Hi John,
That's why I want to try different solders out before I decide on one. They are expensive and it seems, temperamental.
I've played with all kinds of "no clean" and "no residue" fluxes. I have given every sample away. They are all really bad news. Some are even conductive!! Would that be a feature?
Let's see now .... a no clean flux for electronics work that is conductive. That has got to be either a really bad joke, or some type of industrial warfare.
-Chris
That's why I want to try different solders out before I decide on one. They are expensive and it seems, temperamental.
I've played with all kinds of "no clean" and "no residue" fluxes. I have given every sample away. They are all really bad news. Some are even conductive!! Would that be a feature?
Let's see now .... a no clean flux for electronics work that is conductive. That has got to be either a really bad joke, or some type of industrial warfare.
-Chris
anatech said:
Industrial sabotage, actually.
For all my tin/silver soldering, I simply use tree sap and vaseline.
White water gum rosin and petrolatum jelly...actually.
For simple soldering to copper or tin plated/solder plated copper, or even gold plated over nickel, R type paste flux is just great. If you need liquid, you can get an alcohol based flux, it's jsut the rosin dissolved in alcohol.
I've purchased special order, Kester tin/silver with paste flux inside, but there never seems to be enough flux. So, I either dab some paste on, or using a syringe, inject some liquid flux into the joint before heating.
Don't use plumbing flux, it has zinc chloride in it.
I used to buy from W. M. Dunton in RI, but I think they sold the line. Can still buy, but just not sure where I bought it last.
Cheers, John
Hi John,
Can you imagine running a consumer goods electronics warranty shop these days? I'm glad I'm out before this silliness hit.
Thinking about things here, lead turning up in landfill is probably not that big a deal. Not when you consider all the lead and other nasties left from earlier generations. Whenever you restore any electronic equipment, you are performing a recycling operation and diverting electronic waste from land fills. The use of any additional solder would have to be a net plus over attempting to use lead free. After "x" number of failures, the equipment would be discarded. The use of lead free solder in the electronics service business would seem to increase waste.
Before I am willing to accept that this is an important issue, I need to see these land fill sites being mined for all the metallic content. Once I see the hazardous material being removed from land fill, I'll be more ready to accept what we are being sold. How many amplifiers would be represented by one car battery (in equivalent lead)?
Once again, the end user is left to pay the bill in the form of unreliable equipment. Just like the shift from robust, long life electronic items to todays failure prone products with a three year life cycle. That would be all the computers and peripherals, and many audio systems. I wonder what will happen in the automotive sector. Cars are heavily dependent on computers these days. Even things like heavy current switching, like high side switches instead of relays.
This plays too much into the hands of manufacturers who would like a shorter device lifetime, forcing replacement.
-Chris
Pretty much!
Can you imagine running a consumer goods electronics warranty shop these days? I'm glad I'm out before this silliness hit.
Thinking about things here, lead turning up in landfill is probably not that big a deal. Not when you consider all the lead and other nasties left from earlier generations. Whenever you restore any electronic equipment, you are performing a recycling operation and diverting electronic waste from land fills. The use of any additional solder would have to be a net plus over attempting to use lead free. After "x" number of failures, the equipment would be discarded. The use of lead free solder in the electronics service business would seem to increase waste.
Before I am willing to accept that this is an important issue, I need to see these land fill sites being mined for all the metallic content. Once I see the hazardous material being removed from land fill, I'll be more ready to accept what we are being sold. How many amplifiers would be represented by one car battery (in equivalent lead)?
Once again, the end user is left to pay the bill in the form of unreliable equipment. Just like the shift from robust, long life electronic items to todays failure prone products with a three year life cycle. That would be all the computers and peripherals, and many audio systems. I wonder what will happen in the automotive sector. Cars are heavily dependent on computers these days. Even things like heavy current switching, like high side switches instead of relays.
This plays too much into the hands of manufacturers who would like a shorter device lifetime, forcing replacement.
-Chris
Hi Chris,
I agree, repairing is green. I dont think im that old, but my parents used to by quality electronics and treat them like assetts, not dump them cos theres a new feature today, classic is the hometheatre market, my goddness how many speakers could I possibly want in my lounge?
If we must have a recession I hope that people start buying quality and keeping their appliances for a bit longer and maybe even repairing.
