How to solder parts without a soldering iron: soldering wires and boards at home using improvised means

Soldering is a simple matter, so many can do it without even holding a soldering iron in their hands. But there are times when this device is not nearby, but you need to solder something. This is where the dilemma arises of how to solder without a soldering iron, and is it even possible to carry out such a procedure without having the necessary tool or the ability to use it.

Soldering without the aid of a soldering iron

Many have had moments in their lives when a wire broke or broke in a charger, headphones, a laptop power supply, or anywhere else. What, then, can be done? How can you help yourself to fix the malfunction, at least temporarily, until you can solve the problem in a more rational and reliable way?

As it turns out, nothing is impossible. You can solder without a soldering iron. In the most unpredictable situations, there is always an opportunity to solve the problem at hand.

Necessary accessories

Of course, soldering without a soldering iron implies the presence of the most primitive tool and solder. It is good if there is still rosin or acid, although in extreme cases, just an aspirin tablet is suitable. The following tools can be distinguished:

• pliers;
• knife;
• foil;
• the cloth;
• soldering paste;
• file or coarse sandpaper;
• source of fire.

It is not necessary to have all this together. Some tools can be replaced with what is at hand. Instead of a file, it is allowed to take a knife, and sticks of the desired shape will successfully help to replace the pliers. The main thing here is to turn on imagination.

Tinning details

Whatever surface is offered for soldering, it is necessary to prepare it, that is, tin it. This will allow you to more reliably connect the parts together, and also greatly simplify the process itself. For work, you need rosin (or soldering acid) and tin.

To carry out the tinning process, you need a container where the solder and rosin will be melted. As it, you can use a lid from iron cans, a small metal box or something similar to a trough. Here, with the help of a file or sandpaper, they rub the tin shavings. It is good if you have tin-lead solder - it is more convenient to work with it. If not, then you will have to use rosin or acid.

With acid, everything is clear, it is enough just to immerse the stripped edge of the wire in it, and then continue the soldering steps. You will have to do the same with rosin as with tin, only it is not necessary to grind it down with a file. Its pieces can be large, since the melting point of rosin is much lower than that of tin, so even large pieces have time to melt before the metal melts.

The container must be held over a fire source until the tin is completely melted. Next, the stripped or stripped ends of the wire are placed first in rosin, and then in molten tin. When the result is satisfactory, that is, the bare wire is well covered with a layer of metal, the container can be set aside.

If it is necessary to tin a flat part, then the algorithm of actions will be slightly different. Here, small shavings of tin and rosin are poured directly onto the surface of the part. Next, this part is warmed up., as a result of which the molten tin will evenly cover it. The excess is removed with a rag or sandpaper.

Do not forget that when working with fire, the iron parts will heat up, so you need to take them with pliers or a rag so as not to get burned. Nobody canceled elementary safety techniques.

Soldering wires

To solder small copper wires without a soldering iron, no complicated steps are required. It is enough just to twist the already tinned ends of the wire together, then warm them well with a match, lighter or other directed flame. The solder remaining on the hairs during tinning is quite enough for them to tightly connect to each other. After that, it is important not to forget to insulate the bare areas with electrical tape, hot glue or any other available method.

Larger wires (up to 2 mm) can be soldered in the same way. If the solder from tinning is not enough, then the tin shavings are carefully placed on the twist, after which the section to be soldered is also heated. When the tin has melted and fills in all the voids between the hairs of the wire, the soldering can be stopped. But do not forget to insulate the bare place.

If you need to solder a wire to a flat piece or connect two pieces of a flat shape to each other, then on a tinned the place needs to be poured with crushed solder, then attach the wire and heat up the parts until completely melted tin. In the case of two flat parts, the tinned surface is also covered with pieces of tin, another flat part is attached, squeezed and heated.

Grooved connection

You can solder without a soldering iron in another interesting way. For its implementation, you need a small piece of dense foil. This method allows you to solder rather thick wires with a cross section of up to 3 millimeters. This method is also interesting in that it does not require preliminary tinning.

