Soldering Some Headers on My Arduino Nano Clone

Since I just got a hot air rework station and soldering iron combo I had the sudden idea while watching an Arduino Nano video. I thought, "Hey, why don't I finally solder those headers on that one Arduino Nano clone board that I have that I've been putting off soldering on cuz my soldering iron sucks!" Never mind that I haven't gotten my new solder or solder wick or solder pump in the mail. I have a box of stuff like that...somewhere...but all I really have handy is some shitty solder. But that's gotta work fine right?

So I set up my Arduino Nano board on my soldering desk!

Mmm! Made in China. All the best things are made in China. Also all the worst things. Well, pretty much everything is made in China these days.

I attached the headers on the bottom.

The one connector fell off when I turned it over, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't even go on the bottom, as I realized after it fell off, so that's okay.

I'm doing such a good job!

The solder paste that I tried to use was just utter crap and the tip I had on the soldering iron was just too big and was pissing me off a bit, so I decided to try another tip.

Get that shit outta here!

I really outta buy some extra tips. None of them are really that great. But I still needed to at least try the other ones.

Yeah, that didn't go so well...

I think I'll wait until I get in my solder paste that doesn't suck, some new solder, some solder wick, and a solder pump, so I can fix this pathetic shit. I could probably actually do a bit better, and fix this a bit, but there's another issue.

I only remembered when it was too late about the trick with a breadboard...

See, when you wanna get the headers straight, you can push them into a breadboard that can hold them in place while you solder it. Now, because I didn't remember that little trick, my headers are crooked. Fucking hell. Total fail.

I'll have to remove the headers and straighten them up when I get the new solder tools. Well, I'll at least have to remove the solder.

Fucking up happens. Especially when you haven't done something much for a long ass time. It's at least easier when you have the right tools, or at least I'm hoping so, since hopefully they'll be here soon enough.