This is the only tutorial I've found on soldering that explains HOW to solder instead of just doing it. The other videos are like that "draw the rest of the f***king owl" meme. Describing it as "bridging" the pad and the pin by heating them both is brilliant. I love how you showed the actual motions before doing it too. Just the description I needed. Other videos do it so fast, I thought they were applying the solder to the soldering iron tip. They don't even explain what just happened.
That's why it is such a difficult job to be a good teacher in general - it takes actual mental effort to put yourself in the shoes of a newcomer and preemptively address all questions one may have - what an experienced person takes for granted often is an eureka moment for the beginner. Also, nobody is there to voice their questions or give feedback to you when recording a tutorial, which explains the amount of shitty video tutorials out there.
As someone with Fine Intention Tremors in my wrists/hands, seeing you do this with shaky hands like mine really gave me the confidence to know that I can solder too. Wonderfully done video by the way. Straight up information, no excess stuff.
This video helped me solder a scuffed 3d printed bakeneko and made my first solder build much less intimidating. Thank you simon, you are good keyboard friend
Okay at first when i saw the 34 minutes I thought this was going to be way too long, but I did end up appreciating the small details. Thanks for the detailed and informative video
Dude you saved me, trying to desokder for 2 days now and your video finaly helped me to understand how to do it. Big thanks and greatings from Germany.
1. Thank you for the honest, non bias, straight forward review with the bonus of non monetized and no sponsors 2. Clear easy break down to understand step by step with reasons 3. I have purchased the items just now, this video was super useful so thank you!
Ok, so i just finished soldering, and it was surprisngly easy! Nothing went worng, and I solely followed this tutorial. This man knows his stuff, because every switch works flawlessly, currently writing this comment from my new board! Thank you so much Simon for the very informative video, especially since I'm a beginner at this, and the fact that this is my first board. I can't thank you enough! :)
I've been putting off soldering for sooooo long -- I was skeptical of this vid but the second he said "hey guys" in his tone of voice and I instantly knew it would be good. AWESOME VID MAN I LOVE HOW YOU EXPLAIN THINGS rather than just showing us how to do something without explanations
My dude you are the MVP. I usually don't watch videos longer than 10 minutes without skipping but I watched this through and through. Thanks for your hard work making this for us.
Yo, watched this video a few times, and I finally finished soldering on my Tofu65. All the switches working perfectly, and couldn't have done it without this video. Thanks so much for inspiring confidence and for not making me feel bad for using a cheap iron. Really made it seem a lot less intimidating. I encourage anyone to try it!
Thank you for this. You show me exactly what I need to know without all of the flashy BS editing and god awful 'Hershey kiss' style type solder jobs. I'm a lot more comfortable now with soldering keyboards.
Probably the easiest to follow guide. I wasted 2 PCBs when I first started the hobby. It is pretty simple when you realise the bounds of what is a problem and what isn't. I mostly used to get messed up when some switches were soldered in at different heights to other switches and had no idea of how much pressure the switches could actually take (it's a lot). The other thing I messed up was de-soldering where I was heating up the elements too high. I never thought of using clamps though I can see how it would make the process way faster. If you actually have a great or favourite switch in mind for a board I would recommend soldering over hot-swap. I've had hot swap sockets mess up just from normal typing use, like one of my boards a few weeks ago just had the "i" stop working. I had to go in, disassemble everything and tension the hotswap socket again then replace it. Never would have happened with a soldered switch. However I understand the positive with regards to changing up switches.
Awesome guide! I'm new the hobby, and hoping to upgrade my keychron k2 with some better switches down the line. This video really took the anxiety away from doing that. I'm glad to know I can solder/desolder without breaking the bank as well!
I'm like.. really scared of soldering right now but my ol wasd girlie is need of switch changing I legit don't know one bit about soldering and this help a lot with budget beginner guide. Thankyou dude!
Thank you very much. I'm new in the hobby and this video helped me in my first ever steps in keyboard modding! I desoldered, lubed and resoldered the switches of my Logitech G413.
Dude, thank you very much for this video. I was looking exactly for a tutorial of how to do it and not a speed up video of people doing it. You took your time for each part and made it easy to understand. This is good stuff.
This is a great video. I've been nervous about starting to solder and this video was very patient with explaining everything. I soldered for the first time a few years ago and was devastated with how I burnt my PCB on my first keyboard (Poker 2) so I gave up on the keyboard hobby for a while. With the introduction of hot swaps, I came back. But with this video, I am currently using your links to buy some equipment. Take care and thank you!
