A 25 watt iron is fine as long as you are adequately careful. A low
wattage iron with a small tip (or an iron of any wattage at all with
temperature control) will make soldering easier.

Don't overheat the part and you'll be OK.
Gluing is not at all desirable as a way of electrical connection. The
recent discussion related to fastening components in place in unusual
or prototype circumstances.

At the risk of being flamed for abominable soldering practice ...

{{Solder shields up}}

Soldering:

Temperature controlled irons are usually best. Uncontrolled irons
with physically (and therefore) thermally large tips will rest at
well above soldering temperature and then dump energy to a small cold
component leg very quickly. Overheating is fairly likely if you are
not experienced.

1.    Have iron tip clean with usually a single solder point near
tip.
2.    Wipe iron on damp sponge (sea sponge often used. Plastic dies).
3.    Tin tip if required (occasionally) by applying solder lightly
to soldering point.
4.    Apply iron to one side of component "leg".
5.    Allow component leg to heat to soldering temperature.
6.    Apply solder to opposite side of component leg until it melts
(almost instantly if you've followed 4 & 5) and allow a SMALL amount
of solder to apply to joint.
7.    Leave iron in place for a very slight time to ensure all is at
solder temp and then remove tip.
8.    Do not move joint until solder is set. Too cold a joint or
moving the joint while setting will lead to so called 'dry joints"
which will cause endless trouble. these are easily spotted by colour
and texture. make a few to see what they look like. Leaving iron on
too long will apply excess heat to the component with risk of damage.
Too little solder leads  to a possible bad joint. Too much solder
risks short circuits and makes it hard to be sure of joint quality.

In practice I don't strictly follow steps 4 to 7 - after a few
decades it becomes a continuous process (sort of). heat joint
partially and then feed solder in at iron/component leg junction a
little to improve iron heat transfer, wait a moment then add a little
more solder, wait a while more and remove iron. This is not what the
books say and following steps above is probably a good start.

No doubt there will be numerous PIClisters keen to critique this
technique.

{{Solder shields down}}

-----Original Message-----
From: Matt D K <kromat@JUNO.COM>
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Date: Thursday, September 03, 1998 11:34 PM
Subject: 25 watts


>I'm ready for my first PIC application and am worried about my 25
watt
>sodering iron frying it. Is the PIC that sensative to heat? Is glue
a
>better alternatie?
>
>                                                            Matt K
>                                  "Just your not so average
electronics
>geek"
>
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