Soldering course

quinnd6

I'm looking at getting into PC repair and was wondering are there any courses on soldering available in Ireland?
I can't find any anywhere.
I know laptops often have problems where the DC jack goes faulty and needs to be replaced and that often requires desoldering the old jack and soldering a new jack to the motherboard..
There are likely going to be other problems that require soldering as well.
It would be useful to know how to solder.
Does anyone know of any soldering courses in Ireland at all?
If not I suppose there's always youtube.
Also maybe someone could recommend a reasonably priced soldering iron that I could use to get started with?

Just get a few old boards and practice?..soldering is mainly practice really..

Johnboy1951

Something like this might interest you.

http://hitechtraining.ie/electronics-courses/

Other than that to get good at soldering requires a serious amount of practice ..... preferably on boards from discarded defective devices.

FanadMan

Deleted User wrote:

Just get a few old boards and practice?..soldering is mainly practice really..

This is how I learned. Granted I knew how to solder beforehand.
Kit-wise, I use cheap Chinese crap. I don't do much component level work like Louis Rossmann......but for jack replacement or the likes, an €80 soldering station will work great.

Twenty Grand

Buy a tenma soldering iron from Farnell

Look up soldering tutorials on YouTube.

Job done.

And get braid as well if you'll be fixing and stuff..

FanadMan

And flux. Really handy when reflowing or desoldering lead free solder.

gctest50

[Deleted User] wrote: »

And get braid as well if you'll be fixing and stuff..

And use the braid to mop up all that leadfree wussy solder

Then replace it with good wholesome christian leaded solder

Johnboy1951

gctest50 wrote: »

And use the braid to mop up all that leadfree wussy solder

Then replace it with good wholesome christian leaded solder

Can you still buy leaded solder?
I have some stored, but not much ......

FanadMan

Johnboy1951 wrote:

Can you still buy leaded solder? I have some stored, but not much ......

I think leaded is only banned in mass production factories due to high fume levels. Can't see it being totally banned.

quinnd6

Thanks for the info so far.
What would be a good soldering iron to get me started?

Johnboy1951

quinnd6 wrote: »

Thanks for the info so far.
What would be a good soldering iron to get me started?

No idea about modern day gear .... I continue to use my decades old Weller.

listermint

Here's a lad going through the trials and tribulations of removing and replacing memory on an iPhone. If you can get to this level you'll be grand.

But watch the video in full . You'll see that practice practice practice practice is the key.

DC jacks and that are getting old hat now and USB type c power will become more prolific so you'll have to get the component game on point.


https://youtu.be/rHP-OPXK2ig

Twenty Grand

Tenma 60W on Farnell. Great intro iron

Johnboy1951

I know nothing about these people but thought the idea might be of interest to you if in Dublin

https://www.tog.ie/location/

https://www.tog.ie/tag/electronics/

There are other similar groups around the country.

quinnd6

Twenty Grand wrote: »

Tenma 60W on Farnell. Great intro iron

Sorry not sure which Tendma you mean.
There's about 3 of them.

Twenty Grand

quinnd6 wrote: »

Sorry not sure which Tendma you mean.
There's about 3 of them.

http://ie.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-60w-220v-uk/dp/2064549

This is the one with a UK plug.

quinnd6

That looks good but someone mentioned to me about a gas operated soldering iron. Would a gas soldering iron be suitable for that kind of work? To be honest I did look at a video and it did look like it would scorch a motherboard very easily and like it would be too easy to screw up when using a gas operated one. What do you think?

FanadMan

quinnd6 wrote: »

That looks good but someone mentioned to me about a gas operated soldering iron. Would a gas soldering iron be suitable for that kind of work? To be honest I did look at a video and it did look like it would scorch a motherboard very easily and like it would be too easy to screw up when using a gas operated one. What do you think?

Gas irons are great if you are working at a remote site. For day to day work, they are a waste of money. The temp is really hard to control and they take ages to heat up.

I have a few desk stations that I use at home - they are my goto irons. But I always keep a USB powered iron in my kitbag. There is a gas powered one there as well but it's been over a year since it was used last, and that was doing some repair on a boat.

If you are going to be working at home only, get yourself a Tenma as suggested above. They are bulletproof.

Or for other ideas, check out one of the best solderers on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom/search?query=solder+station

BelovedAunt

I remember you talking a lot about struggling to get into development. I’d say give that another go now man, there’s a lot more jobs out there than before.