Ask HN: Can You Solder?

[zkirill]

I'm curious how many HN users know how to solder. For those who don't, how come? For those who do, how would you describe your skill level? Do (would) you do it professionally or as a community service?

The reason I am asking this is because I want to delegate the soldering and assembly of modules for my product to a community. I'm here to learn if that is feasible.

[solardev]

> For those who don't, how come?

I have never soldered intentionally. I did once manage to weld a motherboard to its chassis through improper grounding... lots of smoke and terrified screams later, I decided to go into software instead...

As a child of the 90s, I think I just barely missed that awesome era of RadioShaq catalogs and fun DIY electronics kits that I only read about online, yet was born before things like SnapCircuits were invented to reinvigorate that niche. Caught in that dry spell of the 90s/early 2000s, when hardware seemed pretty stagnant while the Web was just getting started.

By the time hardware was cool again, I was too old/busy to seriously look into it. Arduinos, robots, etc. always seemed kinda cool to me, but it seemed like there was no point in learning that when anything I wanted to make could already be bought from China for $5...

If I had more time or money, it would definitely be a cool hobby to pick up. But I don't :)

[JohnFen]

Yes, I've been doing it since I was a young child. Compared to people who are actually expert in it, I'd say my skill level was "advanced intermediate". I am equally skilled in both through-hole and surface mount soldering (including BGA and very tiny chips), but the majority of the soldering I've been doing over the last 5 or 10 years has been surface mount.

I wouldn't be interested in doing it professionally all by itself, but would be fine with a job where soldering is one of the tasks involved. I certainly would be willing to be part of a soldering assembly line for a project as a community service, though, as long as the effort and organization were in line with my personal volunteering guidelines.

[not_your_vase]

I do my own soldering, but the result is usually something only a mother could love (though I must admit, every once in a while I manage to solder some SMD component half-decently, which makes me proud of myself for weeks - until I try soldering pins on an arduino again). That's what I get for using a cheap Yihua soldering station, and learning to solder from Youtube.

[LMMojo]

I know how to solder thru-hole. I have never done SMD, though I'd like to learn. How do I rate myself? I'm average to a little better than average, as in I'd never say to anyone "oh Yeah, I'm really good at soldering". More like, "oh, you didn't know how to solder? I can either do it for you or try and teach you the basics".

[beardyw]

My hands are a bit shaky now, so I don't attempt anything but through hole. I would avoid asking people to do surface mount unless it is reasonably straightforward - it was never meant to done that way.

[zkirill]

> avoid asking people to do surface mount unless it is reasonably straightforward - it was never meant to done that way.

This is the kind of comment that I was hoping to read here. Would you mind elaborating? What is considered straightforward? Can a PCB be designed or printed in such a way that makes it straightforward to surface mount components? Does the number of PCB layers factor into this?

[beardyw]

I would say component size and pin spacing mainly.

[h2odragon]

yes but not quite to SMD levels. on the other hand I'm able to solder copper pipe for plumbing and stills and have successfully patched radiators and some some stuff that would count as "small welding"

"delegate the soldering" ... do you mean sell an electronic product as a kit? there's probably useful discussions about that you might look at, many people do kit / assembled options for small run manufacture.

[zkirill]

> do you mean sell an electronic product as a kit?

Not quite. The person who would do the soldering would not necessarily be the end consumer. They would do it as part of a network of assemblers, for a fee or pro-bono as a community service. I wrote about this in more detail on the project page [1].

[1] https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/flying-car-mechanic-netw...

[JohnFen]

"Small welding"? Do you mean brazing?

[h2odragon]

as well. but where's the line?

I've stuck 1in angle iron together and had it stay stuck under load. I count that as welding, with some pride.

but then i've seen folks weld together an excavator that broke (in half) halfway up the main arm. and then seen the machine finish the job with their repair. that's real welding, so i can only claim "small".

[JohnFen]

I get it.

Technically speaking, welding is when you've melted the two pieces together so they form an integral piece. Brazing is when you're "gluing" two pieces together using the metal of the brazing rod as the glue.

Brazing is not necessarily a weaker bond than welding, depending, but is usually done either as a temporary repair until welding can be done later (because you can braze with a blowtorch instead of a welding machine), or when you're bonding two metals that are different enough that welding is not possible.

Technically speaking, soldering is a form of brazing.