I know it's a 2 year old video but thank you anyways.. couldn't have explained that any better for us noobs. Got my soldering machine coming today so trying to learn. And this video gave me confidence more than any other I've watched. Will be re watching when it's time to solder later today 💪💯👌
After watching this video for what seems to be an eternity, finally got around to soldering today. Biggest takeaway was it’s not to difficult to fix up a bad soldering job on a couple of switches. Also the engineer ss-02 was more than enough to help fix a bad job. Thanks again for the great vid
Thanks the best video by far on how to solder. Gives me confidence finally buy a solder pcb instead of hotswap. I don't know if this is common plan is to buy a hotswap and solder pcb for my next board. The idea is to use the hotswap first and then when confident use solder PCB for my final build for the board. Also hotswap will help me decide which switch i want to use for my final build.
The video makes me put my boy pants up. Solder my first keyboard. Whaddya know... It was far far far easier than I thought at first try. In fact, I start to regret to opt with only just hotswap boards. Still, need to brush up the skills. Starting to order discount THT board kits to try make perfect volcano shaped solders all the time instead of 80% of the time. I'm surprised with due diligence and care during soldering (taking your time), it's really doable even with very cheap parts. Thanks for the vid, appreciate it.
HUGE and MASSIVE thanks to you my guy, i finally modded my keeb without issues in soldering and desoldering. It's a messy success, but it's still a success, this video gave me confidence like a lot! Thanks again!
Bro my switch of the space bar stop working I change the switch I check the pcb but nothing work I got to disolder and solder again maybe like that it work ?
This was such a helpful video! My keyboard had broken (the switches had failed) and I was nervous about trying to fix it myself, but seeing how easy it gave me the confidence to try and I am now able to write this message on a keyboard with switches soldered by myself!
Thank you so much for this video! Just ordered most of your recommendations to start modding some of my older mech keyboards. Didn't want to dive too deep into $100+ soldering setups, so your recommendations and insight were very helpful!
I’ve been putting off making my mechanical keyboard because I was so nervous about the soldering part. But finding and watching your video made me feel like I could do it, despite it being my first time. And it ended up being so fun! Thank you for putting up this beginner friendly tutorial! It was incredibly helpful.
thank u, ur the only one who explained clearly what to exactly touch and not. other videos confuse me since they go straight to the process and i couldn't see what the soldering iron is touching thank u for showing it without the heat yet
I feel the strong need to thank Simon for this video, I tried desoldering and soldering before and failed miserably, I felt so stressed and almost threw away my cheap Amazon soldering kit. I'm so glad I didn't! Thanks to the advice on this video, I felt confident enough to give it another try. I'm so happy to announce that I was able to very neatly replace 3 faulty switches on my durgod hades 68 keyboard. Now I'm pretty sure I'll order a new set of switches to replace all of them! Any switch suggestions ? Can't thank you enough Simon!
I wish i had such Guide when i started 1 1/2 year ago. I started soldering while in Cancer Treatment and had nearly no feeling in my fingertips and couldn't control my hands very Well. It was tricky and i needed alot longer, but i made it. Now my hands are close to normal, beside a little shaking. Oh and my First Iron broke after one month and then i got me the ts100 cause of Nathan. It's good but as you said not necessary. Thank you for your Guide!
Thank you for this video. I heard of mill max in the community first. But then, I imagined getting my pcb wear and tear on the long run. So I decided to look for tutorial. It’ll be my first time desoldering/soldering. I just want to improve the typing feel and acoustic of my leopold fc980m. Your video was very helpful. Straight forward answers, clear instructions and demo. Easy to follow and predicted what would the viewers will think. Godbless
Me too have problems with sweaty and shaky hands. Not as incredibly shaky as yours, but my stuff like my phone gets dirty faster than anyone else because of the sweat. I love to build PC and have to wear gloves to prevent component damage. Never even think about soldering anything. This video really inspiring and encourage me to start a new hobby. Definitely going to build a custom keyboard soon. Subscribed, please continue creating awesome content. Thank you!
I recently built my pc back in September of 2020 and I currently use a dierya mini keyboard. I just ordered a Ducky TKL keyboard with Kailh Box White switches but I plan on upgrading to Banana Splits from The Key Company. This video was so incredibly helpful and I plan on using my current keyboard to practice! Thank you for all the tips! I'm so excited to try this on my own, it looks like a very useful skill! :)
Thanks man I gotta try and solder this damn casio keyboard the damn dial broke off. Let me say your nails are very clean and I appreciate that as a viewer. It’s distracting watching people working with their hands and their nails look like they just went threw a meat grinder.
