these things together to provide an electrical connection between them.
Solderis a metal material that you melt and apply to two items; when it cools,
it forms a joint that holds items together and forms an electrical connection.So why do you need to solder if you use solderless breadboards? Although
we chose to not have you make circuits permanent by soldering them for
the purpose of the projects in this book, we do ask you to solder wires to
switches and microphones and such, so this is definitely something you need
to be able to do.Soldering perfect joints is an acquired skill — one that you just get better at
with practice. Here are some valuable tips for getting started.Please, please read the several safety precautions about soldering in Chapter 2.
You’re playing around with 700°F temperatures here, and we don’t want you
to get hurt!Using a soldering iron ..........................................................................
A soldering iron(sometimes called a soldering pencil) is like a wand that gets
very, very hot so that when you touch it to the solder, it melts it. You can find
a variety of soldering iron models (see an example in Figure 4-11), which will
vary in price based on features, such as those we discuss in Chapter 3.Figure 4-11:
A soldering
iron.
Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need 71