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How To Solder and Desolder Connections

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Congratulations—you've created a solder joint! Inspect the joint to see if it formed correctly:

Leaded solder joints should look like a shiny, concave tent surrounding the entire lead.

If the joint isn't shiny, it may not have formed correctly. Reheat the joint briefly and allow it to cool.

Lead-free solder joints should look like a concave tent surrounding the entire lead. They may be shiny or dull.

If the solder joint doesn't surround the entire lead, reheat the joint and add more solder.

If the solder looks like a round bead instead of a concave tent, it didn't bond to the component lead. Reheat the joint and try to get the lead hot enough so the solder bonds to it.

Check if any solder unintentionally bridged with a different joint. If so, apply some flux and reheat one of the joints to carefully break the bridge. If the bridge doesn't want to separate follow this step and use solder wick to pull away any extra solder.

Like any skill, practice makes perfect. If your first solder joint doesn't look picture-perfect, that's OK! It takes a few attempts to get the hang of the movement and timing.

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