[peteforde]

I don't want to flog a dead horse, but can you confirm whether or not you have a stereo microscope or not?

I cannot stress enough that this is not a trivial detail. I spent my whole life thinking that I was simply terrible at soldering. Then I got a proper stereo microscope and now I feel like a freaking ninja.

Seriously, you do not know if you're bad at soldering until you've spent an hour with a proper STEREO microscope. All of the folks saying "just get a 10x magnifier loupe for $5" are completely missing the point.

If you give your brain a stereo view, you will suddenly be like Neo in the Matrix. Thank me later.