Brands of solder

[trem]

Are there any brands of solder that you guys do not like for various reasons? It seems like sometimes there is a brand or type that burns up my tips, smells funny, does not work as well, does not keep the tip tinned when cold, etc. etc.
I ran out of the Kester I was using and started with a brand called "Qualitek". It just does not seem to tin my tip very well, and smells kind of funny. Maybe it is just a matter of getting use to a new product after you have been using something else for a long time. Like I said, this new stuff is:
Qualitek
.025" diameter
Water Soluble
RAM 200
RA 300
SARA 500
I do not know what all that stuff means, but there it is.
Anyway... do you guys ever get solder that does not seem to tin the tip very well, or maybe even eat away at the tips somehow?
Thanks

[Enzo]

I have always had good results with Kester, and I have been using it for well over 50 years. I also used to have a roll of Ersin Multicore, but I didn;t like it as well. And once in a while in an emergency I get some at Radio Shack and I am always disappointed.

Solder is not just the metal, it is also the flux. The resin flux in solder helps clean the joint surfaces to allow proper "wetting" by the molten metal. SOme formulations work better than others.

You list the 200, 300, and 500 numbers. They would seem to indicate different products. ANy chance they show all three, but one of them is marked as being the one you got?

[Prairie Dawg]

At an auction I snagged a metal box for five bucks that had ten pounds of Gardiner and Alpha Metals solder on rolls in .025 diameter that was surplus from Rockwell Collins. I'm fixed for a while I think. Kester is about the best though. It smells the best too. The Gardiner is pretty good stuff, too.

[trem]

I have always had good results with Kester, and I have been using it for well over 50 years. I also used to have a roll of Ersin Multicore, but I didn;t like it as well. And once in a while in an emergency I get some at Radio Shack and I am always disappointed.

Solder is not just the metal, it is also the flux. The resin flux in solder helps clean the joint surfaces to allow proper "wetting" by the molten metal. SOme formulations work better than others.

You list the 200, 300, and 500 numbers. They would seem to indicate different products. ANy chance they show all three, but one of them is marked as being the one you got?

Man you guys are sharp... I did not even pick up on that. Yes, those numbers on the box are the types they offer, but the box does not specify which one I have. All I can make out on the spool is NC 600 (I guess that is no clean 600) and also it says 2.2% flux. That is about it.
Like Prairie Dawg says, the Kester has kind of a sweet smell when it melts, but the Qualitek does not have that scent. I don't know......maybe this is all in my head.
Thanks

[Enzo]

Those numbers - at least in part - seem to imply how aggresive the flux is. The less aggresive being appropriate for nice clean pristine surfaces, while the more intense stuff better for rework of older stuff. Or so I'd think. Maybe explore the wire solder section at the Qualitek web site. Maybe some small stock number may catch your eye.

[Alex R]

I use Multicore Crystal 511. It has rosin-based flux, which I guess has fumes that may be bad for you, but it's good flux and it wets even old corroded components well.

[R.G.]

In my experience, the flux is a bigger deal than the solder, given that you can get tin+lead in 60% tin and 40% lead. A bottle of paint-on rosin flux may do more for you than different solder.

In the narrow world of techie stuff, we're all in for a disastrous ride on this over time, as the trick used by the EU And the People's Republic of California plays out. Tin-lead solder will be economically outlawed until no commercial producer will be left. If you want to have problems soldering, go get some politically correct lead free solder - which is not "not dangerous", just free of the deadly metal of the day. Enjoy the grainy joints, refusal to flow and wet, and different temperature range which invalidates your hard-won dexterity in controlling what solder does in a joint by how you manipulate the iron.

Ah, well. It won't be my problem for all that much longer. I don't solder that much any more.

Get a decent supply of 60-40 SnPb if you are in the repair biz, and check with a lawyer to find out if it's still legal (a) for you to own and (b) to use in repairs that you get money for and (c) to dispose of as waste.

[Chuck H]

Other than building amps, another hobby of mine is fishing. Just by referencing two activities "I" am familiar with I can come up with what I believe to be reasonable gripes about the soon to be lead free solder regulations:

As fishing is regulated differently for sport and commercial so could the use of lead solder be. Let the commercial MFG's tool up and automate the use of that lead free crap and don't make it harder for blue collar repairmen to do their job. It's certainly not the local TV repair shop responsible for poisoning the environment with lead. As if solder joints were such a huge contributer, it's all the discarded commercial electronics and appliances that are packing out land fills. Many of which are thrown out without the attempt to repair them (as they are meant to be disposable) which makes for more solder waste than a repairable item. Right?

Fishing weights have been made from lead since the dawn of man. The bottoms of many major rivers and popular areas of lakes and oceans are practically paved with the stuff. Many fishing rigs are specifically designed to drop the lead weight when a fish is hooked to ease playing and landing the fish. These intentionally disgarded weights are between a few ounces up to a pound or even more depending on how deep you need to fish. How much lead could there possibly be in the solder joints of an amp? A quarter of an ounce? Not that that's OK, but maybe we should address the lead poisoning of our lakes, rivers and oceans instead of worrying about the solder joints in a an old answering machine at the bottom a a landfill.

And these are just circumstances "I" am aware of because of "my" lifestyle. There are probably other valid points to made about the stink over lead in solder. How many bullets does our military fire into the environment every day that aren't recovered and recycled?

Chuck

[Gtr_tech]

I use Multicore Crystal 511. It has rosin-based flux, which I guess has fumes that may be bad for you, but it's good flux and it wets even old corroded components well.

I'm using some Crystal 502 right now....seems fine. I had some Crystal 400 that I liked better. Got a load of X39 silver solder that I really *don't* care for. I use that stuff for large solder pads and the like just to use it up. Flux in that stuff really sucks...

