Hi Pix
Don’t do that. I would actually reduce it to 350ºC. Having the iron too hot will only burn and vaporise the flux so it will no longer do its job. I think the secret is iron tip type and positioning. I have already explained the heat sinking effect on these particular boards. The trick is getting the heat shared between the pad and pin in such a way that a nice flow of solder is achieved. This will be different for single sided boards and only practise will achieve this so get ready to destroy a couple of boards and get to it.
Another thing, do not go with a “dry” iron. A tiny amount of solder on the tip surface will aid in even heat transfer. If the iron tip is “dry” this will take too long and damage is likely.
Your tip has to be clean and the habit of “carrying” an amount of solder to the job is not good, no flux application. So the tip will be probably “dry”
There is a technique you should practise. Apply the solder in 2 operations. Firstly apply the tip to the job and immediately touch it with a tiny amount of solder to establish good heat transfer. Then apply the solder to the joint, NOT the iron. The solder should then smoothly run into the joint resulting in a nice smooth shiny finish. If the finish is dull it is likely the joint has moved slightly during cooling and should be redone.
This is going to happen to a certain extent and about all you can do is minimise it. stranded wire should certainly not be allowed to “wick” back up under the insulation. Once again as always all this is very difficult to put into words and can only be realised with the magic word 'PRACTISE". On of the specs we worked with many years ago only allowed 1.5mm (or 1/16") between the soldered joint and wire insulation. This was also in the Company “Standard Practise Manual” which became pretty much our Bible. All 3 large volumes of it.
Don’t overdo it. Leave enough to make sure the end of the wire is soldered and not just sitting in a hole in a blob of solder.
I think we are getting way off topic here.
I think this subject is extremely important and unfortunately does not seem to get the attention it deserves until someone has some sort of disaster.
Maybe yourself or Core might like to transfer these soldering problem posts to another thread and we can continue there.
Cheers Bob
PS: What model iron are you using. The wattage has to be enough to handle any larger wire or pins and to solder several joints without too much recovery time. Not much going with a board full of solder joints with a tidily little iron that needs to recover after each joint. That is where you will strike trouble.
