this has been bugging me for a while and i finally have to ask because im about to do the motors on a new build and im dreading it. my solder just kind of balls up on the wire and doesnt want to flow onto the pad properly. i end up with these ugly blobs that i have to reheat like 4 times and half the time i pull the pad off. ive watched videos and everyone makes it look so easy but mine never looks like that.

im using 63/37 rosin core which i know is the right stuff, iron is a cheap one from amazon but it does get hot. flux is the paste kind from a little jar. not sure what else to say, maybe its my technique but im genuinely not sure what to change

cheap irons from amazon are usually the culprit, not the technique. the temperature readout on those things is basically fiction, the actual tip temp can swing wildly. a TS100 or even a secondhand Hakko will change your whole experience, not exagerating. soldering drone stuff without a halfway decent iron is just suffering.

that said, if you want to rule out technique first -- are you tinning the tip before every joint? like actually wiping it on a wet sponge or brass wool and putting a tiny bit of fresh solder on it right before you touch the pad? tip oxidation is a huge reason solder wont flow. also sounds like you might not be heating the pad enough before introducing solder, you want to heat the pad and let the solder flow TO it, not melt solder on the iron and drop it on the pad.

yeah what he said about the iron, but also -- how old is your solder? i had a spool that sat in my garage for two years and the flux in the core had basically died, solder balled up exactly like youre describing. bought a fresh spool and it was night and day. worth ruling out at least since its cheap