Lead free solder is crap. Good old 60/40 is the best stuff to use if you can find it. Better yet is something with 2 or 3% silver content. Kester 62/36/2 is good where the 62 is tin,36 is lead and the 2% is silver.
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Soldering iron suggestions?
- Thread starter 338_MtRushmore
- Start date
I was gonna recommend Kester as well. I’ll say this, you’ve not soldered until you do, I had no idea how smooth the stuff really is. Worth the money.
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
The lead free stuff has poorer wetting qualities meaning it will not flow and adhere quite as well. I have been soldering for 40+ years and I just detest the stuff. Like I said 60/40 is great and is what has always been referred to as standard electronics solder. Throw in a few percent of silver and it makes a great solder. The silver allows it to adhere better to some metals such as nickel or even steel and the resulting connection is tougher due to the alloy.
Kester 44 60/40 is all I use. I like the .031 size as a compromise for most work. Go smaller for SMT work. Larger for tube type radios. I go into convulsions whenever I see Rat Shack solder.
I have a separate station for lead free. Once an iron has been used for lead free it is all but useless for tin/lead solder without a thorough cleaning. Just believe me. It will save much butt hurt.
I use three solder formulas. 60/40, +2% silver and high silver content.
Electronic, High heat electronic, and structure, respectively.
I have another in the garage for making motorcycle control cables that is 50/50 but that's a different deal .
I use three solder formulas. 60/40, +2% silver and high silver content.
Electronic, High heat electronic, and structure, respectively.
I have another in the garage for making motorcycle control cables that is 50/50 but that's a different deal .
Really? I have used lead free solder and then switched straight to tin/lead without an issue. I simply re-tin the tip with 60/40 and wipe then reapply the 60/40. No issues that I can see. Been doing this since the lead free crap came out.
I have such a vehement hatred for RoHS that I will not contaminate "real" solder with the crap that impersonates solder today. Tin whiskers anyone ? Wasn't a huge problem until lead free. Near 80% of what we have placed in orbit is lead free and for what? These crippled pieces of space junk now litter near earth orbit. Lead free initiatives were put in place to placate the feel good fanatics that are continuously voted into office along with bread and circuses by clueless sheep. No one wants to pay the price to sort through near century old land fills whose heavy metal has already leached into ground water so they handicap current technology with unrealistic expectations of saving the world in the name of environmental protection .
RoHS lead to the demise of the 2SC2879 among other devices.
Once again the RED DOT are RoHS. Plain Toshibas are the original LEAD transistor.
Next time I'll tell you how I really feel.
All well and good and yes I completely agree about the tin whiskers and the RoHS business but you still did not answer my question. You seem to have bias clouding your judgment when it comes to "contaminating" "real" solder. Your statement about an iron becoming all but useless is apparently merely a biased opinion rather than fact.
I
found a huge roll of genuine acid core solder in a flea market ,4 inch diameter spool 5 inches wide cardboard roll half inch hole in middle of spool .gave a whole 2 dollars. That new crap wont stick to anything n whiskers out
Don't even think about using acid core solder for electronic work. You want rosin core solder. The acid core stuff will eventually eat the connections as electrical current flows thru it.
...apparently. I seem to have issues , real , imagined or not , using an iron clad tip on "real" solder after it has been contaminated with RoHS bs. It could be the flux or the "non solder" or purely psychosomatic illness, but for me it is frustrating to the point that I quit trying to believe it was just me and capitulated wholly and completely. I set up a second station to deal with the crap.
I have about 4 rolls of QQ-S-571 63-37 solder and that is all I use until I run out. I have even used that working on surface mount with good results.
why i put acid core,dam its rosin core,maybe cause i was lookin at a diffren roll that is acid core