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Got told my solder joints looked like 'cold spaghetti' and it stung
A senior repair guy at a shop in Portland looked at my motherboard work and said I needed to let the iron sit longer before feeding. I started counting to three on every joint and my failure rate dropped from like 30% to maybe 2%. Anybody else get a piece of criticism that totally changed their technique?
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jessica7074mo ago
Nah, the_tessa's right. Counting is a crutch.
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the_tessa4mo ago
Push back hard on that counting thing - you're just training yourself to hold the iron too long and cook your pads. I've seen guys counting to three on a big ground plane and it still won't flow, meanwhile they're burning the hell out of the opposite side. Temperature control matters way more than time, like if your iron is set right at 350C for leaded solder you don't need to count anything, you just watch the joint wet and pull off. The real trick is figuring out how much heat your specific board sinks away, not some random number. That senior guy gave you a crutch, not a skill.
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west.casey4mo ago
Wait, 350C for leaded solder? That seems a bit hot to me. I usually run around 315-325C for most through-hole work and it wets just fine without cooking the board.
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