First time soldering has been a success! Thanks TechTalk!

Beginning.

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/2888/photo913.jpg

End.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2103/photo916.jpg

(Could be neater. But, I got tired of waiting) :razzy:

SUCCESS!

Thanks to the help of many SRK members. The problem was found and corrected. Arcade stick is working just as planned! Thank you everyone for your kind words and support.

Now I just have to learn how to play on one! ;). MUCHAS GRACIAS.

P.S - Would anyone know how I could still get a back button on my arcade stick even if I only have 8 buttons total?

wires look a bit bare at the ends, how were they originally?

some glue would keep everything in a safe position

Those wires are incredibly bare.
I suggest desoldering it, and making the new exposed wires only large enough to cover the solder point for each.
The reason I say that, take the wire you have your ground and your signal soldered to (the one with the black and red wire), if you jostled them enough, they could touch, and trigger without a button press.
Desolder, measure the exposed wires, cut, resolder make sure its down there good, and hot glue the connection to help.

Stripped too much, high chance for shorts. If you don’t want to desolder it, just tube heat shrink. Unless you already soldered the other ends too…

You only need to strip 2mm off the tip. You then melt a little solder to the tip, the insulation will shrink away from the tip due to heat exposing a mm or so more of wire. You then heat up the pad and then put solder on the pad contact on exposed metal. Only expose the wire that needs to be soldered and nothing more.

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/rtdzign/Dhalsim/th_DhalsimHiResGuts.jpg

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/rtdzign/2playerVewlix/th_DSC03528-1.jpg

CaptRich, too much insulation stripped off.

rtdzign, get Teflon Insulated Wire if you do not want backshrink.
It is orgasmic wire.

Looks like I need to buy a solder sucker and desoldering braid.

You only need one, they both do the same job, really. If you get braided wire, hold it with pliers, it gets hot, it burns.

Lol, I was up til 4AM doing all that lastnight

Wow, ouch, you must be tired. >_>.

Teflon wire was the first type I bought when I wasn’t sure, only 20f though :rofl:. I hated that stuff instantaneously, the insulation makes it ridiculously un-pliable. However, I never thought of the benefit of not having to deal with backshrink though, that’s pretty awesome. I tin my wires so it backshrinks to a spot where the heat won’t allow it anymore, then I just clip the wire and it works just fine.

I might’ve bitten off more than I could chew. The other part of this project is repairing the USB cord I could and soldering the end of another usb cord onto it. Doesn’t look like an easy task.

On principle, yes, but for this you can just heat the joint back up with an iron and then pull the wire free. Cut a new end on the wire and use whatever solder’s left on the pad to do what rtdzign suggested.

What Icy Black Deep Said, for something like this you really don’t need a solder sucker or braid for this (I honestly hate solder suckers, if you want to invest grab a vacuum desoler tool at Radioshack). That being said, it’d be a nice idea to have the tools, for future use.

Don’t give up! A new USB cord is only four wires, you can do it!

Welcome to the world of soldering! You will have a lot of fun learning.

The other members have made very important statements. I highly recommend using ?helping hands? when tinning wires and soldering pads. A ?helping hands? device can be used to hold wiring, circuit boards, etc via alligator clips; this allows your hands to be free to hold a soldering iron and solder.

Quick Tip: Wrap each clip with electrical tape if you have it on hand; this will lessen the amount of stress or crimp on wire insulation.

Ex: Helping Hands

Also, I recommend using 91% isopropyl alcohol and flux before and after soldering to reduce debris, maintain a clean surface (pads), and prevent oxidation, respectively.

I’m considering ordering those.

looks like that particular pair got bad reviews though. (LED goes out fast)

I do see another one on there for like 2 bucks though.

Harbor freight has some cheap helping hand. Thats where I got mine.

edit: Did’nt see the link was to Harbor Freight. But mine were not jumbo and they have no led light.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5103/photo915.jpg

Better?

sooooo much better!

P.S Desoldering braid sucks balls. ( Or its me who really sucks ass at it.)

I’m really worried about soldering on the Start/Home button.