Yo ur a great teacher. Patient but not too patient. Really makes me feel like u have confidence in my ability xD some time ppl make me feel like I'm a child.
thank you so much i really have wanted to build a keyboard and knew if i bought the soldering iron i would only use it once a year and thought that the 15 dollar solders would be to bad and break and this re assured me thx so much
@14:12 made me chuckle haha. Appreciate all the work you do for the community, Simon. I'm going to solder for the first time tomorrow! edit: went very well on the practice 65 v2. I appreciate you making this guide. So excited to be able to build soldered keyboards now!
Your super concise tutorial was aces for me mate thank you so much! Totally sorted me out for my first time soldering. Did an entire OG 2012 Razer Blackwidow Ultimate over with lubed sp star tac switches, tape durock stabs and foam and hooolly crap son does it feel like a million bucks now. So glad I learned this, you made it super straightforward!
The point of the cartridge type tips isn't about heating up super fast.. it's about being able to continuously dump heat into a part if need be, like on a huge ground plane. I agree that you dont need a hakko fx888d or 951. I do recommend those cheap stc32 controlled jobbies though from places like pine64 because they're only about 35-40 dollars, and they let you get your hands really close to the work piece for added stability. Take a look at the stm32 controlled pinecil. 10 dollars a tip, but they last for hundreds and hundreds of joints. I'm still on my first d24 tip from several years ago... For desoldering, if you're ruining boards as frequently as no, try flowing some leaded solder over the joint and then pulling it with your solder sucker... makes it melt so much faster and it doesn't need to dump as much heat into the pcb. The faster you heat that joint, the less time you give the heat to spread through the board (same idea behind using the direct heat tips). Desoldering lead free joints shouldn't be an anxiety inducing situation. Another tip for tip maintenance. When you store it, glob some solder on it before you let it cool down. Then put it away with that glob on it. It keeps the oxygen away from the tip and prevents oxidation. Next time you power up, use your brass wool there to clean it off and you have a nice clean tip to start soldering...
Great guide, this was pretty damn helpful in finally pushing me to do a soldered build for my Ciel. No issues there, each switch working as intended. Bless the based lad Simon, truly da 🐐 no 🧢
Okay, I've done it. Everything went good except my esc-f4 key are not working. I know what happened, I partially lifted the pad on f4 pulling out the switch a bit too aggressively. Was a learning experience. Will try to fix it when I feel like desoldering again hahaha
Added to my "must watch playlist" I'm still scared tbh since I'm still enjoying trying out different switches (and also this benefit my channel) but would love to try soldering maybe an alice layout someday and watch this guide again. Thank you for making this guide much appreciated!
You could solder in hot swap sockets and still enjoy trying different switches. That's what I plan on doing so I don't have to solder switches individually.
Great video. I used your links as thank you for such an in depth tutorial that is both very helpful with technical information, but also protects people from spending money on shit that's way above their heads
Most decent PCBs have ESD circuitry to prevent it, but in general just touch something grounded before you start and you should be just fine If you live in an extremely dry environment, you could get a cheap ESD bracelet and wire that into a piece of grounded metal
I don't have shaky hands but I do have some clumsy hands, I wonder if it matters, because I think one jerky movement would leave it messy. Don't really have a choice anyway because this is the only way I could fix my old keyboard... guess I learned a lot of stuff in this pandemic... thanks a lot, your explanation is very concise and the way you show how to do it is helpful for beginners like me.
Hey I just wanted to say thank you for making this! It gives me a really good idea of what to expect and makes the idea of soldering a lot less intimidating, as I am also pretty shaky. Thank you so much!
As a person who almost never comment on any video on RUclips, I wanna say you did a great job and I learned a lot. Thanks!
This is the only tutorial I've found on soldering that explains HOW to solder instead of just doing it. The other videos are like that "draw the rest of the f***king owl" meme.
Describing it as "bridging" the pad and the pin by heating them both is brilliant. I love how you showed the actual motions before doing it too. Just the description I needed.
Other videos do it so fast, I thought they were applying the solder to the soldering iron tip. They don't even explain what just happened.
