Soldering Experiences

Soldering Experiences

I soldered a small Christmas tree model. During this time, I found the experience fun and educational, but I also found it difficult at some parts, such as the soldering itself.

During my experiences with soldering, I found that getting the solder in the right place was difficult. I found that I had to hold the soldering iron tip on top of the solder in order to get the right result. I also had to keep my eyes away from the smoke and try not to breathe it in. To solder the metal, I first tried placing the tips of the iron and the solder together. My original thought was that when I got a ball of melted solder, I would wrap it around the metal protrusions that would hold the LEDS and resistors in place. It didn't work like I expected it too. The solder just wouldn't melt. However, I realized that to melt the solder faster, I wasn't supposed to put the melter and the solder tip to tip. I had to place the solder on the board and then put the iron on top of the solder for it to have any effect. I therefore did this, heating up the area where the solder would be, then I placed the solder on the headed part, and the iron on top of it. I held the iron there until the solder softened, and I repeated this process again and again.

For this project, I had 4 capacitors, 4 transistors, 8 resistors, 16 LED lights, 2 wire jumpers, and the two boards the circuitry would be attached too. I had to make sure that each and every component was in the correct slot, had the correct polarity, and also if the wire jumpers were aligned like they should be. Both boards had numerous symbols on them. These symbols marked which component when where on the board. For example, a circle with two smaller circles in it would mark the place where a capacitor would go. Another example would be the resistor symbol, a rectangle with two circles at the ends.

When the tree was finally finished, I tested it out. Only 4 lights turned on, not all 16 of the LEDS like I was expecting. I believe that only four lights turned on because of a loose/faulty wire jumper. I believe this because on one of the boards, there is an empty slot where a jumper is supposed to be in. I believe this is a major cause to the activation of only 4 lights out of 16.

Overall, I found soldering to be extremely fun, and while I did encounter hurdles and difficulties along the way, I did truly think it was an exciting and educational activity especially because I had a fluffy helper on my work table.

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