At long last I've completely run out of solder for electrical/electronic work. Last time I looked, Kester 63/37 or 50/50 were the norm, with a
choice of rosin or acid flux. Things have changed a lot since then 8-)
Now there are dozens of brands with at least as many compositions.
Usage isn't very high, so a "do it all" alloy is preferable. Cost
is probably of secondary importance.
Anybody got a suggestion for a composition and brand? Amazon shows
quite a few, none of them familiar to me.
Thanks for reading,
bob prohaska
The reason solder has changed is the enviromental nuts. Lead is very
bad for you so it has been baned in most countries for electronics and
water pipes. Just stick with the Kester 60/40 or better the 63/37
rosen core for copper material. For some nonelectronic works the acid
core is ok. Just about all the other solder is a poor subistute.
Just to check it out I have tried several of the lead free solder for electronic work but did not feel that any of it is as good as the old
stuff for electronic work.
Anybody got a suggestion for a composition and brand? Amazon shows
quite a few, none of them familiar to me.
Ralph Mowery <[email protected]> wrote:
The reason solder has changed is the enviromental nuts. Lead is very
bad for you so it has been baned in most countries for electronics and
water pipes. Just stick with the Kester 60/40 or better the 63/37
rosen core for copper material. For some nonelectronic works the acid
core is ok. Just about all the other solder is a poor subistute.
Just to check it out I have tried several of the lead free solder for
electronic work but did not feel that any of it is as good as the old
stuff for electronic work.
Ok, that simplifies matters. I do recall that premium equipment (Tektronix oscilloscopes) used solder with a small proportion of silver. Were there
any benefits to silver other than compatibility with the ceramic terminal strips Tektronix used? I'm thinking of strength, adhesion or wetting....
Thanks for writing!
bob prohaska
You can still get good ol' Kester 44. It has RA flux, the more active version of the usual tree sap stuff, which is helpful when using old components.
Phil Hobbs <[email protected]> wrote:
You can still get good ol' Kester 44. It has RA flux, the more active
version of the usual tree sap stuff, which is helpful when using old
components.
Is there any electrical or mechanical advantage to be had among the more modern formulations?
Thanks for writing!
bob prohaska
On 2024-11-17 11:57, [email protected] wrote:
Phil Hobbs <[email protected]> wrote:
You can still get good ol' Kester 44. It has RA flux, the more active
version of the usual tree sap stuff, which is helpful when using old
components.
Is there any electrical or mechanical advantage to be had among the more
modern formulations?
Thanks for writing!
bob prohaska
They all conduct electricity pretty well. ;)
Lead-free is a bit stronger mechanically, but is considerably harder to
use by hand--its melting point is higher, and (crucially) Sn63Pb gives
lovely shiny joints. Besides being pretty, that lets you know when
you've got a good joint--cold joints are dull-looking.
On the other hand, even a good Pbfree joint is dull, so you lose that
nice visual feedback.
Ersin Multicore is also good.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 715 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 23:13:35 |
| Calls: | 12,105 |
| Calls today: | 5 |
| Files: | 15,006 |
| Messages: | 6,518,142 |