soldering tips for y'all

[hulahalau]

Rather than use a steel wool pad, look for the plain brass "curly hair" cleaning pads. It is more gentle on your soldering iron tips.

As long as someone is talking about PCB soldering, I recommend that you gently clean the copper traces before solderring so that you remove all oxides - the copper should be shiny. If you are starting out with a bare board, then by the powder that you mix with water to form "electroless tinplating." Dip the PCB in the solution for the recommended time, remove, wawsh and dry. All copper will be tinned. Since even the tin will oxidise, clean and dry before soldering. If you are a fanatic, then after all soldering is complete and you have checked the board for functionality, spray with a urethane conformal spray (I don't, it's too expensive and a hassle).