Question Do I need to purchase a new pcb set?

[Sully_:0)]

Hell all! I am super new to soldering and this whole portable thing. I purchased the parts for the Ashida and I realized how bad I am at soldering. One of the gold pieces on the pcb set got torn off lol. I assume its important. I just figured I would show you guys so you can laugh at me and maybe tell me how I can do this a little better.

 

[AFE123]

If I were to imagine, you can probably wire up the gnd pad on the u amp to the gnd pad next to the 1.8V pad. What kinda soldering iron are you using? Ideally, you'd want to use a temperature controlled iron. For practice, work on a practice board or practice soldering on an old damaged board.

 

[Stitches]

If I were to imagine, you can probably wire up the gnd pad on the u amp to the gnd pad next to the 1.8V pad. What kinda soldering iron are you using? Ideally, you'd want to use a temperature controlled iron. For practice, work on a practice board or practice soldering on an old damaged board.

This. What kind of iron and solder are you currently using? Are you using decent flux?

 

[Sully_:0)]

Here is the link the the iron I am using, I wasn't using any flux for this piece, should I have? I have tried using flux and it didn't work well for me although I think I had some bad flux. Amazon product

 

[Sully_:0)]

Looks like it didn't want my link, here is the name of the iron......
YIHUA 926 III 60W Digital Display Soldering Iron Station Kit w 2 Helping Hands, 6 Extra Iron Tips, Lead-Free Solder, Solder Sucker, S/S Tweezers, °C/ºF Conversion, Auto Sleep & Calibration Support

 

[Stitches]

Here is the link the the iron I am using, I wasn't using any flux for this piece, should I have? I have tried using flux and it didn't work well for me although I think I had some bad flux. Amazon product

Ideally yes, you want to be using some no clean flux. Anything by Kester is good, stay away from the rosin shit.

Also what temp did you set your iron to?

 

[Sully_:0)]

True I think I had it at like 570? I was having troubles getting the solder to melt by the tip of the iron. So when I would solder a pad it would connect to the one next to it. How do y’all make sure that doesn’t happen? People make it look so easy

 

[Stitches]

570 Fahrenheit? That's quite low for a standard type iron, you want to bump that up to around 660f (350c) if using leaded solder, higher still if using unleaded. If you're trying to solder at such a low temp, it explains the difficulties you've been having and why the joints look cold and stringy.

The simplest way to prevent the iron from bridging nearby pads is to have the temp high enough that the tip can melt your solder easily. If you've been having to use more than the first few mm of the end of the tip to conduct enough heat to melt the solder, that's the source of all your woes. Crank the iron up, make the joints solid, come back to dodgy joints later if they look scuffed, and use flux! Flux helps with preventing bridging as well

 

[Sully_:0)]

For some reason I thought I wasn't supposed to go above 600.... Thank you I will def give that a try and do some more research on soldering. Also so that pad right across from the one I messed up, is that also a ground pad? If so, am I able to just solder a wire to each pad to connect the ground?

 

[Sully_:0)]

This is the "pad" I am referring to. This is also ground? I see the big letters GND lol but I thought it was for the pad above it

 

[AFE123]

For some reason I thought I wasn't supposed to go above 600.... Thank you I will def give that a try and do some more research on soldering. Also so that pad right across from the one I messed up, is that also a ground pad? If so, am I able to just solder a wire to each pad to connect the ground?

That is the ground pad I was referring to. It should (Correct me if I'm wrong) usually be connected to the U-amps ground. With that said, you should be able to wire up the u amps ground directly to the ground pad mentioned.

 

[Stitches]

For some reason I thought I wasn't supposed to go above 600.... Thank you I will def give that a try and do some more research on soldering. Also so that pad right across from the one I messed up, is that also a ground pad? If so, am I able to just solder a wire to each pad to connect the ground?

I wouldn't leave the iron on that temp for more than 10-15 mins if you aren't actively using it, but it's plenty safe to set the iron that high. Leadfree solder has a high melting point, so the iron should be capable of sitting there just fine. If you leave the iron hot for a while without re-tinning it it can start to slowly tarnish and the tip can degrade (especially if it's a cheap one but it still takes many hours), so the easy way to prevent that is to keep the tip tinned and don't let it sit for more than 10-15 minutes without use if it's on. This way you preserve the element a bit, and you won't have to replace the tips as often.

I'd also grab yourself a little container of tip tinner compound. It's a solder powder + flux mix, and you can apply it to your tips before putting the iron away (and every couple hours of continuous operation in long sessions) to keep the working end of the tip nice and protected.

 

[Sully_:0)]

Alright so I think I am starting to get the hang of it, if I could re-do this I am sure it would look much better. Although I wanted to ask if this would suffice? A few concerns I had was 1. Is the small amount of residue between some of these connections going to be a problem? 2. A few of these connections I used much less solder than the others, specifically WS, HL, and 1V8, would this be an issue? 3. I did not use flux, yet it looks as if I did. What is the glossy, wet-like residue around some of the pads?

 

[Sully_:0)]

Oh also, should I use magnet wire for the ground connection? or 22 awg wire? Thank you guys for the help so far, I was discouraged at first but I think I can do this.

 

[Stitches]

Solder wire is hollow and most brands contain a basic (and shitty) rosin flux inside with largely burns away when the solder is melted. Externally applied flux is more effective, as it can be applied liberally to an area and cleaned off later once the work is done. The inconsistent solder amounts don't really matter in this application. As long as there's continuity, it's good.

As for the wire to use for the ground repair, any stranded wire will do

 

[Sully_:0)]

Hey! I ended up ordering a new pcb set and did a much better job getting it set up. My next worry is this ribbon cable connector, these pins are so small! I have some flux on the way to help but do you have any suggestions? This seems so hard, any help is appreciated.

 

[Stitches]

With some proper flux it will be much easier to do. If your iron came with a set of replaceable tips, I'd recommend using a thin chisel tip if you have one. Otherwise any thin pointed tip, or horseshoe tip will do. With pins like that in a straight line, the way to do it is to apply flux to all the pins, apply a small amount of solder to your iron, and then just slowly and gently drag the tip of the iron horizontally across the pads. The flux will allow the solder to flow easily, and it'll glob to and grab the pins on its own. After that you can pretty easily resolve any shorts by dragging your iron in line with the pins to grab any excess solder.

You can also just do one pin at a time if that sounds too daunting

This video demonstrates a couple of ways to solder IC and socket pins with an iron. The part at 1:20 will probably be most useful

 

[Sully_:0)]

jesus you are so helpful and quick to respond, thank you I think once the flux gets in this won't be as hard as I thought.

 

[Sully_:0)]

Hey is this the right size screws? They arrived but seem pretty small, I just figured I’d ask!

 

[Stitches]

The BOM says M2x5, so yeah those should be correct