[Enzo]

Chuck, the lead solder in electronic consumer stuff is in fact already a major "concern." Not that everyone participates, but the stuff is supposed to get recycled, not landfilled. SInce in the average landfill you can dig down and find a stack of newspapers from 30 years ago that look like they did the day they were buried, I am not sure how much lead will actually leach from discarded circuit boards, into the water in the landfill and THEN leak from the landfill containment layer and into the ground water, but that is their concern. Oh and the CRTs. The face glass of a color CRT is heavily leaded glass to prevent X-rays from escaping the tube. (That part is legitimate) The face glass of a CRT is pretty thick and heavy glass, plus the lead content makes it heavier. They are concerned the lead in the glass will leach out, etc. Leaded glass is also a concern in drinking glassware, so you no longer see lead crystal glassware in the stores. Call me crazy, but I always found things (alcoholic things) tastes better from a crystal glass.

SO local communites have electronic recycling days at the recycling centers, and computer recycling is big.

I wouldn;t be surprised in the slightest if before long your lead fishing weights turn out to be iron. Lead bullets are now jacketed or not lead anymore. And there is concern over the very layer of lead in the lakes you refer to. How large a threat is it really? Dunno, but that is a separate question from whether they are concerned or not.

The thing with the lead-free solder is not so much about the guy at a workbench in Tulsa. The European community has declared the RoHS and electronic stuff now sold there must meet the lead free standards. We have no such standard here in the USA, not yet anyway. But when PV or Fender or whoever makes something, they make it to suit the world market, so when Europe demands lead free, then all the stuff goes lead free. No one says I have to use lead free solder HERE in my shop. ANd even if the amp I see is RoHS when it arrives, I can still use leaded solder to repair it. They can't do that in Berlin, but I can here.

Lead is a threat overall, but of course moreso from some sources than others. That is why gasoline has been lead free for a long time now. AS engine exhaust settled into the ground, lead levels in the soil in cities and along highways became toxic. They discovered that kids who played outside in the dirt had excessive levels of lead in their systems, it ain't just from eating paint chips.

[Chuck H]

Moderation is good. Both in regulation and attitude. I do understand the points you make and I should be more moderate.

I did have a thought during my day that could shed some light on the solder vs. fishing weight issue though. Anytime lead is a concearn it seems to be because it is atomized in some way or another. Solder is melted, paint is sanded, car exhaust is burned, etc. Perhaps it's the lead released into the environment by the act of soldering itself that is part of the concearn and not only the existance of the lead itself.

I may or may not do more research on this.

And there are rivers who's regulations no longer allow release weights, though you can still drag a lead ball around scraping and abrasing on everything in the river. I do think iron fishing weights are a good idea. I'm actually very careful not to leave lead behind when I fish. I always take extra trash out with me when I go home and I always gather up any abandon fishing line I find (I once scored a nice bass rod that was at the other end of some line I found). I don't even use stainless steel hooks because I don't want any snagged terminal gear to become a long term part of the environment.

I guess I'm just grumpy because I did try to be a good guy and use the lead free stuff and it was just so awful. I only build a few amps a year. There are still places where I can dump two pounds of lead into the local aquifer every day of the fishing season but the one ounce of lead from a years worth of amps is worrisom enough to force me to use a product that's barely adequate for the task. It's hardly possible to be a builder of any scale and not be RoHS compliant. I dealt with this with Dean Markley. So I just think that they could somehow regulate MFG'd goods to good effect and let us build a few amps.

Ok... Moderation... Right. Obviously they can't allow lead solder to be MFG'd and expect that no one will use it irresponsibly.

Chuck

[1ampman]

I've tried several brands and nothing works better than Kester Rosin "44". And on reworking solder joints, I use a solder sucker to remove the old solder and then use a Kester FLUX-PEN to get to a nice looking joint. Sometimes the parts HAVE to be removed and have the leads scraped with a razor. Old transformer leads can be difficult to tin/flow. Friends always give me half rolls of used solder but they don't work good and waste your time. Soon all electronics will have to properly desposed by law. NY state passed a law that will go into effect within a year.

[Prairie Dawg]

Lead mine tailings were used around Commerce and Picher, Oklahoma for gravel because they were a nice chipped flint almost. Same thing. The whole area's one giant superfund mess and every kid is contaminated. In fact one guy I met, a rancher, was in danger of having the Farm Credit people foreclose his loans and take the farm. His lawyer asked the PCA whether they really wanted to acquire what could be a superfund site and he went from being hounded by the government to selling dirt to them.

[trem]

Lead mine tailings were used around Commerce and Picher, Oklahoma for gravel because they were a nice chipped flint almost. Same thing. The whole area's one giant superfund mess and every kid is contaminated. In fact one guy I met, a rancher, was in danger of having the Farm Credit people foreclose his loans and take the farm. His lawyer asked the PCA whether they really wanted to acquire what could be a superfund site and he went from being hounded by the government to selling dirt to them.

Wow!!!
That is a depressing story. It's like Love Canal all over again....

[Prairie Dawg]

It's far worse than Love Canal-the only thing that's even close is Times Beach, Missouri. If you have google earth on your computer dial in Picher, Oklahoma and have a look. All those big white spots are mounds of lead mine tailings stretching in a band up into Kansas and across into Missouri, but the nasty stuff's right there. The town is within the Tar Creek superfund site.

It was one of those places I'd been there an hour or so and was thinking "I got to get the eff out of here."

Interestingly enough, Mickey Mantle was from Commerce, Oklahoma and his father was a lead miner and practicing alcoholic. The Mick was known in those parts as the Commerce Comet.

Picher, Oklahoma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia