PROCO RAT Unity Gain

[Marbles]

If I may be so rude to hijack this thread for a question... What is the preferred temperature? I solder at 350C now (cause that's what the factory setting was). Should I turn this down? Haven't had problems with it so far.. Is it too hot?

[Frank_NH]

I use 620F on my digital soldering station...works for me!

[rmfroyd]

Dropped mine to 650F.  Works fine.

[rocket88]

just got home and checked my iron. i'm soldering between 650-700F. what i mean by that is its set now at 700F, but depending on how the solder flows i'll drop it down to around 650F. the only time i turn it above 700F is when i solder the lugs on the jacks cause i can get a much better joint and i can get it done much faster.

[Suzukiscottie]

350C / 662F is what my station is set at.

[Frank_NH]

Hold it!  Unless your iron is at 351C your solder won't have any mojo!  Quick, turn it up!  

[Marbles]

;) Thanks

[Silver Blues]

First of all, shit dude that enclosure is all kinds of awesome. I'm a Skyrim fan myself

Also I have to second the recommendation about being very methodical with everything, I have experience and I still take the time to check every single joint with an ohmmeter. It takes forever sometimes but I can always be guaranteed or at least reassured that it will work the first time (by reducing or eliminating errors of my own accord). Case in point, I just finished building myself a mechanical keyboard, with a free-air matrix that involved a hilariously large amount of soldering. It took me a few days or work to finish but it looks super good and it worked flawlessly the first time. That's the kind of performance you should be aiming for.

Also regarding the melt temperature, what kind of solder are you using? I'm a fan of eutectic solders because they are significantly easier to work with than the common 60/40 stuff. I recommend 63/37 or some silver-bearing solder if you want something good that is a little easier to melt. I don't use a station but my iron is 35W (if anyone knows offhand what the corresponding temperature is).

[motterpaul]

[EDIT] -  just to clarify, I didn't see there was a second page to replies to the OP before I posted, so sorry for the redundant post.

That temp recommendation surprised me a little because my temperature is also set substantially higher, so I checked at Madbean and Hakko and they both recommend close to 700-degrees. That was also what I found worked fastest through experimentation.

But, I do get some flux flowing onto my boards so I am going to try to reduce it. I have never had a cold solder joint as a problem as far as I know. Of course, I tend to make sure that my copper and the pins are both well covered.

One good test of your solder skills is to pull on all of your leads from the front - if any come off then you have a loose solder joint. Also (of course), you do not want any of the hole showing and you also want the solder to completely surround the lead coming through the whole.

I have heard of people who bend leads over, or solder them before they trim them down. I tend to trim mine to about 1/8 inch of showing through the board and then apply solder. This seems to be the easiest way to heat the lead enough to make the solder adhere to it.

I was not sure if you were using silver vero, or if there had just been a lot of de-soldering done. I had never heard that silver backed boards are problematic. Too bad I just got some for the first time today. They seem to be a little easier to use (solder flows faster) but it's harder to see if you have any burrs or overflows.

In any case, it is always a good idea to sand or erase the oxidation off of a veroboard before you use it.
My usual practice is to use a very light sandblock all over the copper side right after I hand-drill the cuts. That usually de-oxidizes the board and removes any stray bits of copper (or silver).