Holiday Projects: 10 Soldering Project Kits for this Holiday Season
Below, we’ve outlined some of our favorite soldering project kits. These electronic soldering kits not only hone your skills but also leave you with a fun or practical gadget when you’re finished! Soldering is a practical skill that you can use to repair electronics, create art, or prototype your own circuit boards and devices. Whether you want to learn to solder or you’ve been soldering for years, soldering practice kits are an excellent way to sharpen your skills!
BEFORE YOU START: SOLDERING TOOLS AND BEST PRACTICES
At the most basic level, all you need to start soldering is a soldering iron, solder, and flux. We also highly recommend a fume extractor, which absorbs the toxic smoke the solder gives off. At the very least, solder responsibly by wearing a mask and working in a well-ventilated area.
For best results, opt for a soldering station, which typically offers temperature control and a higher wattage. However, you may be able to find a portable temperature-controlled soldering iron. Just make sure you have a soldering stand to place your portable soldering iron while it’s not in use!
If you plan to do a lot of surface-mount soldering, consider using a hot air rework station—or get a soldering iron station with a hot air gun, so you have options for both. If you have a limited range of motion, you might also want to consider third-hand tools or a soldering gun with a built-in solder wire feeder, which makes it possible to solder one-handed.
When it comes to selecting solder, lead solder can be easier to work with since it melts at a lower temperature, but lead-free solder has fewer health hazards. Solder flux is also a must because it removes and prevents oxidation and improves the wettability of the solder. Without it, you run the risk of creating poor soldering joints.
It’s always good to have a solder wick (desoldering braid) or desoldering pump (solder sucker) on hand so you can fix any mistakes. A tool like a desoldering gun or desoldering iron can both melt and suction solder away.
1. DIY FM RADIO KIT
Difficulty: Intermediate
If you’re looking for a more modern-looking DIY radio kit, we’ve got you covered. While compact, this solder kit project packs a lot of practice into one project, requiring users to solder over 50 components. The completed project includes flashing LEDs and a modern LCD.
The FM Radio Soldering Kit is one of the most popular soldering project kits. The customer love that at the end of the project they could then gift it to their family or firnd soldering project kits
2. SOLDERING PROJECT LED CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATION
Difficulty: Beginner
This project is aimed at improving users’ electronics knowledge and soldering skills. It is perfect for after-school programs and STEM education. The solder practice kit will become a beautiful flashing Xmas tree ornament when assembled completely. The 36 RGB LEDs will make a bright, colorful, and wonderful light at night. Not only for practice, but the gift can also be creative, especially at Christmas.
3. DIY LED ROTATING FERRIS WHEEL
Difficulty: Advanced
This beautiful Ferris wheel can spin with excellent lighting effects, the DIY electronic kit is suitable for practicing SMT soldering skills for Makers, Students, and Colleges. In addition, this project will help users learn and understand basic electronic knowledge and circuit principles.
This electronic soldering practice is suitable for school and home projects focused on education. Not only to improve your soldering skills, but you will also get familiar with electronic components and learn more interesting things about the SMD soldering process.
Please note, that this soldering kit requires a certain foundation of basic electronic theoretical knowledge such as reading schematic and SMD soldering process and the soldering equipment required.
This project is great for practicing surface mount or SMD soldering. The surface-mount LEDs take a lot of patience, but are well worth the effort!
4. DIY ULTRASONIC DISTANCE SENSOR
Difficulty: Intermediate
The DIY ultrasonic distance sensor is both a ranging alarm and a measuring tool. Once all the pieces are soldered together (around 35 components in total) and the kit is assembled, the gadget will be able to “sense” objects in front of it and then measure and display the object’s distance in centimeters.
Users can program the device to set off an alarm buzzer when objects reach or breach a certain distance away from the sensor. The device can measure from 5 cm to 400 cm away and relies on AAA batteries or a USB charging cable to operate.
5. Projectile Electromagnetic Launcher
Difficulty: Intermediate
This soldering kit is an interesting mini electromagnetic launcher that can shoot small cylindrical projectiles at short distances. This is a perfect science fair project for Makers and students to learn basic mechanical electromagnetic and practice soldering skills. Learn electromagnetic and have a lot of fun while doing so.
The working principle of this kit is: to use the ampere force generated by the electromagnetic field in the electromagnetic system to accelerate the projectile. The finished project is less powerful and suitable for use as a model in the home lab, school, and college courses.
6. MINI TESLA COIL BATTERY POWERED
Difficulty: Beginner
Learn or practice your soldering skills while creating one of the most ingenious inventions of all time, the famous Tesla coil. The mini Tesla coil kit comes ready to assemble, featuring through-hole electronic components and parts that students or users solder together. The easy soldering project is a fantastic way to learn more about electronics and how the Tesla coil works and can be used.
Once completed, you can use the mini DIY Tesla coil to light fluorescent lights, LEDs, and Neon bulbs—without any contact!
7. DIY SIGNAL GENERATOR
Difficulty: Intermediate
Most function generators cost well over $100 if not thousands! While not quite up to spec with your typical function generator, the DIY signal generator still provides both soldering practice and a cost-effective, useful tool at the end of the project. The assembly and soldering is fairly straightforward, but pay extra attention to the capacitors, which have polar leads.
8. DIY OSCILLOSCOPE
Difficulty: Intermediate
That’s right! You can practice soldering and get a new oscilloscope! This soldering project comes with a 2.4-inch color TFT display and test leads, so when you’re finished you can use the 12-bit 200KHz oscilloscope in tandem with the previously mentioned DIY signal generator.
This project requires soldering well over 50 components and offers the most soldering practice of all the kits we’ve mentioned so far.
9. OSEPP SPINNING WHEEL KIT
Difficulty: Beginner
This nifty soldering kit for electronics is the perfect entry-level project for beginner solderers. Users solder LEDs and a few other components to a circular PCB, and once complete, the lights flicker in various patterns depending on the option you choose. The kit, which was designed specifically as a soldering practice kit, includes instructions on how to solder and desolder. We’ve also got a blog that walks through how to solder OSEPP’s LED spinning wheel.
10. DIY LED CANTON TOWER
Difficulty: Advanced
This one-of-a-kind electronics kit offers a unique approach to soldering. Instead of soldering LEDs to a PCB, users solder the LEDs together to create a model LED Tower in the shape of the famous Canton tower. The project will test your engineering and coordination skills, perhaps challenging your soldering skills in a new, creative way.
The project requires a significant amount of patience, but the stunning LED display at the end is well worth all the soldering to get there! One of our popular soldering project kits.
