Twin D-500 Restore-a-Thon / Full-Comp WOPL upgrade (+ first a PL 400 S2 WOPLing / Proof of concept / Process debug )
- Thread starter D-500 Flogger
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2021
- Messages
- 482
- Location
- near Liverpool, NY
- Tagline
- Lifelong student / listening = bliss
I'd like to pick up where I left off on the subject of soldering for those joining/rejoining the hands-on audio hobby. I'm writing this from the perspective of someone who had successfully soldered a fair amount in the past (after formal training in the military) ...but was confused by what was being mandated/used by today's home electronics manufacturers.
My goal is simply to take as much FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt) out of soldering so it no longer seems like an insurmountable barrier to successfully participating in this area of the vintage audio hobby. Adding quality soldering skills to your repertoire allows you to modify/improve the sound of your system by making improvements at the component level instead of being forced to make changes at the box level.
*** Summary to date / where do we go from here? ***
1) I started by discussing which solder to use in post #130, and pointing to where the talent had discussed their solder preferences back in 2014.
2) Once you've decided which solder is best for your project, I then talked about using Octopart (in post #132) to help you figure out the 'street price' & the best place where to purchase, especially if there are no sellers with the right answer on the bay & Amazon.
3) My most recent solder-related post outlined the reliability issues associated with lead-free solder. (Post #133)
4) This post will point to a couple of informative solder-related YouTube videos. The first will be a solder comparison, showing actual results side-by-side so you can see how different solder formulations turn out. The second link will be to the best soldering training videos I've seen to date. (And I've seen a bunch!)
5) The next posting in the series will give a historical overview of the various soldering standards for electronics, with .pdf files attached for the original military & NASA specifications, and how they were rolled into today's 'J' standard. (Which is unfortunately hidden behind $$ paywalls.)
6) And in my final posting on this subject I'll round up the soldering & desoldering equipment I decided to purchase in order to get the lab functional. In addition, I'll also discuss what I will be upgrading to investing in at the first sign that I was too frugal on the first pass. (!)
****
If a picture is worth 1k words, then at 30 frames/sec this ~24 minute video is worth...uh, a whole lotta words. :0)
Seriously, if you have ever questioned if the solder kicking around in your tool kit is the root cause of your solder joint dissatisfaction, then fix yourself your favorite batch of comfort food, Miracast this up on your big screen & enjoy the ride.
Date night with your better half? Twice the fun!
(NOTE: If you have ever wondered what really good solder flow looks like, this video will reveal all.)
Not to spoil the punch line, but towards the end of the video the side-by-side comparison is illuminating:
By now hopefully you've become a bit of a solder connoisseur. Fortunately for the budget, done correctly a little solder goes a long way. Even better, solder is both cheaper and lasts a lot longer than beer, wine, and most hard liquor. (ie: Schlitz & Kester is a better long-term solution than the finest craft beer & Jinhu 63/37.)
****
On to the training videos. In order to come back up to speed, I checked out several videos by well-intentioned fellow enthusiasts, but when someone referenced some original soldering training videos by Pace, my search for the good training was over:
And if you want to hone your solder chops on something cheap (and there's nothing cheap in su casa :0) then for $8.99 here's a perfect training board that (hopefully) gives you the gift of time afterwards:
And even for you solder wizards out there, if you have a son/daughter/niece/nephew/grandchildren that's showing an interest in STEM stuff, then you could start them here instead of inside your vintage PL preamp. :0)
Let's each do our part to keep the hobby alive!
3D
My goal is simply to take as much FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt) out of soldering so it no longer seems like an insurmountable barrier to successfully participating in this area of the vintage audio hobby. Adding quality soldering skills to your repertoire allows you to modify/improve the sound of your system by making improvements at the component level instead of being forced to make changes at the box level.
*** Summary to date / where do we go from here? ***
1) I started by discussing which solder to use in post #130, and pointing to where the talent had discussed their solder preferences back in 2014.
2) Once you've decided which solder is best for your project, I then talked about using Octopart (in post #132) to help you figure out the 'street price' & the best place where to purchase, especially if there are no sellers with the right answer on the bay & Amazon.
3) My most recent solder-related post outlined the reliability issues associated with lead-free solder. (Post #133)
4) This post will point to a couple of informative solder-related YouTube videos. The first will be a solder comparison, showing actual results side-by-side so you can see how different solder formulations turn out. The second link will be to the best soldering training videos I've seen to date. (And I've seen a bunch!)
5) The next posting in the series will give a historical overview of the various soldering standards for electronics, with .pdf files attached for the original military & NASA specifications, and how they were rolled into today's 'J' standard. (Which is unfortunately hidden behind $$ paywalls.)
6) And in my final posting on this subject I'll round up the soldering & desoldering equipment I decided to purchase in order to get the lab functional. In addition, I'll also discuss what I will be upgrading to investing in at the first sign that I was too frugal on the first pass. (!)
****
If a picture is worth 1k words, then at 30 frames/sec this ~24 minute video is worth...uh, a whole lotta words. :0)
Seriously, if you have ever questioned if the solder kicking around in your tool kit is the root cause of your solder joint dissatisfaction, then fix yourself your favorite batch of comfort food, Miracast this up on your big screen & enjoy the ride.
Date night with your better half? Twice the fun!
Not to spoil the punch line, but towards the end of the video the side-by-side comparison is illuminating:
By now hopefully you've become a bit of a solder connoisseur. Fortunately for the budget, done correctly a little solder goes a long way. Even better, solder is both cheaper and lasts a lot longer than beer, wine, and most hard liquor. (ie: Schlitz & Kester is a better long-term solution than the finest craft beer & Jinhu 63/37.)
****
On to the training videos. In order to come back up to speed, I checked out several videos by well-intentioned fellow enthusiasts, but when someone referenced some original soldering training videos by Pace, my search for the good training was over:
And if you want to hone your solder chops on something cheap (and there's nothing cheap in su casa :0) then for $8.99 here's a perfect training board that (hopefully) gives you the gift of time afterwards:
And even for you solder wizards out there, if you have a son/daughter/niece/nephew/grandchildren that's showing an interest in STEM stuff, then you could start them here instead of inside your vintage PL preamp. :0)
Let's each do our part to keep the hobby alive!
3D
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