BTW we dont seem to be able to get Kester solder down here. It seems to get mentioned on this forum from time to time. I will buy some quality solder soon before its too late, but as most things its on the priority list
I agree, repairing is green. I dont think im that old, but my parents used to by quality electronics and treat them like assetts, not dump them cos theres a new feature today, classic is the hometheatre market, my goddness how many speakers could I possibly want in my lounge?
If we must have a recession I hope that people start buying quality and keeping their appliances for a bit longer and maybe even repairing.
BTW we dont seem to be able to get Kester solder down here. It seems to get mentioned on this forum from time to time. I will buy some quality solder soon before its too late, but as most things its on the priority list
Hi Luke,
Kester may have been distributed by another company. It might not be available at all, but there are other excellent brands to choose from. My personal favorite is Multicore. I just happen to have a lot of Kester lying around, and it works fine (still prefer Multicore).
I am making a joke out of the "NOS" tube type market. Saying that my solder is a 5 lb roll of NOS Kester '44 is simply saying that it's a very old roll of solder. I may have an odd sense of humour. To be honest with you, I would trade this solder in pound for pound with Multicore and walk away smiling.
You can buy old solder. I find it works as well as when it was new. The solder wire may oxidize, but all of it does, and this can be wiped off when you are ready to use that section. I use liquid flux when making virgin joints, or to clean up old solder with "solder wick". Flux is really good with NOS tube sockets after cleaning the surface. You can never get into all the spaces.
One word on "Eutectic" solder compounds. The single liquid to solid point only helps if you tend to move the wire around when soldering it. The proper procedure for soldering is to make a mechanically secure connection first, then solder it. If you are having trouble with that, eutectic solder is not going to solve your issues. We studied solder in chemistry at Ryerson and performed a number of experiments with it.
-Chris
Kester may have been distributed by another company. It might not be available at all, but there are other excellent brands to choose from. My personal favorite is Multicore. I just happen to have a lot of Kester lying around, and it works fine (still prefer Multicore).
I am making a joke out of the "NOS" tube type market. Saying that my solder is a 5 lb roll of NOS Kester '44 is simply saying that it's a very old roll of solder. I may have an odd sense of humour. To be honest with you, I would trade this solder in pound for pound with Multicore and walk away smiling.
You can buy old solder. I find it works as well as when it was new. The solder wire may oxidize, but all of it does, and this can be wiped off when you are ready to use that section. I use liquid flux when making virgin joints, or to clean up old solder with "solder wick". Flux is really good with NOS tube sockets after cleaning the surface. You can never get into all the spaces.
One word on "Eutectic" solder compounds. The single liquid to solid point only helps if you tend to move the wire around when soldering it. The proper procedure for soldering is to make a mechanically secure connection first, then solder it. If you are having trouble with that, eutectic solder is not going to solve your issues. We studied solder in chemistry at Ryerson and performed a number of experiments with it.
-Chris
Fluitin 1532 from Cookson Electronics is a very good Sn60 Pb38 Cu2 solder. I use this for quite some years and I am satisfied with it. The 0.7 mm is the best to work with. It transitions good from solid to liquid and then back to solid and gives a mechanically strong and shiny joint. No afterwork required with this solder !
http://alpha.cooksonelectronics.com/products/product.asp?ID=1532
http://alpha.cooksonelectronics.com/products/product.asp?ID=1532
mine is older, from the pre alpha metals age. Maybe they have skipped the 'S' labeling?
Picture from low-flux Fluitin 1532:
http://www.mpy.de/flohmarkt/artikel/sonst/lot_fluitin1532.gif
regards
Picture from low-flux Fluitin 1532:
http://www.mpy.de/flohmarkt/artikel/sonst/lot_fluitin1532.gif
regards
Hi,
I found a web site for a distributor for Alpha Metals that has information on their product line.
See here :http://www.solderconnection.com/prod_category.php?category=Solder%20Wire .
-Chris
Edit: Here is the manufacturer website :http://alpha.cooksonelectronics.com/main.asp .
I found a web site for a distributor for Alpha Metals that has information on their product line.
See here :http://www.solderconnection.com/prod_category.php?category=Solder%20Wire .
-Chris
Edit: Here is the manufacturer website :http://alpha.cooksonelectronics.com/main.asp .
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