Here is a video I recorded of myself soldering.
It’s a little grainy because I had to zoom in alot.
The natural tremor in my hand is something I’ve had since birth (possibly a bit of stage fright as well). Not an excuse, I’m sure I can still make quality whetted joints with enough practice. 
I’m using a weller digital iron @360c with a conical tip and 60/40 leaded solder. I believe the wire to be 26awg. Sometimes I use 22 awg.
I tried once before recording with the wire not cut to size and then again with the wire pre-cut.
Still getting a lot of retraction of the insulation.
What can I improve?
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Hi Pix
If everything shakes together it mostly cancels out
On a more serious note. You are only using the very pointed tip of the iron. If you lay the iron tip flat against the joint to get more copper tip contact you will be a lot faster and I think a better job. You could also try a small chisel shaped tip. I don’t like repeating myself but the word Practise comes up again. Try different tips. To a certain extent everyone has a favourite.
You are always going to get some. What you got there is acceptable.
By the way I fixed up those couple of pin holes I mentioned in my previous post.
Cheers Bob
PS: i think you can see the pre cut wire joint looks better that the wire that has not been cut.
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If thats the case ill br a little more brave with my iron and keep at it.
Hi Pix
Good. Get a bit more iron tip contacting the job. The way you did that in the video relies on the solder heating up the pad and wire and cooling a bit in the process. The result is an iffy joint.
Lay the side of the iron down flatter against the pad and wire and let it do the heating instead of the solder trying to do it. Or try another shape tip so you can get a bit more iron onto the joint..
Cheers Bob
Hey @Pixmusix
I agree with Bob, the joints look fine enough. Switching to a chisel point tip should give you better contact between the pad and the wire, personally I’m not a fan of them and prefer to use a conical tip and give it a bit more angle so its got more contact on the pad.
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Hi Dan
That is what I am getting at. The fine point is good for a very small job but you would need to use smaller diameter solder wire as well. These pads and component leads are not what you would class as “fine” these days.
This board (in the video) also has no tracks for added heat sinking. I think my comments on the MakerVerse proto boards regarding the extra heat sinking due to the plated through holes and double sided tracks in the other thread still stand. If Pix used this method just using the point of the iron tip it would be very difficult to make a good joint. In my sample in that thread I did use a conical tip although not quite as pointed but I laid the tip flat on the pad to get decent heat transfer.
I think the point I am trying to stress here is USE THE TOOL FOR THE JOB. “Making do” or improvising is sometimes necessary but to be successful takes experience which Pix just does not have.
I should have changed to a small chisel tip to make the job easier but the iron was hot and I did not bother to change it. So I improvised.
Cheers Bob
Add on;
That thread was this post at the end
JK flip flop Q and Q0 not behaving
below
You might also like to have a read of the link in this post
An Overview of soldering stations
Particularly the section on soldering iron tips
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I think I like the 0.6mm conical tip for soldering headers on MCUs.
However maybe for this wire soldering I should switch my my 0.8mm screw driver which I own a few of.
Hi Pix
If you are content who am I to argue. Still think you will get better results with this sort of thing with “screwdriver” or “chisel” tips.
Comments on latest pic.
You seem to have decent wetting on the pins but NOT the pads. Like you concentrated most of the iron heat on the pins but not enough on the pads. This would definitely NOT pass the QA glasses. Keep trying, getting better.
I soldered another 4 header pins to the MakerVerse board. This time with the small chisel or screwdriver bit. I did not have to “improvise” as much with a better result.
Try it. You might find it easier to het better heat distribution.
Cheers Bob
So that I can notice my own errors for improvement, what about my picture above clued you that I have wetted the pad properly? What should I be looking out for?
Hi Pix
The solder has not flowed over the whole pad. Just seems to be “sitting on” the pad around the edges, particularly the side facing camera.
For comparison get a glass of water. If the water “wets” the glass the meniscus will be concave. That is the water will be wetting the glass a bit above the actual water level. If the water does not “wet” the glass like it might have some sort of foreign film on it the meniscus will be convex. That is the edge will be a bit below the water level.
Incidentally the meniscus of Mercury (as in thermometer) will always be convex. To do with surface tension.
A nice shiny concave curve from the pin to the pad with the solder covering the pad and only a thin film at the edges. Definitely not just a blob.
Have a close look at the last 4 pins I have soldered into the board. I am having trouble with a slanted pic and lighting. I have ordered a Mag light and I can photo through the magnifier and have a light around it so might have more success. I will try again to morrow and see if can get a suitable pic so you can see what I mean.
If you do a bit of internet surfing you should be able to find some drawings of dos and donts.
Don’t take much notice of American U-Tubes. Go for the printed articles. Have you read the link in my post yet.
An Overview of soldering stations
of 6 days ago. If not you should.
EDIT: I just noticed that you have “liked” that post. Thanks
Cheers Bob
Google https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=meniscus+of+water+and+mercury&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
I’ve had a bit of a look for sure. I probably need to spend time looking at those charts again and thinking about flux and if that’s something I need to integrate.
Yeah cool. I can see that. Something to work towards.
Hi Pix
For normal use (like you and me) the flux is in the solder. Some text seems to read like a single core. The modern solder wire has actually 5 cores for a more even distribution.
I think 5 cores is still correct. It is a long tome since I have had a reason to look.
Cheers Bob
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Hi Pix
My Mag light came. Lighting somewhat better.
Pic of 4 header pins I soldered the other day. I think you can clearly see the concave fillet on the pin and onto the pad
Cheers Bob
PS: I maybe would redo the pin 2nd from left. I might not have got enough heat to the pad. I have left it like this so you can see a difference. These are the things which would probably get it rejected at QA inspection time.
EDIT. Just spotted this
“see the convex fillet”
Changed “convex” to “concave”
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