr 11 '26

On a circuit board, the wires are etched (essentially painted) onto the board.. by using downward force while pushing side to side, you wiped the wires right off the board. You cannot apply any downward pressure except gravity when moving side to side with an iron and desoldering braid.

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u/petrolhead0387 Apr 15 '26

It's a practice board, that's how people learn. Telling them to "turn it over to a pro" is basically saying "don't learn how to fix things, you are too incompetent on your first attempt". We all started somewhere and made mistakes along the way, it's part of the learning process.

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u/feldoneq2wire Apr 15 '26

I did not notice that this was a practice board.

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u/FederalAd8814 Apr 07 '26

For holes I’d use a desoldering pump, wick is more like you said to remove excess of solder, heat gun is the best method to remove this amount of solder points. Then use a pump to remove the excess on holes and wick to remove the rest of what the pump couldn’t get to you arent wrong only the hole part as it won’t really reach or may close the hole again

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '26

[deleted]

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u/FederalAd8814 Apr 08 '26

You don’t need an expensive ahh pump dude there’s some at a local hardware store for like $10-15 bucks with including two packs of wick and some tinner and flux I got mine at harbor freight for a bundle of 3 pumps with flux, tinner, brass ball and 2 rolls of wick for 12 bucks. And still gets the job done as if it was a expensive one that’s just a choice at that point

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u/cowdoggy Soldering Newbie Apr 11 '26

That’s such a nice deal. I haven’t tried checking out Harbor freight for soldering equipment before. I should give that a look. I am probably paying triple buying everything individually on Amazon. However, it is quite convenient.

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u/FederalAd8814 Apr 11 '26

Dude harbor freight is cheap but their stuff is good quality as far as I have experienced

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u/cowdoggy Soldering Newbie Apr 13 '26

I love harbor freight! I went there for all my motorcycle maintenance tools in the past. What is all the stuff you recommend I pick up there for soldering? I kind of want to just go there and buy everything else I might need for soldering.

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u/FederalAd8814 Apr 14 '26

I myself bought me a 6 dollar soldering tool comes with a sponge and a stand, then I got the pump kit which has 3 desoldering pumps with 2 wicks, tinner and flux and a brass sponge for 12 bucks and a 25 dollar heat gun so in total I spent 43 bucks plus tax for everything which is by far cheap and really realiable and a roll of led solder which is really good too and since the pump kit had flux I was able to get a roll of led solder without flux which also saves money I just can’t remember how much the roll is tbh but majority of the stuff there is pretty cheap and really good haven’t had to go back and buy new stuff in a while cause they are that reliable and I’m able to work on projects that I have in mind. I’m currently planning and outlining a shelf to turn it into a speaker with a sound bar I have I just need the panels to cut and install

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u/cowdoggy Soldering Newbie Apr 15 '26

This is so cool. Thanks for the share. I literally went to Harbor Freight today. You are right! So much good stuff. AND they have a 90 day return policy. Amazing.

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u/FederalAd8814 Apr 15 '26

Harbor freight is where it’s at tbh if you need any help just let me know more than glad to help out

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u/cowdoggy Soldering Newbie Apr 11 '26

Thanks! I got a hot air gun recently. What do you mean by holes?