bad soldering, fried components?

[xnixiel]

Well my first pedal was a success on the bread board and I've spent the last few days putting it onto perfboard. Whilst doing this i've been worried by the fact that the components i have been soldering (resistors and capacitors - not transistors as i used sockets) were getting very very hot even though I have the soldering iron touching the joint for a few seconds only (it is a 30W soldering iron). Could I have possibly damaged the components? Something must be seriously wrong as I can't get the bypass to work even though that is wired up correctly.

pah

/xni

[GREEN FUZ]

While it is possible to fry components, if, as you say, they were only heated for a matter of seconds it`s far more likely to be something else. In this case, with the small amount of information you`ve given, I would definitely re-check the wiring.

What`s the circuit you`re working on?

[xnixiel]

well of course I'll re-check the wiring tomorrow, its just i was worried by hot dangerously hot the components were getting; I couldn't even touch them, they were that hot. Even the 3PDT switch got rather hot.

[GREEN FUZ]

I`m not ruling it out I`m just saying it`s more likely something else. While you`re checking the wiring, including input and output jacks, make sure all electrolytic capacitors, diodes or transistors are correctly oriented. These are classic mistakes which everyone has made.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Most non-Ge components can stand being too hot to touch.
+1 on it probably being a wiring problem (that is, your circuit is not exactly what it should be).

[CGDARK]

Most components withstand very high temperatures, but for a short period of time. In my experience I have never "fried" a component maybe a lift copper pad or a trace when I was a newbie, but that's it. But with GE components you have to be careful. A 30W soldering iron is very good to solder components to a PCB, perf board, strip board, ect. The key to a good solder joint and to avoid a "fried"component is practice and patience (do not overheat).

CG

[soulsonic]

Many times it almost seems easier to not fry components when you use a hotter setting, because you don't have to heat the joint for nearly as long - you can just touch it for a second or two and it'll do the job. Anytime you have to sit there and hold the iron on a joint, something is wrong and it's probably that the iron isn't hot enough. The longer you hold it there, the more likely it is you will damage something even if the iron has a lower temperature. I can't back this up with any stats, but I really feel that heating a joint for 2 seconds with an iron set to 380^oC puts much less stress on the joint than if it were heated for 15 seconds at 300^oC. FWIW, most components are rated to withstand soldering at 350^oC for 10 seconds.