Reel of Solder or Can of Worms

[fluxivity]

"Can I borrow a feeling?
Will you lend me a cup of love?"


Well, I just finished another reel of solder and I'm wondering what to buy next. I been using 60/40 for all time. What does everyone else use to get their recommended daily allowance of Lead vapor? Has anyone anything good to say about silver solder? Is it expensive, better, both or neither? Who makes it and what do they call it? What would you call me if I decided to use it? Is there something even still more expensive and/or even more better? I'm using mogami hookup wire so I feel pretty OK about my signal path except for maybe the need to upgrade the solder. Don't rest until you've told me exactly what you think on this issue.
Thanks

 

[gyraf]

Continue with 60/40, same brand as your last reel. It's always a bitch to adjust to new types of solder..

Jakob E.

 

[tmbg]

agreed! I was used to Kester, and I switched to Alpha because I couldn't get kester in the size I wanted locally, and the flux smells different!

 

[BYacey]

If you can get it, 63/37 I am told is the best ratio. Ersin make a product called Sav-Bit that is easy on the iron tips and has excellent wtting properties.

 

[BradAvenson]

I always use Kester 44 63/37 because the flux works really good and the solder lays down really nice. I didn't think anything of it until I tried to use my budies radio shack solder one day. I thought my soldering iron was broke.

 

[Guest]

another supporter of Kester 63/37. It makes my iron happy.

 

[bcarso]

Ditto 63/37 Kester. The reason that ratio is good is that it freezes more or less instantaneously, a so-called eutectic alloy, so unless you twitch a whole lot you will have a better junction metallurgically.

And please use rosin core. Use a filter/fan to pull the vapors away so the accumulation of lead in your body is minimized.

Silver-bearing solder has a better dimensional tempco match to the porcelian inside old Tek scopes, so they furnish a little roll inside for the rare repair. Otherwise the terminal strip can crack.

 

[Svart]

i've used all kinds and to tell the truth have never been picky about brand as long as it's not high-temp or non-fluxed. I always use the hottest iron tips i can and never have a problem with wetting or grainy joints. :?

I just adjust to the solder as i see fit. if it looks cold, I just use more heat, If it looks dry or won't stick, either I don't have enough flux or the metal I'm soldering to is "wrong"

I dunno, maybe I'm not sober enough to notice.. :green:

 

[Ptownkid]

I made the switch to 63/37 and I'm NEVER looking back

 

[pucho812]

when I fisrt started I was using radio Hack. Boy i didn't know what I was missing. I switch to Kesterwhen the first studio I was working @ used it so much I didn't know back then so much to still learn. Never looked back. Kester gets points in my book.

 

[NewYorkDave]

I've used Kester 63/37 exclusively for about ten years now.

 

[fluxivity]

Well it look like I'll be buying another reel of kester since all us cool guys can't live without it. We should get kester schwag, T-shirts, mouse pads, something, since it is as I suspected, the ****.
Thanks
Paul

 

[soundguy]

the first time I used kester 63/37 my head nearly exploded. SOO much easier to use than the radio shack stuff I had been using for years prior.

dave

 

[jrd]

I've seen this brought up here before but there isn't a definitive answer to be found. What gauge of solder and flux formulations are people using? I'm new to this, and am tempted to buy some of the Kester 63/37 .025" with the no-clean flux for my projects. Is this a bad move? Will other fluxes wet better and give me better joints? Is the no-clean flux not worth the convienence it seems to offer? Any insight is appreciated.

James

 

[bcarso]

jrd: "I've seen this brought up here before but there isn't a definitive answer to be found. What gauge of solder and flux formulations are people using? I'm new to this, and am tempted to buy some of the Kester 63/37 .025" with the no-clean flux for my projects. Is this a bad move? Will other fluxes wet better and give me better joints? Is the no-clean flux not worth the convienence it seems to offer? Any insight is appreciated. "

BAD IDEA! At the risk of having this moved to the Brewery:

"No-Clean" flux imo should be called "You'd Better Clean Flux." It doesn't work as flux very well and depends on a finely tuned soldering process to leave no residue. When used for manual soldering the flux plates out on the board and leaves a highly humidity-dependent conductive deposit.