That's why it is such a difficult job to be a good teacher in general - it takes actual mental effort to put yourself in the shoes of a newcomer and preemptively address all questions one may have - what an experienced person takes for granted often is an eureka moment for the beginner. Also, nobody is there to voice their questions or give feedback to you when recording a tutorial, which explains the amount of shitty video tutorials out there.
I'm still a bit afraid of soldering on my own but your video really gave me more confidence in finally trying it. Thank you!
:)
Update ?
Did you do it?
@@iameverywhere47 @Simon was in the same boat, did the job today, it took me like 5 minutes, less than anything else i had to do to build the board
did you eventually do it?
YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW HELPFUL THIS IS TO ME
😘
People have asked me to do this kind of video but this is an excellent resource for newbies. Good stuff Simon!!
Love the serious upgrade to the 18 USD kit. ^^
As someone with Fine Intention Tremors in my wrists/hands, seeing you do this with shaky hands like mine really gave me the confidence to know that I can solder too. Wonderfully done video by the way. Straight up information, no excess stuff.
i know im a year late BUT YOU GOT THISSS
this video is clean, not flashy with intricate animations and thats the best thing ever, just talking about the topic. i love it.
Extremely useful video. My first time soldering a keyboard and this made me feel a lot more comfortable about it.
This video helped me solder a scuffed 3d printed bakeneko and made my first solder build much less intimidating. Thank you simon, you are good keyboard friend
Haha I liked the humor of the absurd situation where you need a quickly heating solder iron.
Okay at first when i saw the 34 minutes I thought this was going to be way too long, but I did end up appreciating the small details. Thanks for the detailed and informative video
Dude you saved me, trying to desokder for 2 days now and your video finaly helped me to understand how to do it. Big thanks and greatings from Germany.
This was the best tutorial I’ve seen so far!
Tutorial done right. The best among the "top results" while searching for this, by a country mile.
1. Thank you for the honest, non bias, straight forward review with the bonus of non monetized and no sponsors
2. Clear easy break down to understand step by step with reasons
3. I have purchased the items just now, this video was super useful so thank you!
nearly 4 years later and this is still a premiere video for keyboards and soldering🙂 Cant wait to get into some of your other vids
I just wanna thank you because this is probably the only vid that gave me the boost of confidence to solder, and I was succesful.
just want to let you know that this video gives me a boost of confidence to desolder and solder my switches and successfully did it😁
Ok, so i just finished soldering, and it was surprisngly easy! Nothing went worng, and I solely followed this tutorial. This man knows his stuff, because every switch works flawlessly, currently writing this comment from my new board! Thank you so much Simon for the very informative video, especially since I'm a beginner at this, and the fact that this is my first board. I can't thank you enough! :)
I've been putting off soldering for sooooo long -- I was skeptical of this vid but the second he said "hey guys" in his tone of voice and I instantly knew it would be good. AWESOME VID MAN I LOVE HOW YOU EXPLAIN THINGS rather than just showing us how to do something without explanations
My dude you are the MVP. I usually don't watch videos longer than 10 minutes without skipping but I watched this through and through. Thanks for your hard work making this for us.
Yo, watched this video a few times, and I finally finished soldering on my Tofu65. All the switches working perfectly, and couldn't have done it without this video.
Thanks so much for inspiring confidence and for not making me feel bad for using a cheap iron. Really made it seem a lot less intimidating. I encourage anyone to try it!
Exactly 💯!
Thank you for this. You show me exactly what I need to know without all of the flashy BS editing and god awful 'Hershey kiss' style type solder jobs. I'm a lot more comfortable now with soldering keyboards.
Probably the easiest to follow guide.
I wasted 2 PCBs when I first started the hobby. It is pretty simple when you realise the bounds of what is a problem and what isn't.
I mostly used to get messed up when some switches were soldered in at different heights to other switches and had no idea of how much pressure the switches could actually take (it's a lot).
The other thing I messed up was de-soldering where I was heating up the elements too high.
I never thought of using clamps though I can see how it would make the process way faster.
If you actually have a great or favourite switch in mind for a board I would recommend soldering over hot-swap.
I've had hot swap sockets mess up just from normal typing use, like one of my boards a few weeks ago just had the "i" stop working. I had to go in, disassemble everything and tension the hotswap socket again then replace it. Never would have happened with a soldered switch.
However I understand the positive with regards to changing up switches.
This is a wonderful guide. Actually in general, it’s the best guide I’ve seen. Straight forward and right to the point.
