Using a soldering iron.

[Shuzzy]

forgive my noobness, but i've never volt modded anything or even used a soldering iron before. im going to be connecting my 3.3 line to my vddr on my neo2 plat, and im looking for a guide on how to properly use a soldering iron. or maybe someone here could just fill me in. thanks. :)

[Needitcooler]

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/solder.htm

There you go dude. You just need to practice. You shouldn't have too hard a time with the 2 solder points on the Neo2, but you should practice on something else before going at it on your motherboard.

[Shuzzy]

thanks man. i've got a couple old junk mobos that i can practice on. :)

[Sancho]

Heat carefully dab with solder, done. Actually its a bit harder than that, practice on other stuff before going for the gusto.

[Shuzzy]

so, basically the purpose of the solder is to provide an electrical link between the wire and the trace, correct? or do the two have to make actual contact and the solder just holds it there almost like glue?

[Midnight Dream]

The solder does both. Solder will hold the points there, but its also electrical conductive, so it will allow electricity to pass through.

[Shuzzy]

ahhh, so you really don't know to be too picky, so long as there is solid connection there?

[OCFCaTalyst]

Ideally, there should be solder encasing the whole wire bonding at the bottom and covering the top of the wire, ill post a closeup pic next time i get a chance of what i mean.

-CaT

[Shuzzy]

Ideally, there should be solder encasing the whole wire bonding at the bottom and covering the top of the wire, ill post a closeup pic next time i get a chance of what i mean.

-CaT

yea if anyone has any closeup pics of good soldering jobs i would like to see some.

[L337 M33P]

yea if anyone has any closeup pics of good soldering jobs i would like to see some.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/L337M33P///lm63ness-015.jpg

:D

Nothing to it really, all you need are the right tools for the job - thin soldering bit, good quality rosin-cored thin solder, a steady hand and maybe one of those PCB holders with magnifying glass.

[OCFCaTalyst]

Yeah....I think everybody has their own style, like Malves and M33P use magnifying glasses and fairly expensive irons (please correct me if im wrong) and i use a 9.00 radio shack iron and radio shack 62/36/2 silver bearing rosin core .022 solder and it works great for me. You just need to try it out on stuff you dont care about and get a feel for it. Once you start you will start to get the hang of it and pick up things as you go along. Its more of an art than anything i guess? i dont know about that but definately better learned by experience than by reading :)

Also, there are some closeup pics of some good soldering jobs in this thread:

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=148334

Personally i think CaTalyst.X's are the best but that may be a SLIGHTLY biased opinion ;)


-CaT

[man_utd]

A good joint should be: shiny and strong. If it's not shiny, you haven't burned off the rosin. Put the iron back on until you see a puff of smoke. if it's week, there isn't enough solder. Put a little bit more on.

[FSBxtreme]

One good tip is that you always want to tint the soldering iron tip real good so no resistance exists in the solder joints.

Tint a tip my wipe it with a wet sponge while soldering(it should be shiny after tint). You don't want a dark tip.