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How many here can actually solder?


Deang

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Soldering is not rocket science and is easy to learn.

 

The trick is enough heat for solder to flow freely but not too much so you melt your work.

 

My question would be, is it easy to SELF-learn?

 

These days we have the internet including Youtube vids and many on-line Discussion Forums such as this one where knowledge can be shared with others.  I think this helps immensely.

 

I think I would not be so incompetent if I had a teacher who could watch me as I work/practice soldering and give me feedback.

Edited by wvu80
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I've built a couple of Bottlehead kits (Foreplay and Paramours) that worked the first time I plugged them in.  Still using the Paramours with no problems so I guess I did something right.  :)  

I would definitely consider building crossover kits.  I like saving money and doing the work myself.

 

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I no longer offer full crossover kits.  When I did sell those, I got most of them back to complete.  Some never started on them and just sent the kit back to be assembled.  That was not too bad.  Some sent the kits back partly assembled, not so good.  Some sent the completed kits back to be figured out because they did not work.  Those either had some solder joints that were not conducting or just plain wired incorrectly.  Offering full crossover kits was a mistake. 

 

I have had much better luck selling just cap kits.  Probably 95 percent get those done and working.  On the full kits, I would guess less than 10 percent got the kit completed and working.

 

Bob Crites

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Soldering is not rocket science and is easy to learn.

 

The trick is enough heat for solder to flow freely but not too much so you melt your work.

 

My question would be, is it easy to SELF-learn?

 

These days we have the internet including Youtube vids and many on-line Discussion Forums such as this one where knowledge can be shared with others.  I think this helps immensely.

 

I think I would not be so incompetent if I had a teacher who could watch me as I work/practice soldering and give me feedback.

 

 

If there is Youtube videos out there i would say that would be a great starting point.

 

My first full time job even before trade school was installing smoke and burglar alarms, i was taught the basic's and went on from there.

 

No wireless options were available back then, everything was hard wired.

Edited by jason str
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Soldering is not rocket science and is easy to learn.

 

The trick is enough heat for solder to flow freely but not too much so you melt your work.

 

My question would be, is it easy to SELF-learn?

 

These days we have the internet including Youtube vids and many on-line Discussion Forums such as this one where knowledge can be shared with others.  I think this helps immensely.

 

I think I would not be so incompetent if I had a teacher who could watch me as I work/practice soldering and give me feedback.

 

 

I found the easiest thing to do is watch some youtube videos then go to your local Thrift store and get a cheap boombox etc and take it apart. Then just pick caps etc. to de-solder and re-solder until you get the hang of it.

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I have built 2 ALK kits (old style universal and Forte IIs) also replaced AA caps with Crites' cap kits.  I doubt I would ever just order a built crossover from you Dean not because of your work but because I like to do things myself, and knowing I save even a small amount of money makes me feel better.  I like the idea of kits for me because it is the design and parts selection I lack the initiative to learn.  I guess I don't understand how learning to solder would be difficult for people, but apparently it can be.  I do own a Weller S51 station.  That people get in over their heads with easy projects like crossover kits and are unhappy when they cannot complete the project frankly pisses me off.  I feel like they ruin it for people like me that have really enjoyed the process.  There are all kinds of DIY type kits out there in all types of hobbies that are successful and for the most part people that buy them understand that they are responsible for assembling said kits. If instructions are provided with a kit that is your technical support, no need to call the seller.  It is a speaker crossover not a fighter jet you are putting together.

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I work on and build tube guitar amps for a living.  I was soldering for years , even use a weller wes51 , cardas quad eutectic solder, etc. blah blah. Then I read the military paper on how to solder.  Western electric connections and all. Humbling.   I see so many bad soldering jobs in my work it is sad.

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I work on and build tube guitar amps for a living.  I was soldering for years , even use a weller wes51 , cardas quad eutectic solder, etc. blah blah. Then I read the military paper on how to solder.  Western electric connections and all. Humbling.   I see so many bad soldering jobs in my work it is sad.

Link I would like to read it. I just read this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice  does not seem to bad.  I have done similar with out even knowing about it and will try it out next time i have an opportunity.  Worst case for a crossover failure does not have the same consequences as a military solder connection failing.  This is a hobby people should be having fun with it.

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I no longer offer full crossover kits.  When I did sell those, I got most of them back to complete.  Some never started on them and just sent the kit back to be assembled.  That was not too bad.  Some sent the kits back partly assembled, not so good. 

 

Some sent the completed kits back to be figured out because they did not work.  Those either had some solder joints that were not conducting or just plain wired incorrectly.  Offering full crossover kits was a mistake. 

 

  On the full kits, I would guess less than 10 percent got the kit completed and working.

 

 

I have done a couple of XO's from DIYSoundgroup.com, but I was very nervous about it and despite taking literally hours to think about things and lay the components out, I still ended up screwing things up to the point they needed re-doing.

 

If I got a kit worth several hundred dollars like Bob's are, I would certainly pay somebody to assemble and solder it for me.

Edited by wvu80
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I guess I don't understand how learning to solder would be difficult for people, but apparently it can be.

 

First of all, I was a psych major, I don't read schematics.  It is sooo far out of my comfort zone!

 

I know to those of you who are trained these are child's play but if you've never done it before it is nerve wracking.  I don't want to have to read an entire electronics manual to find the 5 or 6 things I probably need to know.

 

Second of all, when you lack knowledge you don't want to make expensive mistakes.  Sure I could have bought the $100 Weller, but I did what most people like me do, I went to Radio Shack and depended upon the expertise of the kid behind the counter.  If they offered an $8 soldering pencil and one for $12, I would get the $8 one because I I know probably don't need the fancy top-of-the-line model when starting out.

 

And there is the feeling of being alone.  Sure, I knew in general to heat the wire instead of the solder, but since the soldering pencil never got hot enough to heat the wire, how would I know?  And when you touch the solder to the tip, man, it flows so much easier, so why not do that? 

 

YOU know the answer to that last question.  But in my first (failed) attempts, I did not know that.

 

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Edited by wvu80
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Soldering is not rocket science and is easy to learn.

 

The trick is enough heat for solder to flow freely but not too much so you melt your work.

That is why you need a temperature controlled iron. I know they're more expensive but I spent more on other irons before biting the bullet.

My Weller at midpoint on the dial is at 60 which is probably 600 F.

WMcD

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"DIY types", especially those with any kind of electronics experience - know how to read a schematic, read the data off of a part label, and know how and where to source parts. I've never understood why a person like this would need a kit. All you have to do is get the schematic, pull the network - and clone it. If you want to do a non-Klipsch design - some of those schematics are public, and there are plenty of pictures to use as reference. "Those that can solder" already have all of the tools as well. So, people that fall into this group have no need for a person to supply kits or build for them - unless they have no real time to mess with it or just don't want to.

Then we have the other group; some knowledge, largely incomplete, with limited skill sets - but willing to learn.

Manuals with words and pictures don't really help this group much, but I think videos would. Opinions?

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I'm curious; to those who can solder, but paid to have someone else do your networks - what stopped you from doing them yourselves?

So somebody knows how to design a crossover but still ships the components off to be soldered? I would think that the design is the hard part.

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