12/28/2023 0 Comments Guitar amp key holder![]() Most iron holders have a tray section that contains a sponge that should be dampened with water before you start work. Get into the habit of cleaning solder tips as you work. This tip is a few years old and has done a lot of work, but it’s in relatively good shape and still performing well Contaminants on the tip can also get into the solder joint and cause it to fail. If it looks dull and black rather than silver and shiny, that’s almost certainly the case. When you’re struggling to make solder joints and molten solder falls off the iron, it indicates that the tip has become oxidised. Whichever tip you use, it’s advisable to keep it in good condition. When soldering onto potentiometer casings, where you need to distribute the heat over a wider area, a flatter tip is preferable. Some tips look more like small chisels and others look more like flathead screwdrivers. This is important for two reasons – firstly, tips wear out and secondly, different tip shapes can be used depending on the job at hand.įine and sharp conically shaped tips are ideal for precision work, such as soldering PCB sockets. Top tipsīetter-quality soldering irons allow you to change tips. Various solder-wire gauges are available, but I find 0.7mm fine for most applications. Plumbing solder has acid flux and it’s unsuitable for electronics. I’ve used both and since I prefer leaded, I often use a small extractor fan that draws solder fumes into a carbon filter.Įlectrical solder has embedded rosin flux, which dissolves metal oxide, helps the solder to flow and promotes bonding with metal parts. On the other hand, if you do relatively little soldering and much of it involves maintenance and repair of older equipment, you may choose to stick with leaded solder. The law requires manufacturers to use lead-free solder and you may opt to do the same on health grounds. It’s an alloy of tin, silver and copper, and although lead-free solder joints can be stronger, they can be more brittle, too. Lead-free solder has a higher melting point, so it’s a bit harder to use and you’ll need a powerful soldering iron. ![]() This leaded solder has a 60/40 tin-and-lead ratio, with a rosin flux core and a 0.7mm outer diameter 63/37 leaded solder is also available and its faster transition from liquid to solid can reduce the risk of ‘cold’ solder joints – where parts move before the solder has solidified. It’s still widely sold and it’s the best option for restoration work. Leaded solder is usually a 60/40 mix of tin and lead that melts at around 190☌ and it would have been used in all vintage guitars, pedals and amps. Increasing awareness of the health dangers associated with lead have resulted in legislation restricting the use of lead-based solder in manufacturing. Solder for electronic applications comes in two varieties – lead-based and lead-free. As a rule of thumb, more power is always better and a 50-to-60-watt iron should be sufficient for most jobs. You’ll also end up holding the iron in situ for a long time and despite there being insufficient heat for soldering, you can still melt plastic parts and damage delicate electronic components.Īll irons can reach a temperature high enough to melt solder, and higher power doesn’t necessarily mean the iron will get hotter it actually means it can maintain its temperature even when heat is being dissipated. When the iron cannot maintain a sufficient temperature, solder cannot melt and flow properly to form a solid joint. If you have a 15- or 20-watt soldering iron, you probably won’t be able to do these jobs, because larger metal parts act as a heatsink, dissipating heat from the iron. In amp building, a fair amount of power will also be required for eyelet and turret-board assembly. ![]() Common jobs in guitar DIY that require higher power include soldering ground wires onto potentiometer cases and Stratocaster spring claws. You don’t need much power to solder through-hole components onto a printed circuit board, but soldering a ground connection onto an amplifier chassis is beyond the capability of most soldering irons. Different soldering jobs require differing amounts of power from a soldering iron.
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