OMG this dude absolutely nailed it! I didn't know soldering could be this fun!
Awesome guide! I'm new the hobby, and hoping to upgrade my keychron k2 with some better switches down the line. This video really took the anxiety away from doing that. I'm glad to know I can solder/desolder without breaking the bank as well!
Thanks Simon I soldered my first keyboard yesterday it was quite easy thanks to this guide
I'm like.. really scared of soldering right now but my ol wasd girlie is need of switch changing
I legit don't know one bit about soldering and this help a lot with budget beginner guide.
Thankyou dude!
Thank you very much. I'm new in the hobby and this video helped me in my first ever steps in keyboard modding! I desoldered, lubed and resoldered the switches of my Logitech G413.
Dude, thank you very much for this video. I was looking exactly for a tutorial of how to do it and not a speed up video of people doing it. You took your time for each part and made it easy to understand. This is good stuff.
You’re a good teacher Simon. Patient and clear. Thanks.
Thank you for this clear and beginner friendly video! Really helped me out.
Idk how u did it but u made this look so easy broke it down step by step 👍
This is a great video. I've been nervous about starting to solder and this video was very patient with explaining everything. I soldered for the first time a few years ago and was devastated with how I burnt my PCB on my first keyboard (Poker 2) so I gave up on the keyboard hobby for a while. With the introduction of hot swaps, I came back. But with this video, I am currently using your links to buy some equipment. Take care and thank you!
This is the best, most helpful video on keyboard soldering I've seen so far. Finally feeling confident enough to give it a try myself. Thanks!
I know it's a 2 year old video but thank you anyways.. couldn't have explained that any better for us noobs. Got my soldering machine coming today so trying to learn. And this video gave me confidence more than any other I've watched. Will be re watching when it's time to solder later today 💪💯👌
I'm always watching 👀
Best of luck, you've got this
After watching this video for what seems to be an eternity, finally got around to soldering today. Biggest takeaway was it’s not to difficult to fix up a bad soldering job on a couple of switches. Also the engineer ss-02 was more than enough to help fix a bad job. Thanks again for the great vid
Thanks the best video by far on how to solder. Gives me confidence finally buy a solder pcb instead of hotswap. I don't know if this is common plan is to buy a hotswap and solder pcb for my next board. The idea is to use the hotswap first and then when confident use solder PCB for my final build for the board. Also hotswap will help me decide which switch i want to use for my final build.
The video makes me put my boy pants up. Solder my first keyboard.
Whaddya know... It was far far far easier than I thought at first try. In fact, I start to regret to opt with only just hotswap boards. Still, need to brush up the skills. Starting to order discount THT board kits to try make perfect volcano shaped solders all the time instead of 80% of the time.
I'm surprised with due diligence and care during soldering (taking your time), it's really doable even with very cheap parts.
Thanks for the vid, appreciate it.
Simon thanks a lot for taking the time to extend that knowledge and tips. Thanks again!
As someone with limited hand and arm mobility this gave me the confidence to try it anyway, thank you.
HUGE and MASSIVE thanks to you my guy, i finally modded my keeb without issues in soldering and desoldering. It's a messy success, but it's still a success, this video gave me confidence like a lot! Thanks again!
Bro my switch of the space bar stop working I change the switch I check the pcb but nothing work I got to disolder and solder again maybe like that it work ?
@@carlosgamarra8442 did it work?
Just ordered all my stuff today. After watching this, I genuinely feel so confident. Thank you dude 👍
This was such a helpful video! My keyboard had broken (the switches had failed) and I was nervous about trying to fix it myself, but seeing how easy it gave me the confidence to try and I am now able to write this message on a keyboard with switches soldered by myself!
Killed it - best intro to soldering tutorial in the league
I desoldered my first keyboard using this guide. It worked perfectly. I had soldered before but never desoldered. Thanks for this!
Thank you so much for this video! Just ordered most of your recommendations to start modding some of my older mech keyboards. Didn't want to dive too deep into $100+ soldering setups, so your recommendations and insight were very helpful!
I’ve been putting off making my mechanical keyboard because I was so nervous about the soldering part. But finding and watching your video made me feel like I could do it, despite it being my first time. And it ended up being so fun! Thank you for putting up this beginner friendly tutorial! It was incredibly helpful.
