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Wodan
643
Dec 28, 2015
I see several questions regarding soldering irons here. Look at jack's assembly video of the planck kit. He's basically using a hot cucumber to solder these switches. There's hardly anything easier to solder than these switches so any soldering iron that at least offers some temperature control should work perfectly fine. If you use the recommended lead solder, you won't even need very high temperatures which additionally reduces stress on all components.
I can really recommend this kit for a very cheap soldering practice project https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10930 Plenty of through-hole soldering to give you the confidence you need to laugh at the white fox kit.
Mrlooolz
26
Dec 29, 2015
WodanI am not so worried with the soldering as I am more worried about the Zelio's because of the Melting point. But i will do my best! Also what type of solder works well with the Zelios?
Wodan
643
Dec 30, 2015
MrlooolzCompared to other electronics parts, those switches are pretty immune to soldering temperatures. Any solder will work but you can make things easier for yourself by picking lead/pb solder with a flux core. Spoil yourself and get some thin "Multicore" solder :) There's hardly anything that can go wrong when you solder switches, Zealios are no exception. The only part that hurts is de-soldering a switch you misplaced. Without special desoldering tools that can be annoying so focus your mind on placing the switches right and worry less about the soldering. I only started soldering a few years ago myself and learned it from youtube tutorials (eevblog). It baffled me how simple and foolproof soldering actually is. I have yet to break a component through soldering and I can't say I'm very good at it.
Mrlooolz
26
Dec 30, 2015
WodanWhat do you mean placing the switch wrong? With the Zealios I read that It can be tricky, so I will get a temp control solder and a multi core solder as well.
flipjsio
101
Dec 30, 2015
MrlooolzI made a mistake once on my planck with a universal plate where the bottom row has one hole for 3 keys and the pcb has customizable slots so you can choose different size of keycaps. I soldered one to the wrong slot and had to desolder. Its quite tricky to desolder but not that hard. I think with the WhiteFox, it will be easier because we get a dedicated plate for whichever layout we choose. Just make sure all switches are seated properly and check the two pins for each key are actually in the hole before you start soldering.
You almost cant go wrong with soldering. My very first time in soldering was with the Infinity keyboard, and took me less than an hour. Then I did another one, and then handwiring stuff, and never had any issues whatsoever. Soldering is really easy.
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