Explore

Lab 04 - Intro to Solder Lab

Lab Introduction:

In this lab, we practiced soldering, specifically lap joints and pcp boards.

Materials Used:

Soldering Station

Base Station

Soldering Iron

Sponge

Solder (for this lab, we used leaded solder)

Wire Cutter

Wire Stripper

Wire

PCB (Printed Circuit Board)

Resistors

Solder Wick

PPE Personal Protective Equipment

Safety Goggles

PT1: Lap-Joints:

Starting with the lap joints, I prepped the 24-gauge wire by cutting segments and stripped the ends about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch.

To solder the wires, I started by tinning the wires by heating the exposed wire with the soldering iron. Then, I started to apply the solder with the iron to the wire. With the wire fairly evenly heated, the solder flowed on its own across the heated part of the wire. Once this was done to both wires with a reasonable amount of solder, I laid the wires together, making a lap joint as the solder hardened. My three attempts are in order on the right.

PT2: PCB

Going forward with the PCB, the process was fairly similar to the lap joints. To solder the resistors to the PCB, I attached the resistors by threading them into the board’s holes and bent the remaining wire to hold it in place. Then, I used the soldering iron to heat both the discs on the PCB and the resistor wire. and then applied solder to the contact point in a reasonable amount, which then flowed into the hole and around the wire due to the heat. My two attempts are in order on the right.

Self-Reflection:

Before this lab, I had little experience soldering, having only done it once before.

Lap Joints

My first joint was ok at best, while the joint stuck, I used too little solder, which didn’t make a good enough connection. The second joint was a little better, although I did burn some of the casing off the wire. On my third attempt, I added extra solder, which, due to the temp difference, did not fully solidify with the whole joint. Additionally, there were microfractures on the underside of the joint.

PCB

The PCB attempts were better, as my first attempt was probably the best. Even though there was extra solder, it had enough to cover the wire and both contact discs. The second attempt was a little worse, even though I used less solder. It was just too little to fully cover the top-side contact disc.