2006.10.08 ~07 My First (Personal) Soldering Project I applied my non-existent soldering skills to a little project trying to fix a non-working dance pad (non-mainstream brand). Lessons I learned in soldering today: * tin the damn tip. It really really helps, even if it forms a gigantic ball of solder on the tip. * shortening wires that are too long is easier than trying to extend it. * desoldering a mistake can get messy and crappy. * applying iron to a wire's end can still burn the nearby insulation because the conductive metal, of all things, gets hot. * holding onto the wire near the heated end is a bad idea. * the spent solder on the tip needs to get scraped off often. * scraping it off with a wet napkin does weird things to the iron. * breathing burnt insulation hurts. * breathing burnt flux also hurts. * using lead-free solder gives me warm fuzzies. * using rosin core doesn't. * diag cutters help with those spiky solder points. I should get some. * when measuring the resistance of a trace, it helps if the trace is not already covered in epoxy. Now I need a cheap-o USB PC gamepad to hook up this puppy. And remembering to attach the negative terminal properly so that the electrolytic capacitors can do their jobs.