Hi there – I’m Tom.

Well, it all started back in 1996 when my dad brought me a butane-powered soldering iron for Christmas. He had seen me messing around with wires and circuits on the internet and thought that this might be an interesting present to get me into electronics.

I was pretty excited about getting into some new hobbies by myself! The first project I tackled was building a breadboard from scratch, which really helped make sense of how these components work together in order to build something cool. It was such an awesome feeling seeing that when I plugged the power cord in, and making connections between different colors using jumper wires, seeing my circuit with an LED blinking on and off.

The next step I made in my project path was getting an Arduino microcontroller, which really opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. I began by creating small projects on the breadboard with an LED that would blink to the beat of the music or make noise when you grabbed it!

One extremely cool thing I’ll never forget is that my cousin taught me how to use Processing (a visual language to create interactive and reactive artwork), and now through Arduino, I can control everything from making light patterns by blinking different lights at different times or having sensors measure things like temperature and humidity levels.

Work Experience

I have been working as a technician for the Department of Physics since 2015. From building part lists and assembling drawings from Mentor Power PCB tools to completing soldering/rework, cable, and test fixture assembly for the department’s laboratories, I do it all.
As if that wasn’t enough, I also work with multiple principal investigators to determine project timelines on a daily basis!

All in all, my job is never dull or boring because there is always something new going on.

I am fluent in SMT and PTH soldering, as well as an inspection, to ensure assembly/solder requirements have been met. In addition, I can do minor rework on CCA’s (circuit cards assemblies). I do a pretty good job with my time management skills!

Welcome to SolderingIronGuide.com

I started this blog in 2018 to share my experiences as a hobbyist, soldering, troubleshooting, and repairing PCB boards, and general topics that people want to read about.

Here you will find information on choosing and using a soldering iron, how to solder and desolder electronic components properly, and much more.

I hope this website will help you in your quest for knowledge!