I can indeed, but I haven't, except possibly for voices in your head. Soldering is a long-solved problem, so thanks for illustrating my earlier point.
William F. Buckley once observed, "I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University."
This edges on rule-breaking politics so I'll say no more.
Solder trivia -
FYI - solders etal -->
I use only eutectic... usually 63/37. Sometimes one with 2% silver.
Solders can be ordered in various levels of metal purity. You can guess about the low cost solders what else they have in them and how much.
I choose Virgin grade (sorry, not my idea of what to call it).
The flux used with wire solder which is specified for 'electronic' apps has the appropriate flux for copper and tin/lead leads. I dont worry too much about it.
I dont alloy (solder) with gold if possible. It makes for a 'brittle' connection.... file, scape away to copper or specify not to gold plate over the area ( eg holes) where a part is to be soldered to the pcb, for example.
Solder pots are available to pre-tin any leads/parts. Just drip the part's leads in the solder pot (usually needs some flux et al and contaminant cleaning of the pot from time to time). If you scrape or Scotch-Brite old/tarnished/oxidized leads to bare copper, you can then re-tin it by dipping in a clean pot of pure (Virgin grade) solder of the alloy of your choice.
-Thx-
RNMarsh
FYI - solders etal -->
I use only eutectic... usually 63/37. Sometimes one with 2% silver.
Solders can be ordered in various levels of metal purity. You can guess about the low cost solders what else they have in them and how much.
I choose Virgin grade (sorry, not my idea of what to call it).
The flux used with wire solder which is specified for 'electronic' apps has the appropriate flux for copper and tin/lead leads. I dont worry too much about it.
I dont alloy (solder) with gold if possible. It makes for a 'brittle' connection.... file, scape away to copper or specify not to gold plate over the area ( eg holes) where a part is to be soldered to the pcb, for example.
Solder pots are available to pre-tin any leads/parts. Just drip the part's leads in the solder pot (usually needs some flux et al and contaminant cleaning of the pot from time to time). If you scrape or Scotch-Brite old/tarnished/oxidized leads to bare copper, you can then re-tin it by dipping in a clean pot of pure (Virgin grade) solder of the alloy of your choice.
-Thx-
RNMarsh
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OK, that's a relief and I agree with you on substance, but with a twist.
Let me introduce a short anecdote. Presently I am working on the fourth speaker in a series based on the same trick. This is the big one, which makes it a three-way, with a mid that goes from 200-2000 Hz. I had found a driver that could do this well within the dimensional parameters, and the result was a flat measuring speaker with distortion far better than a Quad II. Great sound, but some sibilance like artifacts. Found another driver that in enclosure measured pretty much identical, but did not suffer from the same ailment.
Further measurements of the isolated drivers showed differences in stored energy, but at frequencies which shouldn't have mattered, and which also did not show up in the bandwith limited application. In short, two speakers that were mechnically identical, measured identically, but still had audible differences. Jan was at my house recently and after explaining the issue he could immediately tell the two apart. No blind test needed there.
Now, to my ears competent amplifiers in at least 3 classes and 2 technologies all sound the same, but my ears are trained on speakers. I do not at all exclude the possibility that some renowned designers of award winning amps have ears that are better trained than mine to stumble over electronics related issues. Without having measurements readily available to illustrate what they percieve.
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What if I want to solder these with tin/lead solder?
Can I apply the solder directly over them or do I have to scrape them to copper and then solder?
Thank you again
I have to confess that I perform this criminal action when I solder with tin/lead.
I have never managed to bring component leads and PCB land up to temperature within short time with a dry solder tip.
George
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I Googled, but didn't really find anything new.
This from Brigham Young University EET faculty sums it up for me:
This from Brigham Young University EET faculty sums it up for me:
And IMO the soldering of connectors has been the best defense for 63/37. Having had some small battles soldering connectors I can see worthy advantages there. It's a special case, though, and doesn't carry over by necessity to general PCB soldering.
When neither they nor anyone else can hear the difference ears-only when the standard engineering parameters (frequency response, noise, stability, overload recovery...) are accounted for, and no contrary data are offered over decades, you can feel quite safe in excluding the possibility, at least until actual data are offered. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.
Your focus on transducer faults is, IMO, far more likely to be productive than the rut in which "high-end" electronics designers are stuck.
If I understood him well, he suggests scraping away the gold, not the pre tinning of the leads.
George
As do I, all the time. Could someone perhaps clarify why it is such a "criminal" behaviour ...?
On another area of interest: What tools you have to assemble with can add a great deal of satisfaction while constructing.
Today, I was able to purchase a pair of Belzer flush cutters, similar to what I had stolen from me, back in 1976. I hope that they prove to be as good as the originals.
Today, I was able to purchase a pair of Belzer flush cutters, similar to what I had stolen from me, back in 1976. I hope that they prove to be as good as the originals.
Just solder them, as JN has said use a good flux.
Most assemblies these days are SMD, the most common board finish is ENIG, you do not have to scrape the gold away from any pads, as the amount of gold is miniscule and with SMD reflow or some sort of wave based soldering will not affect the joint so that you will ever notice or have any problems (though for wave based soldering, change the solder every few months depending on through put and have the gold and other pollutant levels checked regularly, but that's just standard Quality procedures).
As Sy said, soldering is pretty much sorted these days, even the change to lead free production was no great hassle, the main thing was to tighten production monitoring and procedures, such as moisture content and profiling assemblies to get the right temperature profile for activating the flux and forming the joint.
Thank you Marc
Two relevant links
Conductor finishes: nickel-gold
Conductor finishes: tin-lead
found among many other informative articles here:
Topics library - Contents
George
I did not willfully wait for 37 years to replace my Belzer flush cutters. However, circumstances, such as moving away from Europe and the decline of the dollar relative to the German currency made it difficult to get a Belzer replacement, so I tried various other brands. A close second was found, but never as good as my original Belzer flush cutters.
Later, about 20 years ago, a friend went to Germany and bought a pair for me, but they were the wrong size, and not exactly like the original. Still, I keep them away from my techs. when I can.
Later, about 20 years ago, a friend went to Germany and bought a pair for me, but they were the wrong size, and not exactly like the original. Still, I keep them away from my techs. when I can.
Certainly agree on that. If chem's are not required, don't use em.
Ah, I forgot that your chosen field also requires eye candy. Easily solved by dipping the parts in a clean pot of tin/lead, either 63 or 60.
In the present age, you will find that getting shiny lead finish is a thing of the past. The parts vendors are whole hog lead free. 4 years ago, we found that only 30% of the piece parts were available tin/lead. That percentage has dropped significantly at the current time. So if you want shiny, you're going to dip.
We outsourced approximately 4 thousand ridiculously complex PC boards which run the gamut from ppm analog, fiber, cpu's, bg arrays, fpga's, stripline stuff.. we had to require all board houses use tin/lead components where avail, and tin/lead in the board assembly. Whiskers are not your friend when you want MTBF's in the bazillion hours.. We have them swamp out the pure tin finish with tin/lead.
ah, ok.
Use them as is. I've found nothing out there which would indicate metallurgy problems in doing so. We've had no problems at work.
Good catch. I missed that.
jn
I went to an ACE HW to replace my mortising chisel Sunday. At the checkout they put a big "hand tools are not returnable" sticker over the "lifetime warranty". I went home and there was a big chipout in the middle of the blade that was hidden by the anti-theft wrapping.
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