Leaded or unleaded solder ?

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Don't understand the fondness for silver. With regard to electronics soldering such as we're talking about here, it's really nothing more than a contaminant, resulting in a poorer quality solder joint than tin/lead.

Sure, if you're sweating copper joints in a plumbing project, it's fine (don't want lead in your water supply), but I'd never use it for electronics soldering.

se
 
Lead Sounds Bad....

Don't understand the fondness for silver. With regard to electronics soldering such as we're talking about here, it's really nothing more than a contaminant, resulting in a poorer quality solder joint than tin/lead.
On the contrary...96S wets especially well, and is better conducting than standard 60/40 lead/tin.

Sure, if you're sweating copper joints in a plumbing project, it's fine (don't want lead in your water supply), but I'd never use it for electronics soldering.
It's worth trying. Years ago I mentioned 96S to a pro-audio colleague. When he rebuilds vintage mics, he nowadays won't use anything else. (he says better, cleaner, clearer sounding)

Ime tin/silver sounds really good, lead/tin/silver sounds really bad.

Dan.
 
On the contrary...96S wets especially well, and is better conducting than standard 60/40 lead/tin.

It doesn't wet as well as 63/37 and has a rather higher melting point. And conductivity of the material doesn't matter so much as the quality of the joint itself.

It's worth trying.

I have. Along with a dozen or so other alloys over the years. I keep coming back go Kester 63/37 with their "44" flux.

Years ago I mentioned 96S to a pro-audio colleague. When he rebuilds vintage mics, he nowadays won't use anything else. (he says better, cleaner, clearer sounding)

Ime tin/silver sounds really good, lead/tin/silver sounds really bad.

Yeah, well some people report putting photographs of themselves in their freezers makes their system sound better. So...

se
 
I don't like the lead free solder either. The stuff is brittle the minute it solidifies. It may wet well, but that is not the sum total of a good solder joint. SOlder that wets to the joint well, but cracks later is not a good joint. And the tin whiskers in close quarters are a genuine concern.

I also vote for leaded solder unless your local law forbids it.
 
Yep, works great especially if the photo is in black and white. :p

What, the blacks get blakker and the whites get... well, you know....?

Has anybody experimented with listening in a coldroom / industrial freezer?
Think of the tweak possibilities...
Perhaps soldering at sub-zero temperatures (good luck with that) might be the answer. Or maybe using solder with a melting point below zero which mandates operation in cold conditions to avoid the circuit falling apart.

Oh the opportunities for 'scientific research' !

blakkhumour
 
63/37 all the way. Only exception would be when the components to be soldered contain silver plating, at which point I use Cardas Quad Eutectic. Might be filled with a bit of marketing, but it really does wet beautifully and even smells pretty good as a bonus. But the leaded kind, still.
 
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