Re: Waterproofing a mag?
Hi again. I thought that, while at the start of this thread, it may be an idea to post some soldering tips for people who are not expereanced in this, as ur soldering can mean the difference between a CDI that works or doesnt. Ok, u will need a soldering iron (also a stand for the iron when not in use &something to clean the tip of the iron with), some resin cored solder & a small pair of sharp side cutters. For an iron, a 20 watt iron will do the job. Avoid the trigger feed soldering gun types, they are far to clumsy & inaccurate for this, as u will have to do some fine soldering around the jumpers etc. A nice fine chisel or needle type tip will b good. For solder u will want a hobby pack of 1.0mm (diameter), 60/40 resin cored solder. This means it is 60% tin & 40% lead. It must be resin cored. Acid cored, while it will "take" to the job to be soldered will not do, as the acid will later continue to etch the parts u have soldered resulting in really bad electical joins. U will also need something to constantly clean the tip of the iron with. I use a small ashtray full of stainless steel wool, tho a moistened sponge is also fine. Ok, now we get to soldering. There r only a few things to know to do this well. Let the iron heat up to temp. Now it must be cleaned & tinned. Wipe the tip all over quickly on ur chosen cleaner, then touch the end of the solder wire to it. The resin cores, which act as a wetting agent will melt first & flow over the tip lifting any residual gunk, then the solder will melt. It all happens in a second. Melt enough solder onto the tip to evenly coat the little end tip u will be using, then flick off any excess to leave the tip all shiny silver with no solder globs hanging off it. This light coating on the tip is needed for the iron to b able to transfer heat to the component u r soldering & the copper foil track on the board that it is being soldered to. The heat must be transfered to both of these at the same time. So,,, with ur component mounted on the board & with the protuding component legs slightly bent to hold it in place, take ur freshly cleaned & tinned iron & place it on the copper foil track with the tip of the iron also up against the leg of the component. Now introduce the end of the solder wire to the junction of the iron, copper foil & component leg. Feed in just enough solder to form a small pool that encircles & wicks up the leg of the component a little, then remove the iron. Its all over in a second or two. The solder joint should be small & neat, but most of all it should have a shiny silver appearance & have wicked into the surface of both the component leg & the copper foil track . If it has a dull grey appearance it is most likely wot is called a "dry joint" which, while providing an ok mechanical join is providing an unsatisfactory electrical join that will further oxidize & get worse. This tpe of joint must be redone. Also, the juction of the solder pool & the copper foil track/component leg should be like a small even gradient. If where the solder meets either of these 2 looks like a bubble sitting against it the solder has not properly wicked into it & it must be redone. If its good, take ur side cutters & cut the component leg of flush with the top of the solder pool. If u have a few components mounted in their correct position on ur board u can quickly solder up several joins before the iron becomes dirty & needs cleaning & tinning again, however, whenever the iron sits unused for a minute or 2 it will need to be cleaned & tinned b4 using it to solder. When the iron is not being used but is still turned on, leave it in its stand which will usually look kinda like a spring. Touch the tip of the iron agaist this spring so it acts as a heatsink & prevents the iron from burning. So, just to recap,,, the iron must always be clean & always be tinned for successful soldering. The components being soldered must also b clean & free of grease etc. When soldering, it will only take a split second for small components to be heated by the iron, so after touching the iron to the job, quickly feed the solder in, then as soon as the solder wicks into the job, remove the iron. If its shiny siver & looks uniformly even ur all done. If u search U tube u will find soldering guides so u can get a visual of a good joint. It wont take u long at all to be soldering really well if u remember these few simple basics Cheers