I have to access the 'small' part of soldered header pins. Female jumpers cannot be placed there as the small part is too small. So i thought extending the small part of the header pins so they can fit inside a female jumper.
So i removed the metal part of a header pin and tried to solder it with the small part (the bottom part) of the pin header.
It was really difficult to solder with only two hands, but i managed to do it.
The thing is, it has broken two times already. It is too weak. I cannot do it again, only for the frustration it will break again.
So what is the best way to extend a header pin?
Best Answer
Figure 1. Double-sided header pins.
Get some of the double-sided header pins and solder these to the underside of the board. It may be a bit tall but electrically will be OK.
Cut the strip to length, tin each of the pins, line it up with the pins on your PCB and tack-solder to the highest pin on your PCB. Then connect the end pins to the PCB pins. Finish off the rest.
It may be stronger and easier if you mount the extensions behind the existing pin stubs so that they're almost touching the board. That way you will be joining them along along parallel faces rather than just at the ends.
Regarding your soldering skills, you can aspire to this:
Source: Little wire dead-bug art.