Speedball soldering

[audiomaniac]

I'm building up the Speedball and have a couple of questions regarding soldering/desoldering (unfortunately). First, should the solder joint for the PCB go all the way through the hole on the board? For example, if I am soldering from the bottom, should the solder flow all the way through the hold onto the component above (a little)? Or am I just trying to solder it to the pad? If not, is it still a good joint?

Then regarding desoldering, I'm trying to use a desoldering braid (Chem-Wik). It seems that I have to hold it between the iron and the board for a very long time to try to get it to work and I'm afraid of damaging the board. I'm using a Hakko and soldering on the board at 660 degrees. When I built the Crack I soldered at 670 degrees. It seems that maybe I don't have the iron hot enough? I also have a solder sucker, which works pretty well, but is hard to use in some of the small places on the board.  I've watched videos and they make it look so easy. You just heat the braid up and presto the solder magically wicks away.

So far, I like building the Crack better... 

[porcupunctis]

You just need a good solder joint on the pad.  A good joint will cover the pad and rise up the pin/leg of the component.  Ideally, it will be shiny and convex.  If it is dull, like brushed aluminum then you probably have what they call a solder "blob".  This is not a good joint and means the solder has not melded with the pad and leg very well or not at all.

De-soldering wick can be a pain.  Try tipping your iron with a little solder to get some rosin on it.  That will help the heat flow and melt the joint a little quicker. 

Don't get frustrated.  I've buggered up a few solder pads learning to work with circuit boards and it's not hard to do.

[audiomaniac]

You just need a good solder joint on the pad.  A good joint will cover the pad and rise up the pin/leg of the component.  Ideally, it will be shiny and convex.  If it is dull, like brushed aluminum then you probably have what they call a solder "blob".  This is not a good joint and means the solder has not melded with the pad and leg very well or not at all.

De-soldering wick can be a pain.  Try tipping your iron with a little solder to get some rosin on it.  That will help the heat flow and melt the joint a little quicker. 

Don't get frustrated.  I've buggered up a few solder pads learning to work with circuit boards and it's not hard to do.

Thanks for the info. I'll double check my soldering. Plus I appreciate the suggestion on desoldering. I'll give that a try. I'm learning a lot and get better as I go along....slowly.

[Maxhawk]

You do need a good bit of heat to make solder wick work since you've got to heat all that copper braid. I crank my iron up to 800F momentarily when using solder wick. The speedball PCB seems to withstand heat pretty well and the wick works wonderfully with it totally removing all the solder from within the hole. I use some flux cleaner afterwards.

[audiomaniac]

You do need a good bit of heat to make solder wick work since you've got to heat all that copper braid. I crank my iron up to 800F momentarily when using solder wick. The speedball PCB seems to withstand heat pretty well and the wick works wonderfully with it totally removing all the solder from within the hole. I use some flux cleaner afterwards.

OK, thanks!