New comer needs any and all help

[jhsmith87]

Yea I've practiced a whole lot just can't get it. What about this thing I saw it looked like a gun for soldering and from what I read it seemed instant. Like u put it to the wires pull the trigger and bam soldered. Is that true? Cause all I have now is a soldering iron. And it just takes longer to melt the solder than I can keep my hands from moving.

[TinselKoala]

For the kind of work we are doing (and for any work) you need the right tools. A soldering gun is almost useless these days with the fine circuitry and tiny wires and all. I haven't had mine out of the drawer literally in years. The high heat they produce melts solder fast all right... and destroys delicate components. That's why all my projects didn't work when I was first starting out! I was frying everything with too much heat.
I'll say it again: an adjustable temperature-controlled iron is the best for our work. Like the inexpensive Weller WLC100 or similar. And you will use a very fine gauge of solder that melts fast. The Weller, when turned up to 5, will work very fast, I keep mine just over 3 for general work and usually only use 5 for unsoldering big stuff or heavy pieces of metal.
Also the heavy weight of the gun might actually be harder for you to handle than a pencil-type iron.
I would suggest borrowing a soldering gun if you have a friend that has one, and try it out; they usually are dual-heat and if you stay on the low heat setting you'll probably be OK; I'm worried about the weight and the size of the tip but if you can handle it that would be great, better than nothing, but not better than an adjustable pencil iron
With the proper iron and solder, and a wrist rest or brace, and an hour's practice..... I'll bet you'll be able to solder just fine.

Do you  know the wattage of the iron you have? For our work 25 or 30 watts is plenty, maybe even too much at times.

For best results you need a fine gauge of solder, rosin core type for electronic work, definitely NOT acid core or fluxless, and you  need a clean tip on the iron and it must be "tinned", that is, coated with the molten solder, but with no excess. The solder stations like the Weller have a little sponge holder, you wet the sponge, and then before every joint you wipe the  hot tip in the moist sponge to clean and refresh it. Then, a tiny bit of molten solder on the tip will help transfer heat to your part. So it's like this:

0) before starting clean the cold tip with scotchbrite or sandpaper if necessary to get to a good surface. Heat up the tip and "tin" the tip fully all around with the solder you are going to use. Wipe off excess on the damp sponge.
1) make a good mechanical connection with your wires and parts
2) clean off the hot tip on the sponge
3) apply a _tiny_ bit of fresh solder to the tip to aid heat transfer... if you see a blob it's too much, go back to the sponge
4) press the tip to the joint to heat it up, count to four ( three or four seconds,  longer if necessary but watch for overheating components)
5) flow fresh solder onto the hot joint, not the soldering iron tip, apply just enough solder to the joint to coat the parts in contact fully, but not a big blob, withdraw solder 
6) leave the tip in contact for a second to make sure the solder has flowed and coated everything in the joint
7) withdraw tip
8) do not move the joint until the solder is hardened; if you do, reheat to melt completely again

I like to take some of the solder off the roll and wrap a few inches of it around a pencil or dowel and use that to apply the solder; this makes it easy to feed to the joint, better than trying to handle the larger roll.

Set yourself up some wires and practice soldering for a while. Practice makes perfect; this is a skill so don't expect to be able to do it perfectly right away... but please, don't give up, there must be a way to get past your tremor and steady your hands enough. Maybe a cushion for your wrist, or a sling, even. If there's a way at all we should try to find it. How's your handwriting? Holding the iron is a lot like holding a big pen or pencil.