s is for soldering iron

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0:15Behold the almighty soldering iron. It fuses

0:20metal. Combines conductors. So powerful.

0:43Hey guys, excuse me, I'm just coming in here, I'm going to do some soldering.

0:49Did she just, oh my gosh, she just picked it up.

0:52Like the sword from the stone.

0:55She is the chosen one.

0:56You guys, a soldering iron isn't magic, but it is pretty powerful.

1:01It uses the power of heat to bond components together with material called solder.

1:07Well, it must use a lot of heating power then.

1:10That's right, Ruby. This soldering iron uses 65 watts of power.

1:14And with great power comes great responsibility.

1:18And what exactly does that mean?

1:21It means that you have to be very careful when soldering and follow a few simple rules.

1:26What sort of rules?

1:28For starters, soldering irons are not toys.

1:32They're specialized tools, and they get very hot very fast,

1:36and you can't tell how hot they are just by looking at them.

1:40Oh, like an electric stove. They can be dangerous.

1:45Exactly. It's easy to burn yourself if you aren't sure what you're doing.

1:49Young people and beginners shouldn't be using a soldering iron without an

1:53experienced adult around. So how dost thou wield such a

1:58dangerous tool? First up,

2:01let's start with some basic safety gear. Such as?

2:09When solder is heated up quickly by a soldering iron, it can sometimes spit

2:14little drops of hot liquid called flux. That's why it's important to wear a

2:19good pair of safety glasses. Gross, no spitting.

2:29When solder melts, it releases the smoke that you definitely don't want to breathe.

2:34A fume extractor like this one uses a fan to suck that smoke into a filter so

2:40you have clean,

2:41fresh air to breathe. Ah, that's much better.

2:53You should only hold the soldering iron by the handle, and never touch the heating

2:58element.

2:59Yikes! No way! Total Burnsville!

3:02That's right, and because it's so hot, you can't just put down a soldering iron

3:06anywhere.

3:07You need to have a stand that can withstand the heat.

3:10Oh, like this one?

3:12Exactly! This soldering iron stand is made out of metal, so it doesn't burn,

3:16and it has a wide, flat base so it won't tip over.

3:19So a stand holds the iron, what holds the thing you're soldering?

3:30That's where a vise comes in.

3:32This vise is designed to hold small circuit boards securely during soldering.

3:37All you do is slide the circuit board in and then tighten the jaws to hold it in place.

3:41Then you're ready to start working.

3:42What if you're soldering really big circuit boards?

3:47Well, for those, we've got really big vises for big boards.

3:51Whoa, it's a super vise.

3:54So, once you have all the important safety gear taken care of, how do you start

4:00soldering?

4:01Well, now that we've got everything set up with our safety and our gear, doing the

4:05actual soldering is pretty simple.

4:07Step one, turn on the iron.

4:10Now, wait for it to heat up.

4:13While it's heating up, place the component you want to solder onto the PCB.

4:19Place the PCB in your vise.

4:25Place the hot iron tip between the component lead and solder pad.

4:30Feed solder into joint and voila!

4:35It's a miracle!

4:38Amazing! Wunderbar!

4:41Then clean the iron's tip using some brass wool or a damp sponge and place it

4:46back in the holder.

4:48Last but not least, don't forget to turn off your soldering iron.

4:53You make it look easy.

4:55Thanks. It's not that hard, but it does take a little bit of practice to get good at.

4:59Now remember, nobody here should be using the soldering iron without me here for

5:04supervision.

5:05Yeah, no sweat.

5:08well since you're here maybe you could help us with this

5:14project it's not too complicated

5:20yeah it should only take a few hours oh no what have i done