Learning to solder better...resources?

I wanna stop torturing shadowkn55 with all my broken shit !

I've bought a bunch of little practice kits off amazon so hopefully I'll get some gains of I spend time with them.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend some resources/texts that would help me understand circuits better and help me learn to diagnose problems like broken traces, etc.

Also, if anyone knows of any practice kits for surface-mounted caps/chips that would be awesome too.

Thanks in advance brothers!

There's no way to succinctly answer this question. Fixing boards is equal parts familiarity with the specific system architecture, familiarity with electronics in general, and intuition. It would probably be easier to walk through a specific project you want to fix.

ebinsugewa said:

There's no way to succinctly answer this question. Fixing boards is equal parts familiarity with the specific system architecture, familiarity with electronics in general, and intuition. It would probably be easier to walk through a specific project you want to fix.

Click to expand...

Exactly what he said.

I would like to add you have to ACTUALLY want to learn and know that learning will take time.

Makes sense.There are a lot of schematics lying around for different boards and consoles, so if I practice reading them and applying them to a project maybe I'll get something out of it.

Thanks again!

Practice makes perfect... knowing what temp to set the iron makes a big difference.

I started soldering when I was 14 at school in electronics class. We soldered capacitors together and then hooked them up to a desk power supply. Blew the fuck out of them. We also melted glue and burnt shit too, that was fun.

First lesson, they're hotter than the sun so no touchy touchy!

This guy has a good amount of board repair info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l039y8dX5A&index=2&list=PLlm6iaoRNFSwBFoEjk51ICl5D-bImUc3t

The EEVBlog videos are pretty good: https://youtu.be/J5Sb21qbpEQ

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...ir-equiptment-resources-and-trusted-repairers

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?248174-What-s-a-good-electronics-circuitry-book

Wow, thanks everybody! I'm gonna start doing my research.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdonPqR0pM9bVWprZbjNllw

This guy has a BUNCH of videos on soldering techniques for just about anything you could imagine. You'll learn how to identify different package types too.

The tools you use will play a big part in the success of your soldering also.
Skill is one thing, but even the most skilled person will have trouble using a soldering iron without temperature control, or trying to drag-solder a fine pitch TSOP package without a hoof or chisel tip on their iron.

I highly recommend investing in a temp control iron with changeable tips, and a bag of assorted tips to get familiar with.
Get a desoldering braid, solder, flux (I use a small paintbrush and jelly flux, some people like liquid flux pens), tweezers (both the kind that require you to squeeze shut and the kind that require squeeze to open)
If you plan on removing surface-mount parts, an SMD rework heat gun (not the kind you remove paint with) is recommended. If you're desoldering through-hole, a solder sucker is recommended.

Next, find an old piece of junk equipment and try to de-solder everything on it, then solder it back on. Get a feeling for how much heat works on different parts and board layouts (like how large ground planes will suck heat away and take FOREVER to desolder at normal temps), note how high heat can cause solder pads or holes to lift off the board (something to avoid).

Just practice on all kinds of junk and get a feeling for it.
It's a very rewarding skill.