So I'm just starting to get into soldering, and being a noob, I got the most el cheapo solder kit you could possibly get.
Now the problem is that the soldering iron isn't very hot. So with lead-free solder, it takes some convincing and pressing the solder onto the iron for a few seconds before the solder melts.
This is fine if I don't have my fan (regular desk fan) on – I could solder quite normally. However, the fumes smell horrible, and apparently they are bad for you. But when I turn my fan on, the solder won't melt. Or it would melt after 2 minutes with me pressing down the soldering iron and overheating everything on the board, but instantly freeze as long as it it's not directly in touch with the soldering iron. I even got solder wire stuck firmly onto a circuit board because it froze so quickly.
It seems like the fan is cooling down the solder, which is strange since it's not a super powerful fan or anything. Is there a way to prevent this? Or do I need to get one of those special fume extractor fans?
Best Answer
No, you don't need a special extractor. And there is a way to work around the cooling effect of the fan.
It's called a decent soldering iron, and you need one desperately. This is not due to the specific problem which led you to post, although that's bad enough. It's taking a long time to melt your solder, and during this whole time your parts are getting heated. This is very bad for your parts. You can easily kill ICs by doing this. Bite the bullet and get a decent iron.
It's also possible (but you don't mention it) that your cheap kit gave you solder which is too thick. For general electronic soldering, .050 solder is about as thick as you should have, and .025 dia solder is much better.