Soldering on!

With the new Inventr.io Adventure kit and a couple of other projects coming up, I thought it was time to brush up on some old electronics skills.

Firstly, and most importantly, soldering.

Soldering is the easiest and best way of joining electrical wires and components together with a joint that allows electricity to flow.

I haven’t done any “proper” soldering for many years and technology has progressed with the availability of soldering stations being quite common. I don’t have one, and don’t think I’ll be doing enough to warrant the purchase so I will be sticking with my old school “just plug it into the socket” iron.

Apart from a steady hand and things that need to be soldered, there are 2 other important items. The iron, and some solder. The composition of the solder has changed over the years with safer materials and improvements to how it flows and sets happening all the time. I just picked up a roll of basic solder, but you can purchase many different types depending on your requirements.

The soldering iron in its most basic form is a tip that is heated enough to melt the solder. They can be electric, or sometimes gas powered. Mine simply plugs in and gets hot. The more advanced ones can be set to specific temperatures.

Enough background, on with the project!

This was part of the beta adventure kit 2.0

In the release version of the kit it will be soldered, but I thought I’d use it as a test practice piece.

Holding it in place on a breadboard I then added heat with the soldering iron, then touched the solder to the pin allowing some to melt.

Repeating the other side, it all seems to have worked!

A good indication of a successful joint is if the solder remains shiny. If it’s a full finish, you can always go back and heat it again.

I’m happy that my skills don’t seem to have faded over the decades since I used them! It may not be perfect, but it’s a good start back into the world!