Reel of Solder or Can of Worms

[kato]

[quote author="bcarso"]I have to quarantine rolls of "no clean"[/quote]

Thanks for the tip.
I will banish the stuff from my own lab...

[quote author="bcarso"]But then you get your non-hermetically sealed parts in the vicinity contaminated by the runoff! [/quote]

Runoff?
So you're talking about using a LOT of water - like with a hose?

I've already connected the pots and switches and it would be nice to clean the board without having to desolder everything.

Would something like rubbing alcohol work?

 

[bcarso]

Rubbing alcohol sometimes has a little water in it but you want warm distilled water if possible. If you can get one of those chem lab "wash bottles" that allow a good directed stream you may be able to avoid the runoff getting into other hard-to-clean places.

 

[kato]

Thanks man, I'll give it a try.

It's counter-intuitive to me to get electronics wet.
But I'll try just about anything to keep from having to start again from scratch...

 

[jrd]

so, in case anyone is interested... (probably the novices like me that lurk all day): i went ahead and got some kester #44, .025in, 63/37 before anyone posted a reply to my "no-clean" question. and i must say it is dreamy. i also picked up a hakko 936 because many people here seem to like it, and it also is dreamy. i just finished replacing a non-functional IC on an Orban spring reverb i recently picked up that had one non-working channel. after a lot of probing with my multimeter and a little reading, i found the busted opamp, removed it, and replaced it. things seem to work! let me now throw in my 2kb that this forum is an invaluable resource, and probably the only audio related entity on the web utterly devoid of any hype and b.s.! thank you to all.

 

[kato]

Here's the Mouser part number for the "correct" solder, the apparantly official solder of the Lab:

533-24-6337-0010

Here are the descriptions about the core options. And you can see why I chose the "no-clean" originally. The description is misleading...

"44" Rosin, Activated Rosin Core Solder "44" Rosin is a general purpose industrial and electrical wire solder. The flux residue is non-conductive and non-corrosive. Flux by weight: 3.3%

"285" Rosin, Mildly Activated Rosin Core Solder Conforms to type RMAof FED SPEC QQ-SS-571 and is on the qualified products list. High mobility and fast spreading action is comparable to RAfluxes. It is less corrosive and conductive than "44" rosin and is commonly used without subsequent flux removal.

"331" Water Soluble Core Solder It is more effective and heat stable than rosin fluxes in soldering difficult metals. Soldering with "331" should always be followed with a water wash to remove the residues which are conductive and can absorb moisture. Flux by weight: 3.3%

"245" No-Clean Core Solder A mild, low residue core solder for electronic assembly. The residues from "245" are designed to be left on with no post soldering cleaning.