I think it’d be way more precise to have a soldering iron where the tip is close to your fingertips, just like a pen.
In: Technology
Really good solder work is primarily about two things:
1. **Get the heat right!** 90% of soldering is about getting the correct heat. When solder gets hot, it turns into a liquid. That liquid desperately wants to stick to metal that is hot. A solder tech can do a surprisingly good job just by getting the parts hot enough, smearing solder, on the work and wicking away the excess. You can’t get too hot though because that can destroy the components.
2. **Get the parts clean.** Solder sticks to bare metal, but normally there’s a layer of oxidization on parts. That oxidization will interfere with the flow of the solder. That’s where flux comes in. Flux helps the solder to flow, and it cleans off the oxidization layer so the solder can flow and bond properly.
There’s a lot more subtlety to to the work and it takes a huge amount of effort to master the art. Getting to an intermediate level at soldering doesn’t require as much precision as you’d think. The distance of the tip to the grip drastically improves safety and comfort, without any significant impact to quality.
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