The practice I used before building an Eggfinder

[Tonimus]

I finally soldered my own Eggtimer project, an Eggfinder Mini. I had been hesitant to build anything like that as my soldering experience was limited to doing automotive connections. So first I bought some LED lightbulb kits from eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/282242348468 Each bulb kit has 98 solder joints, most in close proximity. Since these are through hole components, it was good practice soldering close, without tiny SMD parts. After I did 4 or 5 of those, I moved on to an LED clock kit. https://www.banggood.com/DIY-DS1302...Clock-Kit-51-SCM-Learning-Board-p-956298.html There was a ton of SMD stuff on the clock kit. I couldn't even tell you how long it took me. I'd guess 4 hours. But it was great practice on something that I wasn't afraid of breaking.

Just some ideas for people out there who want to assemble their own kits, but are afraid of dorking something up in the process.

 

[OverTheTop]

Great idea

That would improve your confidence, and likely the joint quality as well.

 

[Tonimus]

Joint quality improved markedly. So did the amount of heat I ended up putting into the parts. By the time I was done with the clock, you could immediately touch the soldered components and they were just warm and the solder joints were still good.

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

I've been soldering through hold since I was s child, but my first Quark was an eye opener, never did SMD before. Ended up getting it too hot. Wished I would've tried one of these SMD kits first.

A couple years back Santa brought me a hot air station with an iron tip soldering iron, 2 helping hands, a PCB holder, lit magnifier and desoldering wick. It makes all the difference in the world having the right tools for the job. I've since done another Quark, Eggtimer, and Eggfinder with no problems. I am still unable to get the wick to wick though, which is annoying.

 

[OverTheTop]

I am still unable to get the wick to wick though

Some of the cheaper wick has problems, or if it gets a bit old. Make sure you apply enough heat to it. Solder follows three things: Flux, heat, and other solder. Sometimes if you tin the wick with some solder before you start helps with wicking and heat transfer. If you have a flux pen or some other liquid soldering flux (NOT welding flux!!!) you can re-flux the wick and make a great improvement in performance.