solder practice

[mikey63366]

I bought coolrunner and everything you need.

So i decided to practice on old xbox 360 that dont work anymore..

Can someone tell me how I'm doing with soldering?

Im using old cheap speaker cable laying around, probably not the best stuff to use.

Issues I'm having getting solder on the iron.. I am using Flux..


Can't get images to appear in post?

http://imageshack.us/g/685/20111220201202.jpg/

 

[Martin C]

You're not doing all that bad. First thing I saw was too much solder. You'll be surprised how little you need once you've tinned the wires before starting. the stuff you're using is thick multi-strand and will take a lot of the heat from the joint.

 

[mikey63366]

So I should not tin the points im soldering to? only the wire?

So the wire im practicing with is the best?

Thanks

 

[Martin C]

no, tin both the point and the wire, but nowhere near as much. If you have any bell wire, this is better to practice with.

 

[mikey63366]

radio shack carry this bell wire? I tried to search for bell wire but came up with lots of results..


*hope i'm not posting in wrong section

 

[Martin C]

Well it's coolrunner support to a degree...

Do you have the coolrunner already?

 

[mikey63366]

It will be here tomorrow along with Nand-X , NAND-X & CoolRunner Slim QSB Install Kit , NAND-X To CoolRunner JTAG Cable , NAND-X USB Update Cable


I know it comes with the wires, don't want to ruin them .


Also notice when i was practicing had the switch to 30-watt and not 15-watt...

 

[Martin C]

30 watt will be fine. You get slim and phat wires in with the coolrunner, so practice with the ones not needed for your board. The points you want to practice are STBY_CLK (B) and CPU_PLL_BYPASS (A).

 

[mikey63366]

30 watt will be fine. You get slim and phat wires in with the coolrunner, so practice with the ones not needed for your board. The points you want to practice are STBY_CLK (B) and CPU_PLL_BYPASS (A).

these points are for phat only correct? b/c i don't see point A for slim.

How is Slim compared to Phat, which one is easier for novice?

 

[RROD!]

the phat is about as easy as the slim

 

[Dosk3n]

Theyre both the same. I actually prefer doing the slims as a personal preference but they have the same degree of skill needed for both.

Your soldering is not half bad. Like martin said, maybe a little bit too much solder but thats common really when your new to soldering and unsure how much is needed. Once using flux the solder flows so easily that you dont need that much.

Good luck with your install, you shouldnt have too much of a problem.

 

[tul18]

im sorry to highjack this thread, but can we use wires from network cables and get good results or not really?

 

[Xmarksthesh0t]

network for practise? It really depends on how thick it is. See the wires of someone elses install's look for proof and see how thick those wires are.

I also need to start practising.

 

[tul18]

network for practise? It really depends on how thick it is. See the wires of someone elses install's look for proof and see how thick those wires are.

I also need to start practising.

i dont mean to practise, i really mean to use them

 

[Xmarksthesh0t]

i dont know but I guess you can use anything that is the right size and is not used but im no pro im currently watching this while i type why not to?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIT4ra6Mo0s"]Basic Soldering For Electronics Lesson 1 - "Solder & Flux" - YouTube[/ame]

 

[diaboliq20]

im sorry to highjack this thread, but can we use wires from network cables and get good results or not really?

hhmmm...hijacking seems to be in the air today - why use network wire, when the coolrunner comes shipped with wires designed specially for the job, the correct guage, and cut to an exact length?

 

[tul18]

hhmmm...hijacking seems to be in the air today - why use network wire, when the coolrunner comes shipped with wires designed specially for the job, the correct guage, and cut to an exact length?

because i dont have it anymore, i need to replace the original wires with some that we usually have around us everyday.

 

[danxbmc]

Also to the OP. Practice again with the bare minimum of the actual wire exposed. As a rule the ones that come with Coolrunner also have perhaps a little too much exposed so once you've tinned them cut a little bit off. If I'm feeling lazy I'll leave them as is and that's just fine if you can direct the wires away from other exposed solder points etc. but to play safe trim them down a bit.

 

[mikey63366]

How I do?


Sent from my SAMSUNG SKYROCKET using Tapatalk

 

[locobrown]

I would recommend to avoid point B15 and use the alternate STBY_CLK FT3N2 point . If you can solder wires to the back of the mobo, then point FT3N2 should be a piece of cake. The alternate point is isolated, and doesn't have any resistors near. Tinning B15 can be difficult for many and if one doesn't have a steady hand B15 is so small that if you press and drag the iron on the board due to a shaking hand the resistor beside it can be easily damaged.

Its real easy. Just run the wire from point FT3N2 and solder it directly to the B pad of CoolRunner.

If you do want to solder the right way, test your skills and tin point B15. Just lay a couple of layers of high temp vinyl electrical tape in case your hand should slip or shake. I switched to a 30watt iron as Martin C once taught me and convinced me to ditch the 15watt. I don't see why anyone would struggle with B15, but many haunting threads have appeared with that point damaged that its scary. Once B15 is damaged, trying to recover and be a daunting task. Alternate point B FT3N2, is much more practical.

---------- Post added at 17:51 ---------- Previous post was at 17:47 ----------

The above post is for the SLIM.