iFixit's Soldering 101: Beginners Guide

Learning to solder is an essential step in leveling up your repair skills and it’s also your gateway to some really awesome maker projects. In this video we’ll cover the bare minimum you’ll need to get started including tools and gear, safety precautions, and of course some basic soldering skills.

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Soldering Splint

Desoldering Pump

Lead-Free Solder

Chapters!
00:00 Intro
00:17 Tools Needed To Get Started
01:38 Safety Precautions
01:57 Wear Safety Goggles
02:21 Fume Extraction
02:47 Through Hole Soldering
04:17 How to Solder
04:55 How to Desolder
05:28 Tips and Tricks
06:00 Final Thoughts

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[sagarhp]

We need series of this "Beginners Guide" .. 👍👍

[ma_er]

Just learnt soldering recently and successfully fixed my malfunctioning mouse by replacing the micro switches. Feels like a brave new world of tinkering and fixing just opened for me :)

[FlannelAficionado]

The fact that a spool of RadioShack solder makes an appearance in this video fills me with nostalgia. Also a testament to how long a spool will last most people.

[NoToeLong]

One tip is to try different tips. Pencil tips are the most common, but are also more frustrating to use due to the limited surface area to transfer heat into the things you're soldering. A chisel, knife edge, or other tip with a flat edge makes soldering most components much easier, especially with ground planes that like to absorb all of your heat. So if you're having trouble, sometimes a different tip will do the trick.

[SassInYourClass]

I’ve been soldering little things for years, but I’ve always known I had no clue what I was doing. Thank you for making this!

[edNdr]

Watched many soldering-desoldering videos, but never understood what flux is for and never bothered to search up.
Now I know what's its purpose.

[reece]

I sincerely appreciate this video being so concise and thorough AND short. Thanks.

[BillDemos]

You have one of the most interesting YouTube channels, and the organisation in your e-shop is amazing. Proud to support! Best regards.

[KiraDenys]

This is a decent primer for learning how to solder.

If any one wants a good video series to learn more about soldering, I highly recommend the PACE Basic Soldering series and the PACE Rework and Repair series. Both are available on YouTube and they have several language options.

[norm]

I ❤ my Pinecil64, so handy to be used everywhere.

[atomD]

Did my first real soldering job a little while back to repair an XBox One that had some missing capacitors. Went really well! Great video!

[WindySilver]

More beginner's guides like this would be great; I've been thinking of getting into soldering one day and now I know what I need to get started if/when I finally wind up getting into it. Thanks for this!

[GrahamRumbelow]

A few important things to add. You should raise the temperature of the two things you are joining to the melting point of the solder so apply the tinned iron to the joint and then, when hot, add the solder to the joint. Don't carry solder to the joint with the iron or apply solder to the iron (other than while tinning it). Make sure you have a sufficiently hot tip for the job. It's much easier to solder with a tip a little too hot or big than one that too cold or too small. When using flux cored solder (which most is) you shouldn't need any extra flux especially if you are soldering new items other than surface mount when you would probably be using paste. Keep the items clamped and still. A joint that moves while cooling will be a bad joint.

[johnnyb]

This was so helpful and informative. Please more beginner type videos

[stephenwilson]

Many thanks. I learned a lot from your video. Clear and concise. Kind regards Steve.😃🇦🇺

[John-tson]

I liked this video. It was straight to the point.

[rmower]

Superb video.
Keep up the great work Mr

[ITSYEBOISteven]

this was a great refresher for me, thanks.

[williamsanborn]

I learned to solder when I was in college. Most, if not all of this information is true. The one thing I can say that can go either way is the necessity of a fume extractor. Yes, they do work, but if you’re in a well-ventilated area, it’s not as much of a necessity as it seems. You could also use a fan.

[Superskull]

The effects of flux at each stage of the process is often left out of many guides. It's always just "it makes solder flow better" which is helpful but not all that precise enough. Big plus for that.