How to solder

Hardware PSU
,
21

I just want to quickly point out that you’re supposed to use a wet sponge, and I can tell by all the burn marks that you are using it dry. Wipe the tip on the wet sponge to clean it but always leave solder on the tip of your iron when you are done and that prevents corrosion forming on the iron.

source - am MIL2000 qualified solder dude.

5 Likes
22

N.B : yidenguk Butane Gas Soldering Iron.
Update. Anyways, thanks guys for the advice. I recently contacted my uncle, who’s an engineer (he’s awesome) and he just popped over to my house today and showed me how to solder. Turns out you really do need three hands. He took the pairs of wires and soldered them into one wire, and then soldered the two wires into each point on the connector. Rather clever method.

Showed me some really great skills in like 20 mins. Also, he has the coolest soldering iron EVER.
It’s this portable gas powered soldering iron which he used to solder the wires and shrink the heatshrink. It’s actually the most amazing tool I ever seen and it glows up red hot on the side.

5 Likes
23

There’s no better teacher than a practical demonstration, followed by a personal hands-on practice to re-enforce the lesson.
Nice one OP

4 Likes
24

I recall writing something like exactly that 4 days ago :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway, great help from your uncle, kudos to him for teaching you things you may need later in life :slight_smile:

1 Like
25

IT WORKS! :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:
Took me until now to realise how you can get away with all the watts of 12V through those single wires into the dc barrel jack.
R = (ρl)/A . So it’s fine to handle the current at such a short length.

image
image1280×958 353 KB

  • Video of it working.

I’m currently using it to power that 12V DC fan, I left my PC build in uni, but it’ll work great as a way to suck up those nasty flux fumes.
On the topic of soldering, as per my uncles’ instruction, I’ve just been starting off basic by soldering small component wires together to form a cube. Using the advice given here along with a replacement tip actually works like a charm! So far I’ve got a square and I’ll finish it off later today.
:stuck_out_tongue:

image|720x538

5 Likes
26

How about a Theresa thread of the project you are working on? Looks groovy with boards and stuff

1 Like
27

Theresea May. She was our ex prime minister?

1 Like
28

Wow, auto correct is really on point! Thanks bud :slight_smile:

29

Auto coreect :heart: Brexit :rofl: :rofl:

1 Like
30

Okay then, I might as well dash this project in here then whilst i’m at it. It’s essentially me assembling my own ATX PSU from used server PSUs off ebay, as a result of needing to power on my dead Vega 64 st the time, to check it’s power stage voltages etc. Don’t worry, she’s all fixed now, shoutout to Buildzoid for that one.
Re: Help dead vega 64 - Hardware / GPU - Level1Techs Forums

Basic idea goes as such (copied and pasted from previous thread)

On a good note though, this whole journey did lead me to discover a method in order to cheaply power a PC with cheap HP server PSU units. Found this out from this video (1:55):
Building a 2X GTX 1060 6gb Mining Rig! - YouTube

Also Here:
Mining Rig Server PSU with ATX Motherboard PICO PSU - YouTube 1

As the server PSU is 12V only, all the 12V devices (CPU, GPU) can be powered off the server PSU itself directly with 6 pin PCIe to 6+2 pin PCIe cables male-male along with PCIe to EPS male-male cables for the CPU. Though you’ll probably have to DIY those EPS cables. This lets you power only the motherboard and other lesser components with the power adapter (PicoPSU, HDplex, or whatever Power Distribution Board used).

Components needed:

I still have yet to make 4 pin EPS connectors out of the 6 pin PCIe cables I have. They’ll have to be 6 to 4pin each. I’m waiting on a crimpring tool for the crimps. Then it’ll be complete.

image
image1080×810 243 KB

I’ll eventually get round to seeing if I can use it to turn this cheap eBay test PC on, only problem is that the thing won’t even boot normally as there’s no pre-installed OS, so i’ll figure out how to resurrect this piece of junk in my spare time, and then boot it with the DIY PSU solution.

Like stated previously, this has the potential to be a banging solution for one of those small sandwich ITX cases. Think intel NUC9 extreme, where the PSU is along the bottom, except this is messier and can go to 1200W if you’re willing to get a 1200W unit.

And can we for a second stop to consider how much a fucking disaster PCIe power connectors are? I know everyone is supposed to bitch about molex vs sata but the 6+2 pin connector is the most utterly useless piece of garbage ever.

image
image2175×1850 574 KB

The +2 Pins do LITERALLY NOTHING. They’re just sense pins that ‘unlock’ an extra 75W when it was already there to begin with. Its a waste of connector space and cabling. Honestly, I really don’te get why manufacturers can’t just switch to using EPS for everything. Making adapters wouldn’t be too hard, besides, Nvidia and AMD already use 8 pin EPS for their server GPU’s, allowing them to pump 300W into those cards with onlt ONE EPIS 8pin, rather than the 2-3 we see today.

1 Like
31

An overhauled spec for PC components would be good, yes.

Problem is transitioning from ATX-PS2 to something else.

32

In other news… I soldered a cube, as per my uncle’s request.

image
image3024×4032 3.62 MB

8 Likes
33

That’s a good way to master soldering. Well done, even if it’s not perfectly square :wink:

1 Like
34

and you can pick up some alumiweld rods( the type you can use a propane torch with) to pre-tin aluminum and then rosin core solder will bond to it
you can solder copper to aluminum.
www.harborfreight.com/8-piece-low-temperature-aluminum-welding-rods-44810.html

i use this stuff a lot making antennas

35

So errmmmm… Buildzoid repaired and returned my formerly deceased Vega 64. However, when I plugged it in , it still wasn’t working. So I’m guessed that enable transistor got slightly missaligned again.

So I tried to solder it back up, but ended up knocking if off​:sweat_smile::sweat_smile:
Before and after

image
image1536×2048 571 KB

image
image830×962 182 KB

So anyway, after squinting really hard and using my phone camera, I determined the transistors are marked A04, which leads to a part number of MMBT3904T bipolar junction transistor. Ordered a bunch of them and i’ll see if I can use this fat soldering tip on these teeny tiny SMD components.

image
image3024×4032 1.62 MB

36

Aluminium solder?! Cooooooool!

37

The labelling on small SMD packages has usually nothing to do with the part number. They often refer to batch numbers, production dates or really anything the manufacturer felt like putting on there, so the transistors you ordered are most certainly the wrong kind.

1 Like
38

sounds like your uncle knows electronics.

mine had me make a ladder… challenge accepted, i thought…
took me a week :smiley:

so GG…

1 Like
39

yay fml. Any amd execs out there willing to share transistor deets?

1 Like
40

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably an N-channel MOSFET with a threshold voltage of 2 - 2,5 V, but don’t quote me on that.