Yes, you read right. After 38 years of never touching a soldering iron, I ended up buying one this week and tried it out this weekend. I first tried to solder some wires back onto a Shockwave sound chip, with little to no success. Then I later looked up a tutorial on how to solder online. The next day, I got to solder wires back on to a switch of a Viewmaster projector. Had better success with that. I tried working with the Shockwave chip again, but I think I ruined it. So if anyone has an extra chip with the wires hanging out of it, please let me know. Doesn't need the lights or the speaker. I still got those. As for the soldering itself, I had a heck of a time figuring out how to do "tinning", don't know if I ever got it right. The stuff kept falling off the tip And the solder also never dripped where I wanted it to. There were times I needed a third hand to hold the wire down, hold the iron, and hold the tin wire, or whatever you call it. So anyone got any pointers out there?
You are not supposed to drip anything when soldering. The heat melts the solder and draws it to an area you want soldered. I suggest watching a Youtube video on the correct method.... it will help a alot!
I'm curious as to why you even went to work on a popular G1 toy before studying up on soldering irons.
