Introduction

Welcome to TehSkeen's Soldering for Beginners guide. This publication is aimed at novice individuals who are going to be taking the plunge into the world of attaching small wires and/or components onto electrical devices. Since it's a guide by TehSkeen, one of the worlds most viewed video game console related modification sites after studying it you should have a better idea on how to successfully install your chips and case mods.

This guide is written by Brakken and is aimed at the general population. I'm not genius nor claim to be a soldering expert, but am writing this to share with you what I've learned over the years in hopes it can be of some use to you. Please take your time to read over the entire guide and remember practice makes perfect.

Why Solder?

Soldering is required for most internal modifications you can make to your video game consoles. It's actually not as hard as it looks and you can save time and money by doing it yourself. There are installers out there who make extra money by installing modifications for people like you, but this can be costly and you never know who you're sending your valuable video gaming console to or if you'll get it back in a working condition.

Learning how to solder can be easy and a fun experience. It can save you time and money. It can also help you understand more about how the internal components of various hardware setups work. Of course learning how to solder is adding a skill to your already growing list of interests and can be rewarding not only for yourself, but for potential future endeavors.

What is Solder?

Solder is a conductive metal alloy that bonds and creates a connection between two various components such as an integrated circuit and bare wire. Using solder you can connect various modification products such as modchips to internal components inside your video game console. This is required for installing them. Solder itself is a light, flexible metal with a low melting point. To melt the solder to join various components and wires together you are going to use a tool called a soldering iron.

A soldering iron is a small pen shaped instrument when supplied with power heats up to around 180 to 190 °C (360 to 370 °F). At the end of the soldering iron is a small removable tip that is used to manipulate the solder. Soldering irons come in a variety of forms mainly based on the wattage they use. A 15 watt soldering iron is ideal for modifying video game consoles, but higher wattage irons can be used if needed. I however do not recommend using more then a 15 watt iron.

Soldering Tools

If you're going to be soldering you're going to need to use some tools to help you get the job done. Note that you do not necessarily need all of the tools I've listed, but depending on the type of device you're going to be soldering with and/or on to they might come in very handy. It's fairly simple to get away with just using an iron, solder and wire, but I would highly recommend purchasing the following items.

15-watt Soldering Iron

This wattage iron is ideal for soldering onto already fabricated and populated devices such as the internal motherboard inside various video gaming consoles. Using such a low wattage will give you ample time to solder correctly without worrying about the heat damaging important components. You can get away with using a higher wattage, but then you'll have much less time to work with while soldering.

60/40 Standard Rosin-Core Solder .032 Diameter or Similar

This mixture of solder is ideal to use for conductive purposes. The diameter allows you to directly apply the solder onto larger components without having to tin your wire first. You can really get away with using any diameter size if you first gather the solder on the end of your iron or tin the wire.

30-26 Guage Wire

The higher the guage the smaller the wire. 30 guage is really small and should be used for connecting various signal points. It it always recommend to use 26 guage wire for connecting power and ground points. Try to keep your power and ground wire length to a minimum.

Wire Cutters and/or Strippers

These tools will allow you to easily cut your wire to your desired length and strip the outside plastic shielding away from the ends giving you access to the bare metal which you'll be soldering onto.

Magnifier Glass

Due to the small points you'll be soldering onto it's helpful to have one of these especially if you do not have 20/20 vision. Always remember to solder in a well lit room or in direct sunlight.

Pick Knife and/or Razor Blade

These tools are used to lift IC legs or remove lacquer from solder pads.

De-soldering Braid

This braided copper when heated and placed on top of solder sucks it up allowing you to remove the solder from a bridged connection or from a component you are going to lift or remove.

Solder Sucker

This small pump sucks heated solder away from components. If you're going to be removing solder I would first try to suck up as much of it as possible then using the soldering braid to remove the rest of the solder.

Tip Tinner

This compound is used to tin the tip of your iron. After using your iron the tip of it may become dirty and by heating your iron up and spinning it around in this compound you can re-tin the tip so it can be used again without adding unwanted material into your mixture of solder.

Cleaning Sponge/Pad for Soldering Iron Tip

It is helpful to clean your tip after each point you solder. This is accomplished by using a wet sponge which will remove any unwanted particles from the end of your iron allowing you to make clean solder connections.

Flux-Pen, Flux Paste and/or Pre-Fluxed Solder

This substance greatly helps you join two points together (such as connecting wire to a pad) as it removes unwanted material such as oxidization from your points. It basically cleans the points so the solder can make better contact. You can purchase solder that is already mixed with flux, but I find it more useful to actually purchase the flux by itself so you can apply the necessary amount as the pre-fluxed solder sometimes just doesn't cut it.

