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[Reply #15 on:]

oh soldering is not bad, it just takes a few times of practice and anyone can do it

you can get some old alarm clock or something for a quarter at the thrift store and practice on that, or a fun little kit if you want a blinking snowman or something

something you do have to watch out for is SMD parts, as they are really close together on the pins, which is why breakout boards are good

otherwise be careful with the iron (like un plug it when your done, dont lick the hot end etc) and it quickly becomes like using a pen

[Reply #16 on:]

Hmm, licking the tip of the iron, that sounds pretty fun. I used to solder a little with my dad but I have a really shaky hand and have been known to solder two contacts together accidentally. I guess getting better at soldering would be a pretty good start if I wanna start working on electronics, now wouldn't it?

Thanks for your help though, I appreciate it. I might actually stick around at this forum.  

[Reply #17 on:]

no problem

also when I first started soldering I had the same issue, if nothing else watching that tip wobble around gets you to focus on it, and in no time it starts smoothing out

plus you learn a lot of little tricks that are kind of hard to teach

[Reply #18 on:]

And there's always sockets & wirewrappiing, make a mistake, design change, easy to undo & adjust.
Well, I guess some soldering too to hold the sockets in place.

Or here - just wirewrapped to the leads of diodes!

[Reply #19 on:]

heh yea wirewrap

I borked all the pictures on my webserver, but here is a hackaday link to the first (and last so far) thing I wirewrapped

http://hackaday.com/2010/06/03/wire-wrapping-an-led-matrix/

[Reply #20 on:]

if you are afraid of soldering....

what about this here?

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9832

[Reply #21 on:]

That's a mess... My mom would probably be scared of that. I suppose it could be messier, though.

About the soldering tips, I think I could get the hang of it after awhile, I just need practice. Let's hope I don't break anything.

That Mux Shield is a little too expensive, I think I'd rather solder than but that, thanks for the suggestion, though.

[Reply #22 on:]

yea it really does not take a huge amount of time to not totally suck at soldering as long as you have proper tools, ie no 45 watt iron with a roofing nail tip, which makes it real easy to burn stuff up and hard to place

though I spent the last nearly 20 years with a 15/30 watt radio shack switchable model with a freaking deck nail sized tip hanging out of it so what do I know lol  

but when I switched over to a fine point tip and cooler temperatures, all of a sudden modern pcb work became much easier (and a fine tip is not always the best, chisel tips have their place, just not as much anymore)

[Reply #23 on:]

I really don't understand 40 watt soldering irons, or for that matter, 500 watt irons. I've only ever used a simple handheld soldering iron, without the big bulky power supply, and even that thing can burn up some chips. What is the point of having a soldering iron that can melt through 6 inch thick steel?

[Reply #24 on:]

Maybe folks want to solder on battery jumper cable terminations. Or copper pipes?

[Reply #25 on:]

yep

also commercially  soldered stuff is a bear, try taking out a lug with a pound of rohs crap around it

[Reply #26 on:]

Well it looks like I wont be using that anytime soon, even though it looks awesome to have laying around in my opinion.