First, you need to strip the ends of the wires by about 30 mm, twist the bare parts securely together. Now a small rectangle is cut out of the foil so that the prepared ends can be completely covered with it. Foil is wound on the wires in the form of a funnel, into which small pieces of rosin and tin shavings are poured. The ends of the groove are twisted to prevent the contents from spilling out.

Now the resulting structure must be heated until the tin and rosin are melted. After that, it remains only to wait for the soldered parts to cool down. The remnants of the foil are removed, if necessary, the seam is treated with a file, a file or an emery cloth. This method is perfect when you need to quickly and without tools solder wires in the field.

Cooking pasta

Soldering without a soldering iron can be done using solder paste. Having prepared such a solution, you can connect not only wires and flat elements, but also some radio components, as well as solder the wire to the board without a soldering iron.

To make a solder paste, you need 32 ml of hydrochloric acid mixed with 12 ml of water. 8.1 g of zinc is added to the resulting solution, and after its dissolution, another 7.8 g of tin. All this is done in glass or enamel dishes. When the reaction is over, it remains to evaporate the water to form a pasty mixture.

Now, another 7.4 g of lead, 14.8 g of tin, 10 ml of glycerin, 7.5 g of dry ammonia, 29.6 g of powdered zinc and 9.4 g of rosin should be added to the paste. All components must first be warmed up and brought to a dusty state.

When the composition is ready, it can always be used as intended. It is preferable to store the paste in a tightly closed glass container. Soldering with such a composition is extremely simple:

1. The places of the parts to be soldered are cleaned.
2. Apply a thin layer of paste with a brush to the joints.
3. The area where the parts are to be soldered or soldered is heated with a candle, lighter or in some other way. It is highly preferable to use a turbocharged lighter or directional gas burner. However, if they are not available, any open flame source will do.

In this way, it is quite possible to solder almost any parts and wires at home without a soldering iron, but the process of making the solder paste itself can be scary. But there is a much more attractive alternative - you can buy solder paste ready-made.

For soldering very small parts and thin wires, it is preferable to make a solder paste with a slightly different composition. It will include the following ingredients:

• 7.4 g of lead powder;
• 7.3 g of zinc in a dusty state;
• 14 g glycerin;
• 4 g of rosin;
• 14.8 g of powdered tin;
• 10 ml of diethyl ether.

All components are mixed to a pasty state. Instead of diethyl ether, you can use 10 ml of rosin dissolved in glycerin. With this tool, it becomes possible to solder a wire or part to the board.

Homemade soldering device

You can make a soldering iron from a candle or a lighter. True, it is better to take the latter from good heat-resistant plastic, since a disposable Chinese device will not work even for a minute, and a metal device can get very hot. You will also need a piece of thick copper wire with a diameter of 3 to 5 millimeters and some thin wire for attaching to the lighter.

Thick wire must be completely cleaned of insulation, and then bent so that one part could be tied to a lighter or candle, and the opposite end was above the flame for constant heating. Such an improvised tip is capable of soldering even small parts (down to the tiniest resistors). True, one cannot do without tin and rosin. To make it more convenient to work, it is preferable to sharpen the working area of ​​the tip.

Alternative repair methods

If the wire breaks and you urgently need to restore it at least for a short time, then there are faster alternatives. True, without soldering, but they are quite capable of helping in emergency situations.

So, a broken wire can be simply cut at the point of the break and trite twisted together. It is important not to mix up the polarity here, since the voltage of the chargers is constant. It will not hurt to insulate the places of twists.

Temporarily, you can connect a wire with a flat surface. To do this, it is enough to tightly attach one part to the other and fill it with molten plastic. Such a recovery is sufficient if you use the resulting connection carefully and for a short time.

No matter what happens, you can always find a way out of this situation if you turn on your fantasy and imagination. Sometimes it will not help to fix the device, but it will urgently restore its operability for a short time.