After you solder a component in place, you need to tidy things up. Grab the cutters from your kit, and trim the leads as close to the solder joint as possible (see Figure 2-11 and Figure 2-12). Don’t cut into the solder joint; the idea is to trim the excess wire lead.

When you clip it, the wire lead will fly away from the clippers very fast, and could injure someone. The best way to keep this from happening is to use one or two fingers to hold the lead you’re clipping. With one finger, you can put enough pressure on it to keep it from flying away.

Figure 2-11. Trimming leads on the 555 blinky

Figure 2-12. Trimming leads on the Learn to Solder Skill Badge