I was wondering if anybody could teach me how to solder and desolder electronic components. Like a computer motherboard. I have a few old motherboards that i can bring to practice with
How recent of a computer motherboard? Because that’s a really tough project, even for someone with rework experience. Motherboards tend to be really dense, lots of components, all SMD, RoHS solder, and expensive.
I would suggest picking up DIY kits if you want to learn how to solder. If you’ve never held an iron before, start with a through-hole kit. Perhaps something from Evil Mad Scientist, like this:
Once you get the hang of soldering, then you can move on to desoldering / rework.
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Someone, maybe several someones, will be teaching a soldering class in the next few weeks. As @zootboy said, motherboards generally are well-beyond the skill level of beginning soldering students.
For ease of learning, I would suggest picking up a tube of .032" diameter lead based, rosin core solder, as it is much easier to work with than the lead free stuff. Tanner’s should have it, or you could order it online.
Yes, you can prise my leaded solder from my cold, cancerous hands =P
I recommend this:
Best solder I’ve used, and the flux has an oddly sweet smell to it. It’s a teeny bit off-putting actually, since a lot of rosin-core solders smell pretty bad, and I’m still not entirely convinced that it’s not slowly killing me. But I’m still here, so there’s that.
In all seriousness, having good solder is vital to getting good solder joints. We had this spool of “solder” in our robotics lab at school that was horrible. Upon closer inspection, I determined why: it was pure tin. Literally, it said so on the label. I got rid of the crap and replaced it with a spool of the above, and everyone was much happier.
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I have yet to put the classes I proposed on the schedule. I wanted to hook up with our electronics chair on the first class, but our schedules haven’t meshed.
I’ve got enough soldering iron burns on my fingers to say I’m probably not qualified to teach you. To be fair, most of that’s with portable butane irons in awkward non-bench situations. But still, I was dumb.
PM me, or I’m at the space on most Thursdays.
Will do. I get back from New Zealand on Wednesday. Going to be a fun day, leaving at about 8am Wednesday and arriving in Dallas about 8am Wednesday.
I’ll be like Doc Brown stepping off the plane.
Damn, have a safe trip!