Edit: using a 25W iron whose tip wasn't heating up properly. Had to use its sides to get the solder to melt, which affected precision.
It's ugly af but it works
I'm a solder soldier
And I'm so sorry for that last part
Now I need to by something that holds everything in place, because what took most time was, well, that.
Inspired by the Dull Men’s Club.
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Tip: For many years, decades even, I thought I was bad at soldering. Sure, I got things done, but it was time consuming and ugly.
Then I bought a quality soldering station, and it was like night and day - I had my suspicions since I somehow did a better soldering job at work than at home.
Then I got myself a Weller WE 1010 and concluded that I wasn't the problem. My solder joints come out so much better now. Oh, and of course, use solder flux.
And another tip: 3D printer is a really nice tool to have if you're into electronics. The amount of stuff you can build suddenly seems unlimited.
Same here. Never soldered much so I usually had a cheap pen around and my jobs were always fugly and a pain in the ass to do, Then I got my hands on an old 140 watt Weller 8200 gun.
My work is still fugly but it's a hundred times better than it was before and I can do it in half the time... it makes things soooo much easier.
Thanks! Even though this was my first time, I felt that something was off..
I found the Weller 1010 for $214. I'll sleep on it and then probably buy it anyway. 🤣
What were you soldering at work, it I may ask? :) Space shuttle circuit boards? 😎
Maritime electronics, mostly. Autopilots, radars, echosounders, etc. Plus interfacing radios with positioning systems.