Soldering Pins

[potatorage]

How hard is it to solder pins? Anything to watch out for?
REMEMBER I'M AS GOOD SOLDERING AS BUSH IS BEING PRESIDENT!!!
Can I get someone to do it for me? How much will it cost?

 

[chido]

It's not hard, the first time I ever soldered anything was when I soldered a capacitor and two wires to a diode. What I do is to put some solder on the soldering iron, use a set of helping hands to make one of the diode's pins and the lead touch each other, then I place the soldering iron with the blob of solder under the pin and the lead and place some solder on top. The solder on the bottom will heat up the connection and it will make the solder on the top melt making a quick and strong solder joint. This whole thing doesn't take me more than two seconds to do and it barely makes the diode warm. Of course the diode is in an aixiz module, I don't recommend you ever solder on a bare diode, that's when you'll run into problems.

 

[Deleted member 13229]

Dude, put that soldering gun away and get a new hobby. Well, that is unless you were just exaggerating. ;D

I do exactly what chido does.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Procedure for soldering the pins of a laser diode:

1) Put into Axiz module or whatever will eventually hold the laser diode

2) Tin the pins, i.e. put some solder on your soldering iron and just lightly coat the outside of the pins you'll be soldering to. Also tin the wires you'll be soldering to the pins.

3) Get some helping hands to hold the module + wires you'll be attaching to the pins so that they're in the position you want them (take your time)

4) With that set up, take your soldering iron, put some more solder on the end so there's just a little blob, and with some more solder (because you need the flux in it), touch the joint of the pin and wire until the solder flows and you can see them connected. You don't need much. It also helps to do it quickly after you've put more solder on your iron because there is flux in that solder that helps it flow.

The hardest part is #3, because the wires never seem to stay where you want them.

 

[RattleHead]

3) Get some helping hands to hold the module + wires you'll be attaching to the pins so that they're in the position you want them (take your time)

+1 on that. Radio shack helping hands are worth their weight in gold when it comes to soldering these small parts.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Some of those helping hands will come with a pretty useless magnifying glass. However, what you can do is remove the magnifying glass and attach the alligator clips to it instead, so that you can adjust where the second "hand" is on the bar. It's actually pretty nice for when the clips are situated just a bit too far.

 

[laser_freak]

Tip #1:  Use the right kind of solder.  I prefer 40/60 (or 60/40 I forget which) with the rosin core.  Also, make sure that the diameter of the solder is very small so that you can more easily solder the small pins. But, never, ever, EVER use silver solder... It SUCKS for soldering LDs... The solder doesn't seem to flow at all.

Tip #2:  Always tin the pin of the diode, as well as the wire that you are soldering to it.  Tinning things makes the soldering so much easier.

Tip #3:  Use the right kind of wire.  Never ever use solid wire.  Always use stranded wire because solid wire puts too much stress on the diode's pins.  As for the wire gauge, I prefer 26 AWG, although, because it is small, it is harder for beginners to solder with.

Tip #4:  After you have finished soldering the wire to the pins, heatshrink the wire and the pins to prevent short circuits if the pins are accidentally bent.  To prevent the pins from bending, put dabs of hot glue around the pins.  However, you do not have to use heatshrink tubing if you do not have it.  Hot glue alone is a fine insulator.

Tip #5:  Use the right soldering iron to solder.  The diode is very, very sensitive to heat.  Because of this, you have to make sure you do not hold the soldering iron to the diode's pins for more than 4 seconds.  Therefor, you should not use too powerful of a soldering iron.  I think most people like the basic 15 watt iron from radioshack.  I personally use an adjustable soldering iron that can be found here.  For soldering pins on a laser diode, I usually set it at about 260-290 celsius (500-550 fahrenheit).

Hope this helps
-Jordan

 

[flogged]

Good tips, I think #2 is most important.

lol, i remember the first time i soldered something. i was eight. a fiend and i had purchased one of those tiny little solar cells (pv - from radioshack). we spent ages trying to figure out how to solder two wires to that thing no instructions. couldn't seem to get it to stick. finally my friend was able to drop a blob of solder onto the cell, and it stuck.

 

[nvmextc]

I've learnt never to hold the diode upside down when soldering. SO many times I have had a giant blob of solder over the hole pin surface of the diode.

 

[laser_freak]

I've learnt never to hold the diode upside down when soldering. SO many times I have had a giant blob of solder over the hole pin surface of the diode.

If that's happened to you, then you're using too much solder. :-/ But you do make a good point... Next time I need to solder a LD, I'll clamp it horizontal instead of vertical.

 

[diachi]

Laser_freak, its 60/40, thats what I use anyway so im guessing thats what you use.

Luckily I have my dad if I ever need help soldering, hes good at it, but im improving, those tips above are the same as the ones my dad gave me anyway, so they will be good as my dads been soldering for over 20 years .

Diachi

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Get 63/37 Eutectic solder. It has the lowest melting point of the tin/lead blends, flows more easily, and avoids the plastic state when going from solid to liquid. It's the type usually used with SMT components too.

 

[laser_freak]

Get 63/37 Eutectic solder.  It has the lowest melting point of the tin/lead blends, flows more easily, and avoids the plastic state when going from solid to liquid.  It's the type usually used with SMT components too.

How noticeable is the difference?

 

[laser_freak]

One more tip (I'll update my previous post)...

Never, ever, EVER use silver solder...  It SUCKS for soldering LDs... The solder doesn't seem to flow at all.

 

[Spyderz20x6]

I never use Flux, but flux is so much easier. I like to do things the hard way

 

[pullbangdead]

[quote author=Bionic-Badger link=1213151476/0#11 date=1213575725]Get 63/37 Eutectic solder.  It has the lowest melting point of the tin/lead blends, flows more easily, and avoids the plastic state when going from solid to liquid.  It's the type usually used with SMT components too.

How noticeable is the difference?[/quote]

The difference in liquidus temp between 60/40 (barely hypoeutectic) and 63/37 (almost eutectic, actually slightly hypereutectic) will be small. Exactly at the eutectic, which is at 61.9 wt.% tin, the liquidus temp equals the solidus temp. But the closer you are to the eutectic point, the "more instantaneous" the solidification will be, as there will be less temperature and less time betwene the liquidus and solidus temperatures. But as close as those two ratios are, both less than 2 wt.% from the eutectic composition, the science says the difference should be imperceptible to you. But if it makes you more confident, then it may be worth it.

Since in the real world, things won't solidify at their melting point anyway (you must have undercooling, meaning it must be at a temperature below its melting point), and since the cooling rates during solidification of something as small as drop of solder are so severe, the difference between those two should be imperceptible because the temperature of the solder is going to be below both the solidus and the liquidus before it begins to solidify, and then it will solidify very rapidly.

And the eutectic point will change with pressure, so depending on the altitude at which you're soldering, what's eutectic to 1 person may not be to another. So to hobbyists, it's probably close enough either way.