Clear Rubbing Alcohol (or some 190 proof vodka)

Cheap stuff you can find at almost any store. It's used to clean off access flux once you're done soldering.

Coarse Sand Paper

This can be used to remove oxidization and prep the components you're going to be soldering onto.

Digital Multi-Meter

This device is used to measure the continuity between two points. It's helpful to see if you've accidentally bridge two points that should be not touching each other. A bridged connection can cause your video game console to not boot and in extreme cases (not so rare) kill your system.

Soldering Methodology

As advised above I would use a 15 watt iron. These can be purchased fairly cheaply. You will want to make sure it comes with a very fine tip. It would also be helpful if you grind down the tip even further using a dremmel. If you're new to soldering now is the time to practice getting used to how the solder interacts with the iron. Heat your iron up for around two minutes then over a surface you won't mind dripping solder onto apply some solder onto the end of the iron. Twirl the iron around a few times to get used to how it flows up and down the iron. Softly shake it to see how much movement is required for the solder to fling off (flinging solder is very bad).

Before you solder you're going to want to prepare your wire. First place the component you'll be soldering into your console (modchip, led, etc...) in a secure location (most likely as close to the power and ground points as possible) then measure and cut as many wires as necessary.

Once you've cut them strip each end of the wire using either your wire strippers, wire cutters or your teeth. Once the bare wire is exposed cut it down so only a little bit is still remaining (approximately twice the size of the object you'll be soldering onto). Once this is done you can dip each end of the wire in flux and then use your iron to apply solder onto each end. This process is called "tinning". Once each end of your wire is covered with a thin layer of solder you have "tinned wires".

Once you have a good idea on how the solder flows on your iron and you're wires tinned it's time to solder them onto the various components on your video game consoles motherboard. There are a few different components and each one of them requires a different approach.

Pads - Silver

The most common points you'll be soldering onto are the metallic solder pads. These small circle or square shaped points on the board already have a small layer of solder on them. I would suggest applying a small amount of flux to each pad. Next apply a small amount of solder onto the pad by placing your iron on the pad then at the same time touching the end of your iron and the pad with your solder.

If done correctly the pad will now be coated with a small layer of solder most likely shaped like a small ball. Note that you do not want to keep the iron on the pad for more then 3 seconds and try not to leave a large ball of solder on the pad - just a tiny one. If you've applied too much solder use the solder sucker or de-soldering braid to remove it and try again.

Once you have solder on the pad you can now place the tip of your tinned wire over the pad and then apply the iron on top of the wire and gently push down. Within a second or two you'll see the solder melt and the wire bond with it. Remove the iron, but don't move the wire for 2-3 seconds until the solder has cooled down. Clean any access flux with your rubbing alcohol.

Pads - Copper (Gold Looking)

Copper pads can be a little more trickier to solder onto. Most of them are covered with a lacquer (solder mask) called organic surface protectant (OSP) finish which protects them from corrosion. You can get away without removing the OSP, but you risk heating up the pad too much to actually get the solder to bond which can result in the pad coming off of the board. If this happens you're going to need to solder onto the trace that leads to the pad which is pretty difficult so I would highly recommend preparing the copper pad before attempting to solder onto it.

To prepare the pad you simply place your de-soldering braid over it and then place your iron on top of the braid. It'll take a few seconds to adsorb the lacquer so watch for a little bit of smoke. You will need to remove the braid while it's still hot otherwise it'll bond to the point and if you try to remove it by force you'll remove the point along with it meaning you're going to have to solder onto the trace. Be careful and take your time.

Once you've removed the OSP layer you'll be left with a silver pad. Just follow the steps about for that type of pad and you'll be good to go. Remember to clean any access flux left on the board with your rubbing alcohol.

Via Points

These points are small circles with a hole in the middle. They are either silver or gold in color and need to be prepped before soldering onto them. To prep a via point first put some flux on it and in the hole and then apply a small bit of solder to the end of your iron. Next touch the tip of your iron to the via point for a few seconds and remove it. You'll notice the circle is now full of solder. Now you can place your tinned wire on top of the point, apply the iron for 2-3 seconds, lift the iron and give the solder 2-3 more seconds to dry. Clean any access flux with your rubbing alcohol.

Resistors / Fuses

   

These small components can be a bit tricky. They are surface mounted and can be accidentally removed pretty easily if you heat them up for too long. On each side of the resistor/fuse is a small area of exposed metal. As always, apply a bit of flux to the exposed metal and then put your pre-tinned wire on top of it, apply the iron for 1-2 seconds, take the iron off, let it cool down for 2-3 seconds and you're done. Clean any access flux with your rubbing alcohol.