Rosin flux if not hopelessly carbonized is a pretty good insulator and not usually very reactive. The main reason to clean it off is esthetic.

Analog electronics has been crippled by the no-clean flux brigade. They blame designers for their poor process problems and tell us we need to reduce impedances until any amount of ionic conductive crud they leave on the board is tolerable. I've heard impedances above 10k be decried by these goons.

But (in their defense) they don't have much choice when the solvents convenient to use to clean rosin flux are environmentally hazardous.

 

[adrianh]

Boy;
This thread is getting hot.

my $0.02

Use Kester 63/37 with the 44 rosin flux.
Do not use any other flux.
Do not go there.
Rosin flux looks bad but it will not hurt the circuit or board.
The only place you do not want it is on the very high Z
condenser microphone connections to the capsule.
Use it there but clean it off with lots of clean alcohol.

They do make a 63/37 with about 4% silver.
Not sure of the exact ratio as it needs to add to 100%
That MAY sound better for very cridcial areas.
Cardis; WBT and Wonder solder make "audiophile" solder.
I do not think it is worth the extra money but if you are making
a kick butt mic pre and you have $10K in parts wrapped up in it.
You would be a fool to use shack solder in it. So at that point
Wonder solder does make cents.

 

[pstamler]

I've been using WBT ever since I scored a couple of rolls at wholesale price back when I worked for a dealer. I'm not persuaded that it sounds any better, but I am persuaded that I get fewer cold solder joints with it than with any tin/lead-only solder I've used.

Peace,
Paul (allergic to the fumes from Rat Shack solder)

 

[kato]

So "No Clean" solder actually leaves conductive residue
and *must be cleaned*?

And regular rosin-flux solder leaves non-conductive (but uglier) residue
and can literally be left on the board? (i.e. not cleaned off?)

****!
I just bought my first roll of "no clean" Kester and my first project with it (a tycobrahe octavia) has continuity between the (+) and (-) audio paths. I searched it with a magnifying glass and couldn't find errors. Now I'm thinking it might be solder slime that's actually conductive.

Why do they call it "no clean" solder? Who names these things? It's like the current trend of politicians naming their bills the opposite of what they actually are. (Like the 'Fair' Copyright Act, etc.)

What should I use to remove the goo?
Will Mouser take back this no clean crap even though I've already used a couple inches of it?

Kato

 

[bcarso]

Kato, when working in places where the manufacturing engineers rule the roost, I have to quarantine rolls of "no clean", bury them in the back of a desk drawer, and dispose of them eventually in a hazardous waste dump.

I will say though that IF the reflow process is perfectly tuned, it is possible to get good results with "no clean". It is virtually impossible to use it for manual soldering without hideous flux contamination problems.

The ~good news is the absurdly named no clean flux is water-soluble to some extent. But then you get your non-hermetically sealed parts in the vicinity contaminated by the runoff! Pease had an article about resurrecting electronics after flooding in which he suggests using a good dishwasher machine, which might work ok for flux-contaminated boards as long as there are no low-melting point materials present.

Brad

 

[adrianh]

I designed and audio switch matrix i.e. a crosspoint switch.
For the public mobile radio market. i.e. 911 dispatch audio router.

This 2nd generation products used 30 Dallas 50K ohm digital pots
to change the audio levels everywhere.

This board worked fine but sometimes the gain was way wacked.
All the correct parts were there and correct value.
At that time we used water clean flux (a worse can of worms than no clean)
We would wash the failing boards 3 times through the 30 foot
massive water board washer. Then the boards would finally pass.

Another power supply project had boat loads of resistor transistor
logic discrete surface mount to do logic functions. The resistors of the orginal design were like 330K and 100K around the bases of the transistors.
We had too many problems with leakages causing the transistors
to turn on too early in the design. We change the resistor ratios to
the 47K to 10K ballpark. The problems went away.

So the rule I use is nothing over 50K if I can help it.
If you process is perfect great but some are not so be aware of
leakages in circuits caused by junk on the board even though it looks clean!