Was scared to do soldering but thanks to your video going to order some gear and get a practice kit thanks so much for helping us noobs
So helpful! Now I feel like I have the confidence to practice on an old board. It's not as scary as I thought!
thank u, ur the only one who explained clearly what to exactly touch and not. other videos confuse me since they go straight to the process and i couldn't see what the soldering iron is touching thank u for showing it without the heat yet
I feel the strong need to thank Simon for this video, I tried desoldering and soldering before and failed miserably, I felt so stressed and almost threw away my cheap Amazon soldering kit. I'm so glad I didn't! Thanks to the advice on this video, I felt confident enough to give it another try. I'm so happy to announce that I was able to very neatly replace 3 faulty switches on my durgod hades 68 keyboard. Now I'm pretty sure I'll order a new set of switches to replace all of them! Any switch suggestions ? Can't thank you enough Simon!
My pleasure dude! Glad you got it, don't sweat it, it's easy enough
I wish i had such Guide when i started 1 1/2 year ago. I started soldering while in Cancer Treatment and had nearly no feeling in my fingertips and couldn't control my hands very Well. It was tricky and i needed alot longer, but i made it. Now my hands are close to normal, beside a little shaking. Oh and my First Iron broke after one month and then i got me the ts100 cause of Nathan. It's good but as you said not necessary. Thank you for your Guide!
Why have i found this out of nowhere after a year? Wish i had found it earlier :D
Thank you for this video. I heard of mill max in the community first. But then, I imagined getting my pcb wear and tear on the long run. So I decided to look for tutorial. It’ll be my first time desoldering/soldering. I just want to improve the typing feel and acoustic of my leopold fc980m. Your video was very helpful. Straight forward answers, clear instructions and demo. Easy to follow and predicted what would the viewers will think. Godbless
Me too have problems with sweaty and shaky hands. Not as incredibly shaky as yours, but my stuff like my phone gets dirty faster than anyone else because of the sweat. I love to build PC and have to wear gloves to prevent component damage. Never even think about soldering anything. This video really inspiring and encourage me to start a new hobby. Definitely going to build a custom keyboard soon. Subscribed, please continue creating awesome content. Thank you!
I recently built my pc back in September of 2020 and I currently use a dierya mini keyboard. I just ordered a Ducky TKL keyboard with Kailh Box White switches but I plan on upgrading to Banana Splits from The Key Company. This video was so incredibly helpful and I plan on using my current keyboard to practice! Thank you for all the tips! I'm so excited to try this on my own, it looks like a very useful skill! :)
I learned a lot from this video. Thank you! I will come often
Thanks man I gotta try and solder this damn casio keyboard the damn dial broke off. Let me say your nails are very clean and I appreciate that as a viewer. It’s distracting watching people working with their hands and their nails look like they just went threw a meat grinder.
Best soldering tutorial I've found on internet. Thanks.
Don't you use flux or tin the tip of the iron?
Thank bud,
A cheap tip tinner is all you need, apply it once in a while
this is such a great video. thank you for demystifying things and being so practical.
Thanks for this video its a major help. i'm just getting into the hobby (5 keyboards deep after 2 months) and soldering was the next step
Yo ur a great teacher. Patient but not too patient. Really makes me feel like u have confidence in my ability xD some time ppl make me feel like I'm a child.
Thankyou for showing that people with shaky hands can solder. You've just convinced me that I can do it too!
Wow thank you so much for this guide. I've not put it to practical use yet, but its given me to confidence to try and give it a go!
Thanks so much, as a newbie who didnt even know what soldering really meant i feel like i can go solder a keyboard right now.
Thank you so much, this actually gave me the courage to buy a soldering iron set and just go at it.
thank you so much i really have wanted to build a keyboard and knew if i bought the soldering iron i would only use it once a year and thought that the 15 dollar solders would be to bad and break and this re assured me thx so much
@14:12 made me chuckle haha.
Appreciate all the work you do for the community, Simon. I'm going to solder for the first time tomorrow!
edit: went very well on the practice 65 v2. I appreciate you making this guide. So excited to be able to build soldered keyboards now!
Going to solder my keyboard in the next few weeks, big thank you for a very easy to understand video!
Your super concise tutorial was aces for me mate thank you so much! Totally sorted me out for my first time soldering. Did an entire OG 2012 Razer Blackwidow Ultimate over with lubed sp star tac switches, tape durock stabs and foam and hooolly crap son does it feel like a million bucks now.
So glad I learned this, you made it super straightforward!
Great instructional video. I was uncertain about soldering and ruining my pcb. Now I feel I can do this on my own.
