Wiring On Circuit Board
 

Well my megasquirt adaptor board finally came in. I am going to start assembling it tomorrow. My electrical techer in auto told me that I should use a heat sink when soldering on circuit board. Is this right? If so, where can I buy these things and how much do they cost? Is there a thing I can use as a heat sink, or do I need to buy something deemed as a heat sink?

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

its heat shrink, rubber hose that you put over bare soldered wires or where youve soldered terminals to wire to cover it. it will keep anything from getting into the conection. solder and heat shrink everything you do, do it right the first time so it doesnt come back to haunt you. you can get it at any harware type of store.
oh yeah, you just slide it over the connection and use a heat gun or lighter and it will shrink, dont pu it in the flame just needs heat.

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

No not that, I know what that is. This is a printed circuit board, not two wires being soldered together. A heat sink absorbs heat so it doesnt ruin the component Im soldering.

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

Any input on this?

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

Comn guys anything?

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

You can use a typical low heat iron. Just dont hold the iron on the board for long. Like under 3 or so seconds. What you teacher said may be better. But you can use a low head iron on a computer motherboard. I doubt anything in the MS kit is anywhere near that delicate.

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

Alright thanks. I have just a basic Soldering Iron "For general home and shop use". Thats fine right?

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

Yeah, to be safe make sure it is around 35w. You could use a higher wattage one, but you would have to be more careful.

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

your gonna want to make sure you have a nice fine tip on that iron. some of the components are going to be a bitch to get soldered down correctly because the holes are so close together, make sure you test your board with a DVOM to make sure you dont have any shorts

RE: Wiring On Circuit Board
 

i took electronics class and we had a couple tricks for doing sensitive circuit bored. one trick would be use a very fine tip and get a bubble of solder to sit on the tip of the iron (low heat) these takes practice and a little while longer to do. or if you can get the solder to sit in a fixed position with the wire hanging out. bend a paperclip straight, heat the solder with any gun and use the paperclip to collect the solder and then place accordingly. both work really well. pm me if you have any ?'s