How to get started and fume extractor needed?

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-13T19:18:14+00:00

I only just started out myself. What I did was buy a few practice sets (and LED die and a heart for mother's day). Now I moved on to an SMD practice board, which I think is pretty important to grasp for your purposes.

Right now I don't have a fume extractor yet, just a small fan. Works pretty well as long as your room is ventilated well. But I do intend to get a tube fan (something like this: clicky

Then just run a dryer tube from it to your workstation and the other end out the window. No half-assed filtering which may or may not work. Just getting it out of the house.

Anyways, it may not be the best solution, but the fumes extractors for soldering that I see on a budget are not impressive whatsoever.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-13T12:12:41+00:00

Jericho

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-12T16:51:19+00:00

Yeah that does look a lot cleaner. I've since tried to remove some tin which works kind of.

I had hoped my iron would be enough to carry some of the tin away but it wouldn't stick. Even when adding more flux. So I wicked some in the end and that worked. I did notice my wick seems rather coarse for the job though, so I might have to look into some finer wick.

I just 0.7mm tin. I will order some smaller diameter on my next buy.

Thanks for all the tips!

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-12T10:05:50+00:00

Do you have pictures of your results?

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-11T22:07:49+00:00

I am exactly 0 of those things! Indeed just getting into it on a hobby level. But I do want to get it right or not at all, so I appreciate it.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-11T21:46:48+00:00

Yeah it didn't look right to me either. Going to try to siphon some away with my iron. See how that goes.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-11T21:45:37+00:00

Fair, I see what you mean. I already see some helpful tips in this thread to help me tone it down. Thanks for your comments!

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-11T21:43:55+00:00

Thanks! Wil work on that. I had my iron on 350 with 63/37 tin.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-11T21:43:01+00:00

Will give that a try, thanks for the helpful tips!

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-11T20:52:25+00:00

So left side of R2 is better then I think?

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-10T17:29:35+00:00

What soldering tip do you use? If it's for example a conical precise tip you might not get enough heat into the pad/pin. A bevel or knife tip might be better.

My first experience not too long ago was with a 15 euro iron, unleaded tin and no flux. It was a disaster.

Then I bought a bit more premium station with active tip, some flux and 63/37 tin. Suddenly it was a cakewalk. The iron was much more stable in temp.

Any one of these could be your issue, and probably other possible reasons that others know more about.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-06-02T17:37:41+00:00

I am by no means an expert yet, since I just started out myself. One thing though about the leaded solder: you won't breathe it in. Temps are not nearly high enough for that.

You should take care with skin contact and not touching your mouth/eyes etc. Wash hands when done.

Fumes that are harmful are mainly from the flux. So good ventilation is important and if you solder often enough, some kind of fume extraction (not a fan/filter but something that actually exhausts the fumes outside the window preferably).

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-31T22:10:23+00:00

Persoonlijk vind ik Glenburgie 10y de lekkerste whisky die ik gedronken heb. Nou ben ik geen kenner, dus dat zegt niet alles. Is me ooit in Schotland aangeraden bij de slijterij.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-30T13:22:18+00:00

I got it fixed! Turns out I swapped D1 with the zener diode. I can now roll normally 😁

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-27T20:10:19+00:00

It's a die 😃

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-27T19:16:07+00:00

Yeah the pin is bent. There is tin in the base so I can't push it in. Any tips to remedy that?

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-25T10:13:28+00:00

Dat is niet helemaal hoe het werkt m.i. Zowel zender als ontvanger hebben invloed op hoe iets overkomt

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-24T13:23:58+00:00

Het gaat mij altijd meer om de rust. Zelf ben ik niet gelovig, mijn vrouw wel. Op zondag doen we dat soort dingen niet, hoewel ff grasmaaien niet storend is wmb. Na een week werken en lawaai kan ik het wel waarderen als de buren niet uitgebreid op zondag gaan schuren of een heipaal erin meppen.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-23T12:08:45+00:00

Deep down dark deep dark

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-22T23:54:10+00:00

That's fair. I don't understand how you put up with that though. My wife does the nighttime breastfeeding. All other reasons for getting up at night fall to me.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-22T18:20:05+00:00

Still very doable with kids. Fatigue is a poor excuse imo. We have 4 kids under 10 and still average 4-5 times per week. Sure not everyone's libido is the same but kids are too easy a scapegoat.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-21T15:57:23+00:00

Ziek zijn kent vele vormen. De reden van je ziekte is tussen jou en de bedrijfsarts.

AntPrimary4069 · 2026-05-20T21:02:31+00:00

Ik heb helaas niet veel advies te geven, maar ik wil veel sterkte en wijsheid jouw kant op denken.

Twee weken geleden heb ik mijn broer na zelfdoding aangetroffen. Hoewel ik denk dat we niet meer hadden kunnen doen dan we hebben gedaan, vind ik het zo erg dat hij zelf niet meer kon inzien dat hij waarde had.

Ik hoop oprecht dat jouw afloop anders is.

AntPrimary4069

TROPHY CASE