Soldering Olympics

Back when I was working in Waterloo we would occasionally drop our scopes and soldering irons and head to the cafeteria for some much needed beer and cards. It was one of my favorite parts of working with those guys. There is nothing quite like shooting the shit with the boys over cards, drinking beer, and just hanging out. I loved it. Anyways, on more than a few of these nights we would get the (probably beer inspired) idea to host a Soldering Olympics. But we never did. Maybe because it was just the beer talking. Maybe because it really was a terrible idea. haha. But we never came through on it.And I’m both happy and jelous to announce that I have finally found someone else that did manage to pull it off – and its very cool (see the video above)!

I think should I ever get a chance to participate or host version 2 we should make just a couple changes… First, I always dreamed of a freestyle, artistic event, something thats more of a challenge than a time trial. Something like bridging solder between floating 402 resistors and pads, or soldering big parts over small footprints, or i dunno, something that looks just damn artistic under a microscope. Second, bigger irons! Don’t make me work with finger paint when I can use a brush! And third, for a time trial situation there needs to be more paste, or less through hole, or more microscopes, or something. I feel like there is a better test of speed, or that speed is the wrong metric… haha.

Anyways, I’m just glad someone bothered to actually go through with it. And it looks like it was a ton of fun. I encourage anyone and everyone interested in electronics to appreciate the beauty in good soldering and the fun in being able to build electronics. And to anyone hosting version 2 before I do – I want an invite!!