A guy on the keyboard discord pointed out my soldering was sloppy

I was real proud of my last build, a 65% with some nice creamy switches I'd been hyped about for weeks. Posted a pic of the PCB and this random dude just commented "look at those cold joints on row 3." I was kinda annoyed at first but I zoomed in and yeah he was totally right, there were like 4 or 5 spots where the solder hadn't flowed all the way around the pin. Took me a good hour to redo them all with a fresh tip and some new flux core solder. Now I double check every single joint with a magnifying lamp before I even think about putting the case together. Fixed a whole bunch of weird key chatter I was blaming on the switches too. Has anyone else had a stranger's critique actually fix a problem you didn't even know you had?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy43911d ago

Look at those cold joints on row 3" is basically my new life motto now, I put it on a sticky note above my soldering station. My first builds looked like I was trying to melt the PCB with a hair dryer, not flow solder.

mason_jackson11d ago

Funny how that one phrase shows up everywhere once you hear it. I started spotting cold joints in my code workflow too, like when I skip a step and my variables just sit there not connecting right. Same in cooking, you rush the roux and end up with lumpy gravy that just sits on the plate. It's like the universe keeps reminding me that rushing things creates weak spots everywhere you look.