[Blindtlk] Soldering revisited

Fri Aug 12 03:39:17 UTC 2011

Joe,

I have done a little of this successfully and I know of others who have done it.  First regarding the pounding solder flat 
and wrapping it, that can work as you said, but you have to be careful to get the wire hot enough to melt the solder.  If 
the iron melts the solder but the wire has not gotten hot enough, you will end up with a cold solder joint.  I have been 
more a fan of placing the end of the solder on the joint and then applying the iron until you feel and/or smell the solder 
begin to melt.  If the method you used has worked, though, you are apparently getting enough heat to the joint.

Soldering always involves experimentation with different types of irons to see what works best for you.  There are 
some that actually use the conductor itself as the bridge between connections thereby heating it.  For the kind of 
soldering you are considering, you need a very fine tip.  Some blind persons have fed solder down the inside of a 
hollow metal tube.  The tube can be placed with the end on the desired connection and is rigid enough to keep in 
place.  The Smith-kettelwell Foundation published a series of articles on soldering and made such tubes available.  It 
was made of a metal that shed heat quickly.  I think that all of the magazines have been archived, so you could 
probably find the series on soldering.  Since those articles, there have been some new irons, though.  Looking for 
those articles might be worth it, though.  

Unlike Brian, I do not believe that because I am not good at something nobody can be.  I have successfully 
resoldered a DIP-style connector where a couple of the pins came loos from the circuit board, and I did quite a bit of 
soldering on larger items.  Experiment and see if you can find that old series of articles on soldering.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:27:11 -0700, T. Joseph Carter wrote:

>ThatG€™s what I was called growing up, but I can tell you that IG€™m 
>certain it doesnG€™t much matter in this case.  I canG€™t see how I could 
>possibly do it under a CCTV, and anything short of that isnG€™t going 
>to give me enough magnification to do it visually.

>If this is going to work for me at all, IG€™d be able to do it under 
>sleepshade with a continuity tester to test connections.  ItG€™d be 
>slow work to test that way, but IG€™m probably going to have to do that 
>kind of testing anyway.  Testing needs one mini-grabber clip on the 
>component lead and a needle probe to make sure youG€™ve got a solid 
>connection at the other end of the trace youG€™re soldering it to.

>Joseph - kf7qzc

>On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 02:45:13PM -0500, Bryan Schulz wrote:
>>hi,
>>
>>i haven't heard of this but it sounds like it would work. i'm 
>>guessing you are a hi-partial and not guessing where the doughnut 
>>gaps would be.
>>Bryan Schulz
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "T. Joseph Carter" 
>><carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
>>To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 2:39 PM
>>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Soldering revisited
>>
>>
>>>I am considering that the solution might be some of the tools used 
>>>to solder surface mount devices by hand.  Typically you have a 
>>>board with a solder mask.  You apply solder paste, and it will be 
>>>repelled by the solder mask.  Unless you use too much paste, the 
>>>solder mask should resist solder bridges quite nicely.
>>>
>>>Since the solder paste is applied cold, a syringe with a fine tip 
>>>should be able to do the job.  Then a hot air pencil.  I donG€™t have 
>>>these things, but it should work.  If others have done it, IG€™d love 
>>>to know.  If not, guess IG€™m the trail blazer.
>>>
>>>Joseph - kf7qzc
>>>
>>>
>>>On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 01:23:28PM -0500, Bryan Schulz wrote:
>>>>hi,
>>>>
>>>>if he has, that would be a neat trick as the pins on printed 
>>>>circuit boards are about 3mm apart and a bridge anywhere causes a 
>>>>failure.
>>>>
>>>>Bryan Schulz
>>>>
>>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Hyde, David W. (ESC)" 
>>>><david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>
>>>>To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 12:45 PM
>>>>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Soldering revisited
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Joseph, get hold of Curtis Wilouby. If anyone does it, he has.
>>>>>
>>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>>From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org 
>>>>>[mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of T. Joseph 
>>>>>Carter
>>>>>Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 11:26 AM
>>>>>To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>>>>>Subject: [Blindtlk] Soldering revisited
>>>>>
>>>>>Hey everyone,
>>>>>
>>>>>Once upon a time, we had a discussion on this list about 
>>>>>soldering wires and the like.  A suggestion made was to take 
>>>>>the solder, pound it flat with a hammer, and then wrap it 
>>>>>around the wire/terminal being soldered. Then you need only 
>>>>>heat the connection a few seconds so that the solder can melt 
>>>>>and make a solid electrical connection.
>>>>>
>>>>>I can tell you that this technique works pretty well for 
>>>>>stranded wire or stranded to solid wire (such as the leads of 
>>>>>an LED for example), and could probably be done for two solid 
>>>>>wires if you had sufficient success using third hand clips to 
>>>>>hold the thing still long enough.
>>>>>
>>>>>But I want to be able to solder packages with pins on 0.1 inch 
>>>>>centers. Transistors, old-fashioned DIPs, that kind of thing.  
>>>>>I brought it up on nfb-hams, and nobodyG€™s volunteered a 
>>>>>brilliant strategy yet, so I figured IG€™d ask a wider audience.  
>>>>>*smile*
>>>>>
>>>>>IG€™m sure it must be possible for a blind guy to do itG€”IG€™m just 
>>>>>not sure how yet.  Advice welcome!
>>>>>
>>>>>Joseph - kf7qzc
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
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