Soldering is a core tangible skill. This post will walk you through the basics by showing you how to solder wires onto a speaker and a single color LED. These introductory tasks should help you get comfortable with the soldering work stations and opens up numerous pathways for further exploration. Soldering can become a practice in itself and often reflects a deep commitment to tangible as a creative pursuit.
Soldering is one of those skills that people can really get lost in (in the best sense of that phrase). It can be very meditative and relaxing. Some students really enjoy the process and find ways to maximize developing the skill by including it in projects throughout the term.
We want you to solder a few connections to get some experience, understand the process and get comfortable holding hot tools.
Let’s jump in!
Required Parts (and tools)
- solid core wire
- wire strippers (adjusted)
- speaker
- single LED
- solder spool
- solder station
- sponge
- exhaust fan
- water (in ketchup or mustard bottle – not shown)
If this is the first time you have used spools of wire (not fabricated wires), you will need to adjust your wire stripping tool and then cut and strip some solid core wire to solder onto components. You can find it in the makerspace.
Where to solder on campus?
tangible students will find soldering stations in the makerSpace (card access required). There are 4 permanent stations and we have many more portable stations when things get busy.
Video
Going Further
*Through-hole soldering is not shown above but is another soldering skill that you may want to explore. This sparkfun tutorial is a great intro to soldering basics and through hole soldering in particular. Unfortunately, it has a ton of ads and product placements. However, you can jump to the associated video.
There are tons of other tutorials online that cover soldering basics — google is you friend here.