A friend told me my soldering looked like a bird's nest

I was really proud of my hand wired board, but a buddy in my local meet up group in Austin said my solder joints were huge and messy. He said, 'You're using way too much solder, it's supposed to be a shiny little hill, not a blob.' I watched a video he sent and practiced on old parts for a week. Now my connections are clean and I haven't had a cold joint since. Has anyone else had a basic skill they thought they had down but were totally wrong about?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez1mo agoTop Commenter

That shiny hill thing is a good start, but it's not the only right way. For through-hole parts, a concave fillet is actually the goal, not a dome. The solder should wick up the lead and wet the pad evenly. A perfect joint looks like a tiny, shiny volcano slope. The big blobs are bad because they can hide a cold joint, but a small, smooth cone is fine.

xenar141mo ago

Your buddy was right about the blobs, but is a concave shape always better than a dome? Some old school techs say a slight convex shape is fine if the joint is fully wetted and solid.

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