There are different techniques used for small scale and large scale soldering. Labour intensive schemes cannot be used for large scale manufacture, where high degrees of automation are needed to provide the throughput required, whereas small scale production for commercial enterprises as well as prototyping and home building and construction for hobbyists as well as students, etc require soldering techniques that do not require the large scale investment and set up needed for mass production.
Two of the major approaches to soldering include:
Mass production soldering: Mass scale production uses soldering techniques including wave soldering and now more commonly techniques like infrared reflow where the components are mounted on a board and all the components are soldered at the same time.
Small scale production: For small scale production and home construction manual soldering techniques with the use of a soldering iron and solder wire are the most widely used method. Some skill is required to make neat and effective joints, but this can be learned quite easily. This type of soldering technique can be used for making small projects, soldering PCBs, making leads and a host of other applications.
Tools for soldering
Obviously the main requirement for soldering is the soldering iron itself. There are several different types of soldering iron that can be bought, and the actual iron will depend upon a variety of factors including its specification and the cost.
Soldering irons may be straightforward irons that regulate the temperature by the cooling effect of the air, or they may have thermostats within them to provide the temperature control. Finally at the top of the range, there are what are often termed workstations that consist of a power unit and the iron itself. These provide much higher degrees of temperature control and setting of the temperature to be used.