The point of the cartridge type tips isn't about heating up super fast.. it's about being able to continuously dump heat into a part if need be, like on a huge ground plane. I agree that you dont need a hakko fx888d or 951. I do recommend those cheap stc32 controlled jobbies though from places like pine64 because they're only about 35-40 dollars, and they let you get your hands really close to the work piece for added stability. Take a look at the stm32 controlled pinecil. 10 dollars a tip, but they last for hundreds and hundreds of joints. I'm still on my first d24 tip from several years ago...
For desoldering, if you're ruining boards as frequently as no, try flowing some leaded solder over the joint and then pulling it with your solder sucker... makes it melt so much faster and it doesn't need to dump as much heat into the pcb. The faster you heat that joint, the less time you give the heat to spread through the board (same idea behind using the direct heat tips). Desoldering lead free joints shouldn't be an anxiety inducing situation.
Another tip for tip maintenance. When you store it, glob some solder on it before you let it cool down. Then put it away with that glob on it. It keeps the oxygen away from the tip and prevents oxidation. Next time you power up, use your brass wool there to clean it off and you have a nice clean tip to start soldering...
Thanks my dude. Managed to desolder my old quickfire rapid and solder new akko switches. Thanks a ton for the tips!
This is so straightforward and helpful! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the newbies in the community!
This is a fantastic resource. Thank you so much.
love this chill guy's sarcasm...
Good job. I'm not a beginner anymore. But I like it, and so I have left a like on the video.
very cool guide, thank you simon ! just did my first solder job on an angel
Great guide, this was pretty damn helpful in finally pushing me to do a soldered build for my Ciel. No issues there, each switch working as intended. Bless the based lad Simon, truly da 🐐 no 🧢
First time, trying my hand at a mech board. Thanks for the vid, very friendly content ...thanks
Using ur links
Thanks for sharing the technique! This video is very clear and informative. Subscribed!
Great video. This actually made me feel like me soldering my board could actually be possible lol gonna give it a go so thank you!
Okay, I've done it. Everything went good except my esc-f4 key are not working. I know what happened, I partially lifted the pad on f4 pulling out the switch a bit too aggressively. Was a learning experience. Will try to fix it when I feel like desoldering again hahaha
Added to my "must watch playlist" I'm still scared tbh since I'm still enjoying trying out different switches (and also this benefit my channel) but would love to try soldering maybe an alice layout someday and watch this guide again.
Thank you for making this guide much appreciated!
You could solder in hot swap sockets and still enjoy trying different switches. That's what I plan on doing so I don't have to solder switches individually.
You're not an idiot, your tutorial have helped me (and others too, I guess) a ton! Thanks pal!
Great video. I used your links as thank you for such an in depth tutorial that is both very helpful with technical information, but also protects people from spending money on shit that's way above their heads
Thank you for this, I needed it. I was kinda wondering what type of things do i need to know so that I dont break the pcb via static?
Most decent PCBs have ESD circuitry to prevent it, but in general just touch something grounded before you start and you should be just fine
If you live in an extremely dry environment, you could get a cheap ESD bracelet and wire that into a piece of grounded metal
thanks a lot! can't wait to try it myself, just waiting to save up a little more money to get the switch
I don't have shaky hands but I do have some clumsy hands, I wonder if it matters, because I think one jerky movement would leave it messy. Don't really have a choice anyway because this is the only way I could fix my old keyboard... guess I learned a lot of stuff in this pandemic... thanks a lot, your explanation is very concise and the way you show how to do it is helpful for beginners like me.
Hey I just wanted to say thank you for making this! It gives me a really good idea of what to expect and makes the idea of soldering a lot less intimidating, as I am also pretty shaky. Thank you so much!
You got me into soldering, i can fix my own sh1t now. Already changed switches on 3 old keyboards. I got the same iron and the SS 02. Thanks!
An important thing to note is a more expensive iron will usually be able to retain heat for a longer period of time which is useful for larger pads
This is the best guide I have seen, you are so nice. Thanks :)
Dude, best turorial ever. Many thanks, subbed.
glad i found your video ...its so helpful mannn..now i am ready to desetory and rebuild my keyboard
Man you just saved me some money. My cheap ass soldering iron will do fine. Now I just need a desoldering pump and I'm good.
Subscribed. Was worried to try this, now I'm kind of excited.
Thanks man, I am trying to get into soldering and this video really help.