You use Flux for better solder connections, mostly on small circuitry, like soldering to a PCB. De-soldering braid is the entwined copper....just place iton the solder joint and heat the reverse side of the braid and it will pull the solder onto it and off of whatever you were trying to solder.

If you are a first time solderer, pick up some braid...although I can't really see you messing up bad enough on two wires...for circuitry its a MUST have.

 

well for the time being, im not really worried about circuitry soldering. i just want nice clean looking wire splices. ive been twisting and capping or crimping. and it looks ugly. so thats why i asked about soldering. if i get more advanced in soldering and need to fix my amp or something. then i'll hit you guys up again for some more in detail descriptions. thanks a lot for the help

 

I knew "Flux" was in there somewhere, lol.. De-soldering braid, duh.. I should have known that, lol. It's too obvious for me to remember.

 

i never use the stuff....
i bought some of it along time ago when i did my trucks gauges with raw leds.... but i only used it once which it didnt work to good at all!

i just ended up getin some tweasers heating up the solder joint and lifting the led prongs off the board.LOL
worked just fine....

 

Flux cleans the metal and allows the solder to flow better and more consistent. And I'm not a fan of the bigger soldering iron, hotter faster is not always the best option. The smaller ones allow you to get into smaller places, takes a litte more time and patience, but worth it.

 

I used to do ALOT of modded xbox controllers for people on xbox-scene and ebay. Extra buttons down below for FPS players. The pasty flux, (not the liquid) was a MUST for those, you couldn't get a connection to the controller pcb without it. For normal applications though, you really don't need it.

Braid, though....is a good idea to have if you are soldering anything.

 

just the one thing im worried about is that i dont know how much solder to actally use. like if i dont use enough solder then its gnna be a bad connection. if i use too much, then i risk dripping it everywhere n stuff like that. i suppose too much solder is better than not enough, but still.

another question i have is, lets say i solder 2 wires together, then use heat shrink tubing. but then later i decide i want to splice another wire in to the splice i made previously.do i have to get rid of the solder that i used to splice the first 2 wires? or can i just wrap the new wire around the soldered joint andadd some more solder? because i dont really know a lot about soldering i dont know the physics of it and whether or not solder itself conducts electricity.

or lets say i just simply want to solder 3 wires together (for instance i have one wire coming from a switch, and i want to splice 2 wires into that wire to go to each LED. how would i go about doing that?

 

ya just put the extra wire around the already soldered joint and just add more solder.... preaty straight forward...
hardest thing around adding a joint is ya dont have that shrink wrap anymore...

 

what would happen if i cut one and wrapped it around and then just heat shrunk it that way. makin sure to melt together the seam of course. would that work? or would i just want to use electrical tape?

 

no clue.... thats why i only solder very important electronics.LOL