Soldering Basics for Gamers (and Others)

If you want to get into repairing or modding game consoles (or other gadgets), you'll want to learn how to solder. Let's take a look at the tools, supplies, and technique you'll need to get started.

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[Darkwisdom]

Coming from someone who used to be a Soldering Operative in a large security factory, a pretty good, well informed guide for beginners. There wasn't anything about flux, but most people doing small console mods will likely never need it.

Last thing - Safety first. Always solder in a well ventilated room, or use an extractor. Some older components have a chance of being soldered with lead based solder. Never breathe it in, it's extremely dangerous. If in doubt, wear a mask.

[mrShh]

Protip: If you're an inexperienced solderer, make sure your first project is something you won't mind replacing if you mess up! I ended up ruining my Gamecube while attempting a region switch mod, having never soldered before in my life. It looked so easy, but looks can be deceiving. Don't be like me!

[caviar_dreamz]

I've come across two GBA's for dirt cheap and hope to do my back light mod soon, your videos will come in handy. Love your channel.

[lauraiss]

Great video, thank you! Only wanted to mention, from my experience with delicate microchips, you do not want the joint to melt the solder. You put solder directly on soldering iron and only then apply to joint to reduce time heating the chip. Microchips can overheat and burn in few seconds if legs are heated.

[LoveGia]

wow! really great video. thanks for recommending practicing on broken boards! i have a bunch of broken vintage laptop and computer boards i almost got rid of. learning to solder has been VERY rewarding for me and has brought me joy in recent difficult times. family used to give me their old broken computers to salvage the parts or just to practice taking things apart and putting them together. now i feel like i’m putting that to use in more ways than one 🖤

[brainiac]

For a complete noob like me, 10:50, "pre-tinning" is such a great tip.
Thank you.

[KarnageReigns]

This helped me alot actually! Getting into modding gameboys and fixing old consoles. I'm scared to solder but I think this would give me the confidence.

[bland]

A thrift shop is the best place to find an old unwanted circuit board

[davidrahn]

I'm just about to make my own button box for space sims and it's been years since I've had to solder and this was a great refresher. Thanks man.

[AndrewLeadbeater]

Good clean video, however there was no mention of soldering flux and cleaning the circuitboard. Maybe a part 2 on soldering showing common problems like solder not sticking, different types of solder wire etc. Subscribed.

[Gaizure]

Soldering is definitely an acquired skill. I'm still not all that great at it and end up wasting soldering iron tips like crazy but am able to manage very small work like a Gameboy Pocket bivert (with the help of some super glue of course hue hue hue) but still great video for beginners.

[samfrito]

Awesome! Glad you are here to help. Thinking about taking on refurbing my old Game Gear. I have put new battery backups in some old Genesis carts, but I need more practice before taking on capacitors in the GG. Thanks Colin, great tips. You are a natural at teaching and speaking on camera.

[Brokengamezone]

Just started soldering for the first time was able to do it on my first attempt after watching I'm trying to start up a business online buying broken consoles in bulk and repairing them then reselling it online and scrapping the unfixable ones for extra parts just got 20 xbox ones (broken) for $110 which for me seems like a fantastic deal even if i can only fix one i will still make all that money back plus a little bit of profit thankfully i have 30 legacy motherboards to practice on before moving onto the xbox don't want to screw this up also your videos are fantastic you explain things very clearly thank you.

[cooperlykken]

I've been looking for tutorials and things like that but this is probably the one that helped me the most thanks

[Custarddolphin]

new to soldering and watching this made me understand bit about soldering in general
thank you so much

[jshawfshs]

Wow man! You explained this in such a great way. I'm thinking I could learn this skill too. Thanks bro!

[hbarudi]

Good video about soldering irons and soldering in general. Also be careful of the heat especially if you accidentally touch it it can burn just as much as that red hot part of your cooktop. Temperature is about 330°C to 350°C (626°F to 662°F). Touching the part with the iron for too long can be a problem as the heat will spread to other areas, but some thick things need that time, according to the video when it comes to thick parts.

[chickendawg]

Pro tip: Use two irons (or tweezer irons) at the same time to melt both sides of the SMT component, then flip it off the board.

Pro tip: Clean off pads with wick (he calls it braid) to make sure the part lays flat. Put some solder on one pad, then touch the new part to it. Give it a wiggle to make sure it's connected, then solder the other pad.

Pro tip: Clean dried flux off with a pick and then wet a q-tip with alcohol and wipe away.

Pro tip: After removing thru-hole components, just simply use your $30, 000 selective solder machine to place the new parts.

[leftyfourguns]

I mangled a tiny tiny capacitor on my GBA board trying to removing a stripped screw. This is exactly the kind of video I was looking for, thanks for making it

[larfleeze]

Very helpful. Thanks to this my gba sp was saved. I changed a fuse. Very nerve racking