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http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

Although rosin-cored solder comes with flux, one can use separate flux, and it might well be that some people advise using both. As Garth notes, flux is an acid when at high temperature, and the idea is for the acid to remove any surface layer and get to bare metal. It also keeps the air away from that bare metal.

As the idea of soldering is to heat the joint and then apply the solder, which should melt at once, it feels to me that a pre-application of flux would be handy. It's what I do - I have a 'flux pen' - but I'm not well-experienced nor terribly competent when it comes to soldering, so I'm ready to hear from others.

Although the flux pen is advertised as needing no cleaning, it does leave a slightly sticky residue, which over some subsequent months might catch some dust... so a bit of cleaning after soldering can't hurt, I'd think.

Thanks. That is a lot of information, and it certainly answers the question. I'm glad I can get most of this from Mouser; I really like that company. Good people there and always the best parts.

It's funny, but wayyyy back when I was a kid in summer camp, we had "electronics" in arts and crafts. We'd make things like crystal radios (does that date me?). Anyway, they were kits you'd have to solder the parts to. So, you'd heat the iron, apply the solder, and that was it. I guess I was already doing it wrong, all those years ago!

Jon

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Yep, same here, roughly the same time period except it was half a world away and upside down in Taiwan, China and the radio station was in Mandarin. Yet it all worked, to every kids' delight.
Bill

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

It really is a small world. And, I remember those earpieces - the white ones. Something like this:

I was also 8 or 9. And, yes, when the station, any station, actually came in - it was like magic.

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

I find my microscope very useful when it comes to small (as in SMD) parts, but for most work I prefer some headband magnifiers like https://www.amazon.com/Magnifier-Chof-Magnifying-Interchangeable-Needlework/dp/B07DN8B5JM. A good 3D microscope is easily 500+ U$, and should only be bought once you are really sure you are going to use it.

As for soldering - although flux should be inert, I found that cleaning everything gives more reliable results.

About soldering irons - I agree with some previous statements. A 25W or 33W should be enough for starters. Again, good temperature controlled irons are expensive, and you won't really get any benefits. Wellers are nice - you might get more out of it if you get one with changeable tips and try different tip sizes.

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No simulation survives contact with reality!

Growing up in the 60's mostly.... my Dad ran a production line at EAI in Long Branch, NJ for the 231R vacuum-tube analog computer, from the late 1950's to 1961. He also managed to have a lot of tubes, sockets, resistors, caps, transformers, etc. all setup and labeled in the basement and a nice bench with 3 soldering stations, a Heathkit VTVM, a custom power supply that was all tube based and regulated DC up to 500V and 250ma. Yea... I was spoiled on that side.... He also built a small 2-tube short-wave receiver on an "L" chassis with a speaker.... but the sides, rear and bottom were open. He used the standalone power supply to power it... and held it in his hand.... I tried it once... and got my first electric shock!

I spent too much time in the basement growing up and was able to solder by age 5... not that anything I made really worked, but practice makes perfect. Shortly after that, I would bug Dad to take me to Atkinson & Smith... local electronics supplier, which had an amazing surplus room upstairs... as Fort Monmouth was literally around the corner in Eatontown. That was the U.S. Army Electronics CORCOM center, so they would be getting rid of all kinds of Army electronics and parts regularly.

He also had a small collection of electronic manuals... a 1956 ARRL, some Sylvania and RCA tube manuals and some others... most which I still have to this day.

In any case, I nicked Dad's WW-II headphones for my earliest radio experience... not a cat whisker... but an actual 1N34 germanium diode, a hand-wound coil on a toilet paper tube and a variable capacitor I found in Dad's parts stash. I also nicked a roll of wire and strung about 50 feet out the window to a tree in the back yard for an antenna. The headphones were 2000 ohm impedance and quite sensitive. it was trivial to pick up The Asbury Park Press AM radio station, which was less than 10 miles away... and I'm pretty certain they were pushing over 25KW back then.

This is about as close a pic to what I was using in the 60's to listen to anything I could tune in.



Ah... the good ole days...

In any case.... I would highly recommend getting some decent tools and soldering equipment to anyone who plans on doing hobby stuff around here... great learning, keeps your mind active... eye-to-hand coordination, etc.

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Regards, KM
https://github.com/floobydust

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I married a Jersey girl, and I worked in Trenton for a short period of time, in the early 2000s, so I know all those areas. And, now you're in Florida - smart move!

Jon

For starting out, I just ended up with this - because I don't really care if I somehow damage it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VJ2L3KW/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!