Electronics 2000

My soldering skills are average, but I'm having real trouble with an 18 pin SSOP IC (I've already wrecked one). Would anyone be willing to do it for me for a small fee? Just a question of soldering it on to an otherwise empty circuit board - I'd post it out to you and paypal you over some money.

Try this... Hold the IC in place with a small screwdriver. Tack a couple of pins with an ordinary soldering iron, and then solder the rest of the pins using the ordinary iron and solder. Don't worry about bridging the pins. Then using solder wick suck off the excess solder/bridges. "Capillary Attraction" will keep a small amount of solder between the pins and the pads. Job done. It is always better to use a hot iron for a short amount of time, rather than a cool iron which takes longer to make a good solder joint and can damage components.