Soldering beginner... wood table carpet floor

[Me myself & him]

How do I keep from ruining the table when I solder?
I thought about using news paper under my work, but then I had a vision of my studio in ashes. Any suggestions? I don't have much money, but if it's really neccesary I'll spend it.

[chippyd]

you could use a metal tray

[Me myself & him]

Thanks

Is aluminum too frail?

[DigitalDon]

You'd be surprised how quickly the solder cools after it leaves the iron (unless it dropped on your skin ). Just about anything under your work would do fine but if you're worried then just put some aluminum foil under it. The foil will disperse the heat quickly when the solder hits it.

DD

[gatorhaus]

Basic Soldering Techniques for beginners!

The goal in soldering is to get an electrical and mechanical (structural strength) conductive connection between two or more components.

Things that will cause a degradation in that electrical connection.

1. Dirty Work- Make sure your wires/leads are clean before soldering, you can use isoproply alcohol to clean finger grease and oils on the wires that come from stripping and handling the bare conductors.

2. Movement during cooling. Most solder is made up of a Lead-Tin proportionality. Solder goes from a solid to a liquid phase (and vice cersa) via a "plastic region" (I'm not going into all that) But If you move the solder joint during the cooling phase you can get cracks in your solder joints and airgaps. Which can cause loss of electrical connection. Its analagous to cutting half of the strands in a conductor.

3. Overheating and Underheating. A solder joint that is overheated will have a grayish finish to it, Which can cause a loss of mechanical strength of the joint. Underheating is easy to tell because the solder looks like a blob and has not flowed into all the cracks and crevices.

4. Oxidation, (usually come from not using flux or rosin core solder) Flux (which is found in rosin core solder or can be used separtely with solid core solder) does two things, one it aids in cleaning the soldering surface and protects the soldering surfaces during heating and cooling from oxidation.

Characteristics of a good soldering connection.
Bright Mirror like finish.
Smooth apperance - not pits or cracks.
Solder flowed evenly into all areas - One area does not have an excessive amount of solder as compared to other areas.
Its also a good idea to clean the flux off of your components after soldering with ispropyl alcohol and wipe clean with a lint free chemical wipe (paper towel although most paper towels are not lint free BTW).

Remember keep your iron clean (wipe with a damp sponge and wire brush occansionally, and keep fresh melted solder on the tip.)

Heat the work....apply the solder while keeping the iron on the work and as soon as the solder flows (melts into the work) ........Remove the iron and let cool.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Just a few helpful hints I remember from my days of Electronics Technician Maintenance.

For Audio Connections - You can have the best cable but if your connectors suck so will your sound. My guess is 99% of cable problems are from the connectors.

Happy Soldering
Larry

[Me myself & him]

Thanks you guys,

Larry, I'll print this out and tack it next to my table.

Thanks