Date:         Sat, 11 Sep 2004 22:00:05 -0700
Reply-To:     Vince S <gipsyflies@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Vince S <gipsyflies@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: LED solder gauge
Comments: To: Michael Rule <manikmike@yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:  <20040911233100.86545.qmail@web11207.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Mike,

As others has mentioned, the wattage and tip size is determined by the
job on hand. That is the heat dissipation and thermal mass of the
component(s) and the circuit board (or wire etc) in question. Too low of
a wattage or too high a wattage are equally bad. I personally prefer a
slight hotter iron/tip because I can heat it up very fast. This way I
can minimize the dwell time thus least chance of lifting the trace. Good
soldering take a lot of practice. A common poor soldering is oxidizing
the solder. The rosin is for cleaning the metal being solder as well as
to prevent oxidation so it is important to lift the iron before all the
rosin is vaporized.

The best solder iron for the modern surface mounted electronics is
heated by radio wave. They have incredibly fast respond time to regulate
the heat regardless of the heat transferred during soldering. They are
however very expensive. I use a magnetically regulated iron with good
old heating element at home. The lowest cost irons are unregulated.


- Vince

http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net <http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net/>

1989 Vanagon GL Camper
1993 Mazda Miata
1996 Land Rover Discovery
2005 Mini Cooper S

 <http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net/>

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Rule [mailto:manikmike@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 4:31 PM
To: Vince S; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: RE: LED solder gauge


Hi Vince,

Thanks!

Regarding "right soldering iron", then I'm guessing a lower wattage for
smaller jobs (circuit board work) and greater for larger (general wiring
of connectors etc)?

Cheers,
Mike

Vince S <gipsyflies@comcast.net> wrote:

Mike,

The gauge of the solder is not at all critical as the right soldering
iron. The spool of solder I use say "44" rosin core. A very wide range
of solder gauge will work just fine. Just be careful not to over heat
the PCB or else you may lift the trace.



- Vince

http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net
1989 Vanagon GL Camper
1993 Mazda Miata (for sale)
1996 Land Rover Discovery
2005 Mini Cooper S




-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Michael Rule
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 1:57 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: LED solder gauge


Hi All,

A question for the Electronics Guru's: what gauge solder do you
recommend when replacing vanagon LED's?

Thankyou,
Mike



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