LPC Holes

LPC holes are present in a specific video game console and are used to hold a pin-header which your modchip will plug into. The are basically larger versions of the via points, but in a certain version of a video game console are filled with solder preventing you from placing the pin-header inside them to be soldered on. To remove the solder place your iron in the LPC hole until the solder melts and on the other side of the board use your solder sucked to suck out the solder.

You might have to repeat the process a few times to remove all of the solder. If you've got a stubborn LPC hole which it's solder won't fully come out after using the solder sucker then you should use some de-soldering braid. Make sure to remove the braid from the hole while it's still hot or you might pull off the metal contact surrounding the LPC hole and you'll have to solder onto the trace leading to it.

Once you have the solder removed or if there wasn't any in the LPC hole to begin with place your LPC header into the hole and secure it down with some tape so it stays in place. Next turn the board over and fill the holes and cover the pin-header's pins with flux. Next place your iron so it's touching both the pin-header pin and the metal around the LPC hole. Quickly apply some solder to where the iron is touching until the hole fills in. Clean any access flux with your rubbing alcohol.

IC Legs

IC (Integrated Circuit) legs are the small metal posts connecting the circuit to the board. They are very small and close together. When soldering a wire onto them you do not want the wire or the solder to make a connection between the legs otherwise you'll have what is called a "bridge" and this could render your console nonoperational or useless. Due to this fact I would first start by removing the oxidization that may have built up on the IC legs by gently scraping them with your sandpaper. Once you've done this blow on the IC and then clean it off with some rubbing alcohol.

After you've cleaned the IC leg it would be smart to tin the points you're going to be soldering onto. Due to the fact these legs are close together using Flux isn't an option. Simply put a tiny bit of solder on the end of your iron and then from a straight angle touch the tip of the iron to the leg. The result should be the leg covered with solder. Make sure the solder didn't join to the legs next to it. Just to be safe use your magnify glass to double check. If you have bridged the legs use the de-soldering braid to remove the solder and then try tinning it again.

Once your IC leg is tinned you can put your tinned wire on top of it, apply the iron for a few seconds, remove the iron and let the solder cool down before moving the wire. Next you'll want to give the wire a little tug to make sure it doesn't come loose. Don't pull too much, just enough to see if the solder is going to hold it.

Traces

Traces are small tracks on boards that run between components such as pads and IC legs. Soldering onto these small lines can be a little tricky. First you're going to need to remove the solder mask (the lacquer type substance that covers the motherboard I've mentioned before). You can remove this by using a small knife or razor blade by carefully scraping it off. You need to be very cautious when removing the solder mask otherwise you might possibly cut too far down into the trace leaving no connection between the points it connects to or in a worse case scenario you could lift the trace off of the board which would require you to repair it.

Once the metal is exposed apply some flux to it, put your tinned wire on top of the trace, apply your iron for 1-2 seconds, remove the iron and then wait 2-3 seconds for the solder to dry. To make sure your wire is secure gently give the wire a little tug (even more gently then with IC legs). Clean any access flux with your rubbing alcohol.

Checking Continuity

Using you digital multimeter you can check to see if two adjacent points such as IC legs are making contact. Set your multimeter to the funky looking setting " ->| " and touch both the positive and negative ends to the points you wish to test. While the multimeter is not touching anything it will read infinity, but if you touch two points together and it reads "0" you more then likely have a bridge (aka short) and you need to remove the solder joining the two points together.

Removing Solder

Using your solder sucker and desoldering braid you can remove unwanted solder. Examples of situations where you would need to remove solder would be shorts, bridges or LPC holes full of solder. The solder sucker is good for removing large bits of solder, but isn't ideal for small components. To remove solder using your solder sucker apply your iron to the solder you wish to remove and at the same time place the sucker over the tip of your iron (not too close or you'll melt the sucker, but not too far away or you'll only suck up air). Press the release button on the sucker and the solder will be sucked into it.

Desoldering braid works a lot better then a sucker as it'll remove 99% of the solder and is perfect for removing solder bridges on IC legs. What is isn't good for is removing large balls of solder - use the sucker for that. To remove solder with the braid place it on top of the solder and apply the iron over the spot the solder is under on the braid. Leave it there until you see smoke and then while the braid is still touching the iron lift up on it. If you remove the iron before lifting up the braid will be attached to whatever you're trying to desolder and if you pull up on it you'll most likely lift the point, trace, etc... off of the board.

Lifting IC Legs

Sometimes you're going to need to lift up an IC leg for various purposes. Do do this take your small knife or razor blade and place it near the bottom of the IC leg where it's touching the board. Next heat up the leg with your iron and very, very gently push your blade under the leg and pull up just a little bit. If done correctly the leg will be lifted from the board and if done incorrectly the leg will snap off of the IC - not good.

Tips & Advice