I am about to begin building my fist project - a pair My Ref Rev C monoblocks. I purchased a Weller DES51 soldering station and WBT-0800 Silver Solder. The literature with the solder lists the melting point as 178°/180° C (352°/356° F) and recommends a soldering tip temperature of 250° C (482° F). Google searches have turned up recommendations of 700° F (371° C) as a recommended temperature for use with this solder.
That is quite a difference. Does anyone use this solder and what temperature do you recommend?
Thanks,
Martin
That is quite a difference. Does anyone use this solder and what temperature do you recommend?
Thanks,
Martin
I have for MANY years used temperature-regulated soldering. I generally use 700-750 degrees F for SnPb solders though the more recent Pb-free solders (mostly Sn) require 750-800 deg F. I've not seen anyone use temperatures around 500 degrees for electronics.
Note that you need to match the tip diameter to the job. I.E., soldering connectors with large-gauge wires requires a much fatter tip than soldering ICs to a PC board.
Note that you need to match the tip diameter to the job. I.E., soldering connectors with large-gauge wires requires a much fatter tip than soldering ICs to a PC board.
I generally use 300degC for 183degC melting point solder.
I increase to 320degC is desoldering or if soldering onto a thin plane.
I need to increase even higher if the plane is thicker, I have gone as high as 350degC.
I do wish some of my tips were much bigger for the heavy work and at least one a little bit smaller for smd.
I would use a solid copper soldering iron heated on the gas hot plate for soldering plate.
I increase to 320degC is desoldering or if soldering onto a thin plane.
I need to increase even higher if the plane is thicker, I have gone as high as 350degC.
I do wish some of my tips were much bigger for the heavy work and at least one a little bit smaller for smd.
I would use a solid copper soldering iron heated on the gas hot plate for soldering plate.
Generally soldering with higher temperatures gives better results than being on the cold side. It depends in practice very much on the pad and component, also how much time you need per lead.
Don't be shy with temperature, I had to solder power resistors into a heavy copper plane (pads without thermals) at comfortable 400°C. Going lower than that I had to heat the part longer (more stress) and still risked a cold solder joint.
Have fun, Hannes
PS: desoldering can be even higher than that, especially if using desoldering wick.
EDIT: just to clarify, numbers are for leaded solder.
Don't be shy with temperature, I had to solder power resistors into a heavy copper plane (pads without thermals) at comfortable 400°C. Going lower than that I had to heat the part longer (more stress) and still risked a cold solder joint.
Have fun, Hannes
PS: desoldering can be even higher than that, especially if using desoldering wick.
EDIT: just to clarify, numbers are for leaded solder.
Hello diy'ers,
I've searched the forums to find anything I can about hi temperature solder. I landed on this thread and although it doesn't really talk about the things I need to know, it was the closest thing.
OK, so at work, I have to solder together this big heatsink assembly made of nickel plated copper. it has 0.020" fins that are to be soldered onto a 0.020" thick baseplate. This baseplate has routed channels so that the fins can slide into there. Anyway, just a bit of details becuase I cannot furnish a picture at the moment. I was told to use Kester Hi temperature solder to do this job. We preheat the whole thing on a hotplate at around 230°C then tranfser it (with pliers) to another jig where we use a propane torch to heat the jig which gets the solder melting. Now here is my problem: the solder, even though flux is applied prior to heating, will not flow nicely along the edges of the channel. the solder just blobs up in small blobs and even if I re-apply flux during the soldering process, it won't help. I am using electronics-type flux, and have even tried Plumber's Acid flux(or so I was told it was acid).
Also, now that I have tried so many ways of soldering the darn thing, the flux residue has become that disgusting brown colour.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I've searched the forums to find anything I can about hi temperature solder. I landed on this thread and although it doesn't really talk about the things I need to know, it was the closest thing.
OK, so at work, I have to solder together this big heatsink assembly made of nickel plated copper. it has 0.020" fins that are to be soldered onto a 0.020" thick baseplate. This baseplate has routed channels so that the fins can slide into there. Anyway, just a bit of details becuase I cannot furnish a picture at the moment. I was told to use Kester Hi temperature solder to do this job. We preheat the whole thing on a hotplate at around 230°C then tranfser it (with pliers) to another jig where we use a propane torch to heat the jig which gets the solder melting. Now here is my problem: the solder, even though flux is applied prior to heating, will not flow nicely along the edges of the channel. the solder just blobs up in small blobs and even if I re-apply flux during the soldering process, it won't help. I am using electronics-type flux, and have even tried Plumber's Acid flux(or so I was told it was acid).
Also, now that I have tried so many ways of soldering the darn thing, the flux residue has become that disgusting brown colour.
Anyone have any suggestions?
The nickel is probably a problem. One good source of info is on the finishing.com forum. Try this- Soldering Electroless Nickel plated components
The thread has a lot of junk, but if you scroll down there's some good info.
The thread has a lot of junk, but if you scroll down there's some good info.
Wow! thank you for all the responses guys, really appreciated!
Since then I discovered that solder doesn't bond well at all to nickel. I don't even know why we used that in the first place! I'll have to ask. In any case, the information I'll read on the links will help me out.
AndrewT, I don't know how high I need to go, mainly because I don't even know what melting temperatures are available to me. I can't find any technical information on Kester's website... Their pdf files don't say. and I don't know if we're brazing the thing or not. Frankly I don't know much about metals and soldering, but I tried to follow the recommendations given to me in order to do what was needed and still...
Since then I discovered that solder doesn't bond well at all to nickel. I don't even know why we used that in the first place! I'll have to ask. In any case, the information I'll read on the links will help me out.
AndrewT, I don't know how high I need to go, mainly because I don't even know what melting temperatures are available to me. I can't find any technical information on Kester's website... Their pdf files don't say. and I don't know if we're brazing the thing or not. Frankly I don't know much about metals and soldering, but I tried to follow the recommendations given to me in order to do what was needed and still...
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