Scott’s wire solder spool (is it really 44 lb ?? ) is off by 41 years
I think it started out as 5 pounds and is getting down there, still works for me. It's probably my thread of life, just keep Atropos away.
Oh Scott
Atropos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I have stocked some 3-4kg of 60/40 since the time I read that leaded solder is to be banned, probably an overreaction of mine.
I keep on buying 250g spools every few months. I still hope…
Are those analog or digital?
You are drifting down low (toward engineering)
Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra - I'm Drifting Back To Dreamland (1930) - YouTube
George
I know!
It’s mental arteriosclerosis but which are the symptoms you read on me?
George
Our company recently relaxed its shelf life spec on solderability to align with the rest of the semi industry. We supply a lot of stuff into Auto and telecom - both demanding markets. 2 years minimum and 4 doable if you keep the stuff well packaged. No scrapping please - are you listening John.
No scrapping please - are you listening John.
Did you mean scrapping (discarding) or scraping (abrading the surface)? John, like too many of us, absolutely doesn't scrap anything. I have seen his living room.
Well, it doesn't have to be break-in (or run-in) at all. Whenever you change a component in your system it takes time for your ears to become familiar with the "new" sound. When you put a new component in your system, what do you know about it? How will it affect the sound? This starts a period of subconscious evaluation and how you respond to the sound can change day to day, until you've become familiar with it and formed beliefs about it. This is called habituation.
How we respond to sound is all about beliefs. It's an abstract concept. Doesn't mean that break-in doesn't exist, just means that what you're hearing doesn't necessarily have to be break-in. It can take months or longer to habituate to a new sound, and some sounds are harder to habituate to than others.
My dad said a preamp I built took 6-8 months to fully break in.
Last edited:
I think this is too much of a generalisation. Often friends or partners who know nothing about the technicalities of audio can give an very useful opinion of the sound precisely because they don't know enough about the technicalities of audio to have any kind of a belief about it.
Yesterday I was listening an extraordinary tube based DIY system of a friend for the first time - it was nothing like the warm cozy sound that I might have expected a tube based system to sound.
Then we compared two transformers introduced to me as "transformer A" & "transformer B" and I noticed a slight difference, but this couldn't be be based on any belief because I knew absolutely nothing about either of them.
Soon I will be auditoning some regulators I built for my power amps. I have no idea if they will sound better or worse than my current choke regulation so I really don't see where belief comes into it.
If I wanted to make a sweeping generalization about reactions to audio I would tend to say ( once designs rise above a certain level of competance ) that it's all about individual preference.
Last edited:
30 years old (or more) components - resistors values ranging from 1R to 1M ohm, silver mica capacitors, transistors ROHM 2SB737 2SD786, Toshiba 2SJ72 2SK147, SGS BD139 BD140, NEC 2SA1141 2SC2681 and many others I still have in thousands in selected values and matched to 1% or better.
Even the Lovoltech LU1014D´s are soon 8 years, and the SemiSouth´s 4 years..
However I left the audio industry (employment) over 30 years ago and consultant duties 25 years ago, but have continued research, design and building prototypes for my own use. When I have found really good components they have been ordered mostly directly from the factory / manufacturers and then the MOQ normally are in the thousands, but then the unit prices again have been extremely low. For most of the components I have in stock I have not found any newer "replacements" that performs better.
That's what they said about holes too
jan
The holes themselves don't move, it is electrons moving away, creating holes.
The fact that you have two items, which look and feel different, already predisposes you to hearing a difference. Same with the regulators - it is pretty much impossible to be impartial to how they would compare. Concious or not, you DO have some opinion of the relative merits of the two - why else would you, again probably subconciously, mention HOW they differ (the choke etc).
This is the reason for double blind test requirements, so you don't know whether you actually are listening to two different items or twice the same item (I know I'm cutting corners here, but you get my drift).
jan
The holes themselves don't move, it is electrons moving away, creating holes.
Just like the darkons move away making room for light
Or vice versa.
jan
NO. Using 60/40 in lieu of eutectic does NOT allow cold joints. The metallurgical difference is a few degrees. All it means is that the alpha/beta phase ratio will be different at total freezout, as the constant ratio line crosses the transition line, with the melt having the ratio on the other side of the liquid zone. Look up the tie line principle. It describes the metallurgy of off eutectic compositions during freezout.
In the range between roughly 4% and 80% tin, the solder will ALWAYS have a liquid phase as long as the temperature is above 183. The absolute ratio of constituents between those percentages does not alter that fact.
Keep it NON moving until it's below 183C. edit: Copper tin falls out of solution at 185 C, so this can be used to a degree to clear a bit of copper out of a pot, but it ain't a very good process. These intermetallics will begin to texture the coat finish after a dip because of this freezout problem. Copper gets up to about 4% in the pot, but visual problems happen first. I suspect this may be what JC was seeing. This is also a problem when dipping gold finished parts, the pot gets contaminated.
The significant difference you experienced was the type of flux, period. Discussion of one or two degrees difference between eutectic and almost is the foolish part. (or even 22...stick to C please, F only confounds the issue...)
I am the first to admit that this soldering understanding is NOT taught well in school, nor in mil spec or flight spec soldering and inspection courses. So I can't blame you for your mis-understandings.
Thanks for the link.
25 years ago I was embedded deep into a mil-parts production line, teaching all of the soldering processes for a wide range of alloys and every soldering technique known at the time (except ultrasonic). I helped design the piece parts, procure them, test them, then introduce them into the line, teaching by demonstration. This I believe was an important aspect of my upbringing...course, I still don't know what I wanna be when I grow up..
Now why didn't you call me 25 years ago, I would have helped you solve your soldering problems..
No.
The flux choice is the most important, followed by the parts finish and the process design.
I do agree the info is important to all. Not that sofaspud needs to learn, he is asking questions which indicate he already knows.
Bingo.
Crossing the phase line off eutectic so close is not that big a deal. I would be more concerned with copper diffusion into the melt, and the consumption of the tin by the growing intermetallic region.
The most important factor in coat thickness of leads is the temperature of the melt, the rate of withdrawal, and the orientation of the lead during withdrawal.
Longer time before intermetallics have grown sufficiently to become exposed to air. Once they get to the oxygen, they passivate to a state which is more difficult for the flux to break.
Luckily, I have production line and design experience with everything from pure tin to 95% lead. Based on that experience, I can speak on this topic with expertise.
hmmm...that might explain why my discussions with the Cern alpha group are so shall we say, "interesting".
jn
Last edited:
Well this sums it up, everybody (on this thread at least). Just clean your leads (scraping is best) and use SN62 or SN63 solder for hand soldering of standard size parts. I will leave the rest of the details to others.
For the record, I might mention why I chose as an avatar here, a photo taken from this very website: It is almost a Doppelganger of me, 50 years ago, running the same computer (IBM7094) for a different company. (Lockheed) Now, THAT picture brought up very old memories. I certainly wish I could run this PC as well as I ran that 7094!
For the record, I might mention why I chose as an avatar here, a photo taken from this very website: It is almost a Doppelganger of me, 50 years ago, running the same computer (IBM7094) for a different company. (Lockheed) Now, THAT picture brought up very old memories. I certainly wish I could run this PC as well as I ran that 7094!
Last edited:
- Status
- Not open for further replies.