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Radio Shack has 3 or 4 different soldering irons, all for like $8. They range from maybe 15 to 40 watts; the most powerful one of those will be fine for small jobs but start to take a while once you get up to say 14 gauge speaker cable. The next step is to go to a soldering gun, which will jump you from 40 or 45 watts up to 150/200. That kit is maybe 30 bucks, and is going to handle pretty much anything else around the house. Don't go near those stupid battery operated Cold Heat ones; they're too weak to even handle 22 gauge jobs well. As for technique, there's really only one rule. Heat the thing you're soldering, until IT melts the solder. If you're joining two wires, strip maybe 1/2 or 3/4", twist them around one another, then put the tip of the soldering iron at one side of the connection. Dab a little solder on the iron so you get nice contact between it and the wire, the touch the solder to the opposite side of the connection. Once they heat up enough, the wires will melt the solder, which will run along the connection and give you a good joint. Just heating the solder will give you a crappy bond.
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00:41:32 06/27/09
