[SOLVED] good soldering

1cherokee79

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In Fahrenheit, what temperature to set the soldering iron at when soldering on a circuit board.
 
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Solution
No they aren't in conflict, you have to keep in mind that there are only two different time frames here, either you don't achieve the amount of heat required to melt the solder and so it will never melt or you do achieve the required temp and at that point the solder always melts instantaneously, so you should apply the lowest temp that will melt the solder under the conditions it's in, amount of layers, cooling elements near the solder spot and so on can cool the solder forcing you to use higher temps.

In a case where the time you would have to apply the temp would increase a lot, which is bad for the components, using much higher temps for much shorter times is something to consider.

That's why spot welding is a thing when batteries...
The lowest one that will get the solder to melt in the shortest amount of time possible.

And no this is not a joke answer, there is no one number fits all, some boards are much more delicate than others and/or use different solder, have multiple layers and so on, for each situation a different temp will be better.
 
No they aren't in conflict, you have to keep in mind that there are only two different time frames here, either you don't achieve the amount of heat required to melt the solder and so it will never melt or you do achieve the required temp and at that point the solder always melts instantaneously, so you should apply the lowest temp that will melt the solder under the conditions it's in, amount of layers, cooling elements near the solder spot and so on can cool the solder forcing you to use higher temps.

In a case where the time you would have to apply the temp would increase a lot, which is bad for the components, using much higher temps for much shorter times is something to consider.

That's why spot welding is a thing when batteries are involved, because they need a lot of heat for anything to stick on the poles but prolonged heat on the batteries kill their performance.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHNmVV7THBs
 
Solution
jeesus guys ive never seen an iron that you could set the temp.you press the trigger and when the solder melts you go for it.it sure isnt an exactly an an exactly rocket science.
Even with such cheap irons they use difference Watts causing different temps they reach.
Yes, this is just a theoretical discussion of what is the best way to do it.
In practice if it melts the solder without melting components it's all good.
 

kanewolf

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jeesus guys ive never seen an iron that you could set the temp.you press the trigger and when the solder melts you go for it.it sure isnt an exactly an an exactly rocket science.
A soldering gun and a temperature controlled soldering station are two VERY different things. If I want to solder a ground to a chassis I use a gun. If I want to solder header pins on a raspberry PI is use a soldering station. Just like a pipe wrench and a box end wrench are both wrenches they are very different tools.
 
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1cherokee79

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For soldering gpio headers to a circuit board, using up to 1.0mm of solder wire would around 20 watt soldering iron work or is it to much heat to destroy the gpio heads and circuit board