Some Helpful Hints

- Printed circuit boards are often coated with a thin coat of grease, dirt, oxidation or all of the above. To make successful joints, the copper traces must be clean. Washing in detergent and/or scrubbing with a non-metalic abrasive helps a great deal.
- Sometimes component leads will be oxidized or dirty. A few quick scrapes with a pocket knife will keep you from making a hard-to-see bad solder joint.
- A "just-heated" board trace or pad is easy to rip off the board. Heating with the soldering process softens the adheasive and makes the area subject to damage. Be careful.
- Don't turn the soldering iron on till you are ready to use it. Always keep the tip tinned.
- When soldering a seqence of joints:
1. Wipe the tip
2. Tin lightly
3. Make the joint
4. Make another joint or return the iron to the stand

This keeps the iron tinned between sets of soldering. Another way to think of this is to never clean the tip before putting it back into the holder.
- Don't blow on cooling solder joints. This can cause crystalization of the joint.