Just putting together my Tech Edge DIY wideband. Finished up soldering all the components in... I wish i had a nice electronically temperature controllered soldering station, but alas all ih ave is the home depot 25 dollar soldering pencil.



Any how, should the rosin flux contained in the solder be removed once the device has been completed for assembly? what should i use to remove the flux? I do not believe it is the new water soluble stuff, my shop techincian at school told me to clean it off but i'm at home now with no access to my lab.



Thanks

-Jason

 

Preparation

Before you begin any soldering job, a few minutes of preparation will save you plenty of time once you get working. First, make sure that the area you’re working in is nice and clean. There should be nothing lying around that might interfere with your work. Run through a mental checklist of all the items you might need for the job. Have the components you’ll be soldering cleaned, disassembled, and ready to work on. Have your iron pre-heated before it comes in contact with anything. If your iron is temperature adjustable, a setting between 650 degrees and 700 degrees should be sufficient for any RC job when using the correct solder and tip. If your iron is not temperature adjustable, a 35W to 40W iron should be sufficient. Allow your iron a good five minutes to pre-heat before you begin.



The Fundamentals

• Always keep your iron clean. Before every solder application, wipe down your iron on a damp sponge. It’s important that the sponge is just damp and not soaked. No special solution is used to wet the sponge; regular tap water will work, but distilled water works best. If the sponge is too wet, it will drop the temperature of the iron and shorten the life of your tips. After you’ve cleaned the tip of the iron with your sponge, apply a small amount of solder to the tip. This is called tinning and is extremely important. The solder should flow to a 1/8” to 1/4” area of the iron. If the solder ***** up on the tip and doesn’t spread, then you might need to do a tip service (see sidebar) or replace the tip altogether.





• Clean is key. Before applying any flux or solder to something that is about to be soldered, you must thoroughly clean both items that are going to be soldered. You’re cleaning the item of old flux or oils that might have been left over from your fingertips. To clean the item, fill a small dropper bottle with isopropyl alcohol and drop a few drops on the tip of the swab. If you don’t have a dropper bottle you can dip your clean cotton tipped swab in the bottle of alcohol. With the alcohol soaked swab wipe the area that will be soldered clean.



Flux everything. Even if you’re using rosin core solder, you should flux everything when it comes to important components. After you’ve cleaned the item being soldered, wipe or dab a small amount of flux on the area that will be soldered. If you’re soldering a wire to a circuit board, flux both the circuit board and the wire.



Avoid the excess. When working with a circuit board, too much solder can be a big problem. If it crosses any of the trace work, the solder can short out the component once power is applied. Trace work is the name for the etching that transfers electricity across a circuit board. Always keep your solder sucker handy. When removing a component from a circuit board, remove any remaining solder with your solder sucker. Apply heat to the solder, once melted, and suck it.



When working with circuit boards, the most important thing to remember is that pressure is the enemy—either pressure from pulling or tugging on a piece of wire you’re trying to remove; or pressure from the iron as you press harder, trying to apply or remove something. Use a delicate touch whenever you’re working with circuit boards. You may want to practice a little on something that can be destroyed to a good grip on the process. Circuit boards are pretty heat-tolerant. You can keep heat on a circuit board for 10 to 15 seconds without risk of damaging something, as long as you’re aware of the amount of pressure you’re exerting on the board

 

thast from an old manual I had, as far as the flux goes, if it's only a little, it won't hurt, but if you got it everywhere some rubbing alcohol on a q-tip should work

 

i just ordered an 80 watt weller iron.......i'll let you know how it works when we have to do some wiring

 

i think ihave hte exact manual, and yup i cleaned all the contacts with rubbing alchol before fixing the component.



I just have a tad of flux, there is flux cleaner available at my school's lab, just hard finding it anywhere else.



I wish i had a temp adjustbale iron... maybe i'll get one... 150 cdn roughly for a weller.

 

I do some point to point work. If your gonna upgrade, get a Weller WTCP or adjustable temp ones. On the WTCP (among the most expensive), you control the temp by swtiching the temp. They are magnetic and will continue to add power until something melts. Good luck!

 

Butane irons are sweet for in-car work.

 

As far as cleaning the contacts with alcohol, as suggested, be sure to wipe off the alcohol residue with a damp cloth (not recommended on bare copper, use a Freon based cleaner and wipe clean).



I recommend this solder:



Kester 245



This flux dries clear and is non-corrosive hence you don't need to clean it off (sometimes I clean it off on large solder joints for appearance purposes only).



I use this iron, one of the best you can get and worth every penny:



EC2002M controller w/ WE-EC1201A iron



My model has been superseded I have no idea what the replacement model number is. Be sure to pick up a soldering pump and some solder wick for those touch up jobs. A pretty joint is a long lasting one.



I have been soldering for about 20 years and I've taken high reliability aeronautical soldering classes, so if you have any questions let me know.

 

Has anyone found a solvent to properly clean the FC ECU harness wires yet?