Skip to content
Safety glasses PantsClosed-toed Shoes Wash your hands before touching anything after handling the solder material (be mindful of this the entire lab. Soldering iron (including the sponge and the brass ball cleaner20 AWG WireWire cuttersWire strippersPCBResistorsSolder wick
Lab 04 Soldering
Soldering
Soldering in aviation is very important and tedious skill. For drones specifically it is important because soldering ensures safe, durable, and efficient electrical connections that can withstand vibrations, reduce weight, and prevent failures in flight.
Pre-lab
Before we started the lab we gathered all of our equipment that we would need and made sure that we had the proper PPE these items included the following
Safety glasses PPE
Materials
Soldering Setup
Lab
Our first step on the lab was to do a lap joint. Lap joints is when two pieces of metal overlap each other and are joined together with solder. Lap joints create a strong connection. They are often used in electrical soldering where the large contact area ensures reliable current flow. They are better at handling vibration.
I set the soldering iron to 4 to heat up and sprayed RO water on the sponge. RO water is reverse osmosis water, we would not be able to put sink water on the sponge because the water is high in minerals such as calcium and magnesium and over time could cause erosion.
To begin, I stripped about a 1/2 inch the insulation off the wire ends, grabbed mine soldering iron and cleaned it off. I did this by wiping it on the sponge and cleaning it on the brass. Then next was to tin the wire. to do this, you add a very thin layer of solder to both of wires once confirmed that those are both shiny and smooth layers of solder, you take the soldering iron and melt the solder on both wires together.
after the wire tinning
My first attempt I had burned the insulation a little bit and fiddled with my solder so it was not shiny, and there was a little bit to much solder, so i tried again until i had the perfect amount of solder, it was a strong hold, it was shiny and smooth.
My second attempt was good and I was able to move onto the next step
The next step was using a resistor and a PCB board. I inserted the wires of the resistor through the top so that they were poking out the back, i angled the wires so that it wouldn’t fall out right away. The goal here was to make a small “volcano” shape. I started with the front of the PCB turned over and put the soldering iron close to the solder pad and let a small amount flow through the back and the top of the PCB. I got an instructors signed off and that was the end of this lab
Reflection
This lab helped me gain more knowledge, confidence, and comfortability with soldering. I had done it once before but this time it was definitely quicker and not as tedious.
Lab 04 - Intro to Soldering.pdf
316.8 kB
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.