[TheOneDonRamon]

well igot my mod chip now whats a soldering gun and where to buy one? and how do i solder? thanks :/

[TheOneDonRamon]

nm i found out..god im newbie thanks tho

[whooping_a_panda]

might be better asked in general hard ware, a soldering iron is a tool that heats up very hot and is used to solder, think of it as glue, wires onto contacts, the iron heats up the solder untill it is a liquid and it hardens with the wires like glue. in your case you solder the wires to the spots on your PS and on your mod chip, there should be instructions as to what goes where. you have to make sure not to get solder everwhere as it is conductive and could fry your ps if done wrong.

im not a pro at solderin at any means so you might wanna get a better how to befor you begin, check up in general hardware.

[LutaWicasa]

If you've got any old dead boards of any kind, ya might want to think about playin' around/practicing a bit before you endanger your box.

[Mpegger]

Definetly! Use a old piece of breadboard to pratice on. And since the wire and connections being used will most likely be fine wire, dont use anything over 15 watts. If your carefull enough, 30 watts will work fine, but its still capable of burning up components.

Practice, practice, practice. It souldn't be too hard. I modded my Sega Saturn with a region switch so I can play the Jap games.

[Breadfan]

Actually, there was a really good question in that original post...I'm curious myself, I've got a few irons at home, but have never owned a soldering gun.

Whats the difference between an iron and a gun?

I remember hearing someone I know going on about how great soldering guns were, but never really knew why...

Mike

[TheOneDonRamon]

I think i fired my playstation?Or maybe they dont have full contact? im using a 15watt and no burn marks.Would it not boot up if all of the 8wires do not have contact?

[OpenFriday]

Originally posted by Breadfan
Actually, there was a really good question in that original post...I'm curious myself, I've got a few irons at home, but have never owned a soldering gun.

Mike

When i bought this is had "soldering gun" on the package. I like it better than the iron just because im impatient waiting for the iron to heat up. I like it. And for 20$ it saves me a lot of time and i find it really easy to use.

[Ghost68]

DONT EVER USE A SOLDERING GUN FOR SMALL ELECTRONICS they get way to hot too fast youll do way more damage than good.... now as far as the psx mod make sure you soldered all the right pads i screwed up twice the first time and it took me well over an hour each time now i can do one in 10 min check and re check... was this a playstation a psone or a playstation 2???

*edit*
also try completely removing the chip(desoldering all the wires) and see if it works if it doesnt than you fried it...

[Sniperboy]

Like Ghost said, soldering guns are beasts. I have one and it's rated at 500 watts.

[Diggrr]

I have a Craftsman soldering gun. It's got the pistol grip, and the doubled wire on the front. Inside is a 2 pound transformer.
You can use coat hanger wire loops for replacement tips, it has hotknives and other utility attachments.
As far the the "soldering" name on it, I've only actually used it for soldering a couple of times. Once on a piece of copper sheeting, and in a computer power supply that I was stripping for bench-top use. The molex's all go back inside your psu to some hella big solder pads that an iron just won't heat enough to soften.
My gun's tip glows bright orange when it's on, so you can guess it's hotter than....ya know.
It also works good to solder battery terminals in your car...they last forever if soldered.

[TheOneDonRamon]

It was a ps1...well guess what...I found a little transister thing..that was like 1 mm long if that by like 1/4 mm wide tiny...and itwas floating around..so i guess it come off somehow?! Well that explains everything..o well off to buy a ps2.. ...btw what i did was let the gun/stick thing heat up and had iron laying on the wire that was over the points and when it got hot i just touched the iron..is this the correct way?

[whooping_a_panda]

you probably managed to desolder the resistor, if you can fine where it goes you could try to solder it back on, have to be extremely carefull though

[progamer]

I got some experience soldering in my electronics class at high school. I never got too good at it though. I kept bridging things that weren't supposed to be connected (resulting in a short and blowing out my LEDs) and got cold solder joints. 90% of the time my completed circuit wouldn't work and I would have to do some painful troubleshooting. Not to mention the solder smells really bad. Oh well, I guess you get better with practice.

[Avatar28]

Soldering guns are fine for things like wire that it won't matter so much. If you use one on a circuit board, though, there's a REAL good chance that you'll damage the board, some circuits, or some components. When you're soldering electronics, you want about a 30 watt soldering iron. Anything smaller doesn't work well on anything with any appreciable mass and is more likely to cause cold solder joints.

The trick to soldering is to first clean the tip and, if it's not pre-tinned, tin it by applying a bit of solder, letting it set a moment, then wiping it on a damp cloth or sponge. Once you've got a clean, tinned tip, touch the tip to both the wire or lead that you're trying to solder and the contact on the board. Leave it for a few seconds to heat, then touch the solder to the joint (with the iron still in place) where the iron is touching it. If it's hot enough, it will be drawn both around the contact on the board and up the wire/lead slightly. If it doesn't, it's not hot enough. Leave the iron there a couple more seconds until it makes a good joint. If you want to see what a good joint looks like, examine a circuit board. The solder should go up the lead slightly and around the contact and form a small dome with concave sides.

[JimmyG]

I'll add one more bit of info to Avatar28's excellent description. A good solder joint will be shiney. A dull or rough appearance is an indication of a "cold" solder joint. These will not work reliably.

[Blueacid]

I made the mistake of melting a chip on a small home electronics projects from www.maplin.co.uk (search around).
If you hod the soldering iron on a joint for more than bout 2secs then it'll kill the component you're trying to solder (resistors seem to be a lot more heat tolerent)