Hey all,

I'm just starting in electronics. I've been practising soldering and desoldering before I attempted my first serious soldering. Image attached. Could you please give me feedback about the quality of the soldering?
Is it OK or crap and I have to do it again?

Thanks

 

Its lovely-I'm jealous.

 

Its lovely-I'm jealous.

Thanks.. you didn't see my hands shaking while soldering....

 

The picture is not very clearly, but it still can see your soldering is quite good.

 

Hey all,

I'm just starting in electronics. I've been practising soldering and desoldering before I attempted my first serious soldering. Image attached. Could you please give me feedback about the quality of the soldering?
Is it OK or crap and I have to do it again?
Thanks

Excellent! I only wish industrial soldering was up to that quality!

Sincerely
HP

 

A bit too much solder or you aren't letting it flow enough (solder should look concave).. PWM1 needs to be reheated. Its too blobby CTS/RTS a bit too
But not bad at all for a first timer.
AD3 looks perfect from here

Solder should fill 75% of the through hole

 

Thanks, for the detailed feedback and commendations.
I have to solder in one more header. So, I'll do a few more practice solders on a practice board with the aim of achieving concave solder joint before I do the extra soldering on this breakout board.

It's certainly not easy and takes a fair bit of practice.

 

Overall a good job. I've been soldering since I was 9 years old (I'm 65 now) and I do only slightly better than what you've shown in that photo. I agree with mcgyvr's comment about using somewhat more solder than is necessary, though.

 

I hope you are not soldering the pins while they are in the breadboard though as that might cause the breadboard connections to be damaged with the heat.

 

is ad3 a bit cold?

 

I hope you are not soldering the pins while they are in the breadboard though as that might cause the breadboard connections to be damaged with the heat.

Actually, I am. Thanks for letting me know of the potential problem with that method. Fortunately, this is one of several breadboards that I have so, I might just use that as my soldering breadboard just in case I damage it.

 

is ad3 a bit cold?

Well, it does look a bit anemic ...

 

Well, it does look a bit anemic ...

No. Those fat looking legs are what you see after somebody has been all over a circuit board looking for an intermittent solder joint. It's never going to hurt anything except your wallet. You can use several extra pounds of solder per million circuit boards doing things that way.

What? You aren't hand soldering millions of circuit boards?
Then don't spend a moment worrying about the bulge of the droplet.

 

Actually, I am. Thanks for letting me know of the potential problem with that method. Fortunately, this is one of several breadboards that I have so, I might just use that as my soldering breadboard just in case I damage it.

Not just that also it gives a heatsink which increases possibility for well hidden cold joints.

When I solder for instance SOIC, I always reheat it one or two times and look how the solder flows- because of bad experience.
finally, look again with a magnifuying glass, remove the flux.

 

Soldering is an true art. My advice is...

1. Heat joint with iron for 2 seconds (iron on an 45 degree angle touching both the pin and the donut on the board)
2. Slowly feed in the solder to the pin and the pad (not the iron)
3. Cease after adequate solder has flowed

If it looks good then it IS good.

 

I come accross pertially failed joints all the times or just on the margin, in consumer products, and looking at my own work.
I solder for a long time and I'm not too bad at it, but have to check SMD work very carefully. It often needs another reheating.
I'm not happy ith marginally SMD joints as they are very small.