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Ideal Soldering Practice?

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    Ideal Soldering Practice?

    Hey all,

    I'm a newbie in terms of electronics repair, and I finally want to learn how to solder now that I have the proper kit.

    However, I still have fears about practicing indoors, as my house and furniture is 90% wood, including my work desk.

    Would it be practical to try my first soldering outside? Should I keep a fire extinguisher on standby? Any help appreciated.

    #2
    Re: Ideal Soldering Practice?

    Na it's not hot enough to cause a fire. I've never seen it come close anyways. My iron just gets to 850, but i've never had it that high. It won't catch wood on fire unless you have like, a flammable substance on it? Keep your iron stable or solder will occasionally fly and get on the floor so watch out for that, it won't catch on fire, but it will burn the floor.

    wear goggles

    I keep a fire extinguisher nearby just because I test MB's and sometimes PSU's on that bench
    Last edited by Uranium-235; 01-18-2021, 09:58 PM.
    Cap Datasheet Depot: http://www.paullinebarger.net/DS/
    ^If you have datasheets not listed PM me

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      #3
      Re: Ideal Soldering Practice?

      I concur with Uranium - it's pretty safe. Just make sure you do the following:

      1) Use a good soldering iron stand that will keep the iron from falling out and accidentally burning something - most importantly yourself. If it's just a standard iron that you plug directly in the wall, place the iron so that you minimize the chance of the cord getting burned by the tip, as that could cause a short-circuit in the cord or possibly even shock you.

      2) Keep flammable liquids and paper towel away from hot tip of the iron - at least 2-3 feet (60-90 cm), to be safe. Wood is pretty safe - it won't catch fire even if you touch it with the soldering iron. You'd have to have the temperature cranked all the way up... and even then it will char it badly, but still may not set it on fire. Heck, I've dropped my soldering iron by accident a few times on my carpet while fully hot. It made a nasty burn mark on the carpet (not to mention the terrible stench), but it didn't even get close to setting it on fire.

      3) Wear safety glasses, again, as suggested above. Sometimes, especially when tinning fine wires, you may flick the wire by accident, and that can send hot solder towards your face. I've done it more than enough times to know to avoid it, so I don't wear safety glasses when soldering all the time. But when working on old Phenolic (dark-orange colored) PCBs, I do often put my safety glasses on, because old Phenolic boards sometimes like to popcorn and send solder splat everywhere if they were exposed to moisture over the years. So for starters, do wear safety glasses. But as you get experienced with soldering, you will eventually see they aren't really needed in most cases. I still wear mine only when soldering specific things (old Phenolic PCB, as mentioned, among other things.)

      4) Depending on the flux you use, it may be a good idea to air out the room during or after you are done soldering. Solder fumes aren't really dangerous in small amounts - which is what you'd get with a regular soldering iron, more or less. Now, if you did plan on soldering for 8 hours a day every day for many years, then yeah... you might want to implement some kind of a venting/filter system. But for just the occasional soldering for ah hour or two once in a while, it won't really matter.

      You also shouldn't need a fire extinguisher. I keep a bottle of water nearby. Yes, water may sound like a bad idea on electronics... but as long as things are unplugged, water is generally OK to use. On that note, if you do ever do anything with Lithium Ion batteries and they catch fire, it's actually better to try to extinguish/cool them with water than other substances - especially in a multi-cell battery, as that can prevent the overheated/compromised battery to cool down and not heat up the other batteries near it. So this should further prevent the other cells from bursting.
      Last edited by momaka; 01-20-2021, 03:32 AM.

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        #4
        Re: Ideal Soldering Practice?

        what iron do you have?

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