Skills

New Soldering Guide!

We’ve been working on an all-purpose soldering guide for our iFixit user base. Over time the electronics that have come through our doors have increasingly been devoid of connectors, instead using batteries and components that are soldered directly to the logic board. Newer generations of Apple products, such as the original iPhone and all generations of iPod nano and iPod touch, fall into this category.

This trend makes replacing the battery a much harder feat than other iPod and iPhone models, which use connectors to attach the battery to the logic board. The procedure requires a lot more of the user’s time, patience, and material cost (soldering iron, solder, etc.) to do a simple battery replacement.

We know that these products aren’t the only ones on the market that require soldering, and that soldering in general can vary depending on the size of the electronics (and type) being soldered. As a result, this guide is actually comprised of three mini guides. Each mini guide illustrates a different level of difficulty in soldering, and teaches that particular soldering technique:

  • Step 1: Beginning soldering. Focuses on large thru-hole components, such as cylindrical capacitors.
  • Step 7: Intermediate soldering — Focuses on small thru-hole components, such as battery leads and resistors.
  • Step 11: Advanced soldering — Focuses on small surface-mount components.

Soldering pieces on a logic board

This guide will come in handy to anyone who’s curious about soldering. How do you do it? How difficult is it really? What tools do I need? All these questions can be answered by a click of a link.

Comments? Ideas? Let us know!