How to Solder for DIY Computer Repair

There's a good chance that it some point in your life you'll encounter some sort of broken electrical connection, and want to fix it. In fact, there's a good chance this is already happened to you. In my case, it happened last week, when the power jack of my mp3 player came right off in my hand. The best way to fix such problems is to solder the connection. If you don't know how to solder, or have never done it before, read on! Its useful talent to have.

The first thing you'll need, of course, is a soldering iron. Get a pencil iron, between 15 and 30 wants, from your local hardware store. It will most likely set you back about 10 bucks. Avoid getting any sort of fancy soldering "gun", or an iron with the wattage over 30, as it is more power than you need, and will most likely fry the circuit board are trying to fix. That would be bad.

The other thing you'll need, of course, is solder. Solder is a metal that melts at a low temperature, usually some alloy of tin and lead, which you melt onto a connection to join it. It will come as a spool of wire. Get rosin core solder, not acid core. This is very important as acid core solder will corrode the connection you're soldering, it in many cases eventually destroying it. You will most likely have the choice between several different thicknesses of solder. I personally like 0.75 mm, but that's just a matter of preference. Don't get anything too thick, or will get cumbersome to work with.

Before you get started, a few precautions. First, be sure to work in a well ventilated area. As soon as the tip of your hot soldering iron touches the solder, the solder will emit a nice little curl of smoke. You don't want to breathe this stuff! In addition to being well ventilated, your work surface should be free of clutter, especially flammable clutter. If your soldering iron doesn't already come with one, make a wire stand to rest it on, by bending a coat hanger into an "M" shape. Curl the and to form a stable base. You'll be able to use this to rest the hot iron on without burning yourself or setting anything on fire.

It is about at this point that I should point out that soldering is, while ordinarily quite safe, a potentially hazardous undertaking. If you're careful you could burn yourself, or even burn your house down. While this is an unlikely scenario, I would like to take this opportunity to relieve myself any and all responsibility for anything that might happen to go wrong.

All right, you're ready to go. Before you begin, clean the surface you're going to solder. Either steel wool or sandpaper will be helpful in this endeavor. Plug in your soldering iron, and allow it to heat up. When it's hot, touch a little bit of solder to its tip, and allow it to melt. Using a wet sponge, cover the tip with the hot solder. This coating will help the soldering iron to better transfer heat to the joint.

When you're joint is set up the way you want it, you are ready to go. Holding the soldering iron in one hand and the solder in the other, heat up the joint, and then apply some solder. The solder should melt right away, and flow into the joint, sealing it completely. When you're sure your connection is good, take the soldering iron away. The joint should cool quickly.

One handy tip, which is useful when you're soldering two wires together, is to first melt solder onto one or both wires, then to put them together in heat them up. This will make the process somewhat less unwieldy.