Electronics guide
Soldering Guide (Through-Hole)
Learn the fundamentals of through-hole soldering, from what soldering is and which tools to choose through to making reliable joints on a PCB.
About this guide
This guide takes you from the basic principles of soldering through tool selection and the practical steps used to assemble through-hole electronic circuits. It is intended for makers building kits, prototypes and other hand-soldered PCBs.
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Guide contents
Part 1 — Introduction
Before soldering, learn what the process actually does, why electronics relies on it and why lead-free solder is the sensible choice for most maker projects.
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Part 2 — Selecting Your Tools
Choose a suitable soldering iron, understand common tip shapes and assemble the basic tools needed for dependable hand soldering.
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Part 3 — How To Solder
Put the theory into practice and work through the process of creating, inspecting and improving through-hole solder joints.
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Part 4 — How To Desolder
Mistakes happen. A future chapter will cover removing solder and safely separating components from a PCB.
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Each published chapter can be opened directly, while this page remains the permanent index for the complete guide.