Crap solder paste ? Chip Quik Solder Paste Vs Mechanic Solder Paste

[diyaudio]

So, I used my last amount of solder paste (Mechanic Solder Paste) and surprisingly (2 years old) it still worked i.e I was able to reflow the new components (I was very surprised)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MECHANIC-Reparing-Solder-Soldering-Paste-XG-50-XG-500-Sn63-Pb37-25-45um/381567863146

After that ordered some "decent" Chip Quik TS391AX50 from Digikey, To say the least I was very disappointed with the results, the solder joints are partially activated, have tiny balls after bonding and leaves a lot of partially activated residual between components leads leading to shorts, its nothing compared to cheap Mechanic solder paste, also I checked Digikey sold me paste that has a shelf life of 1 year, manufactured date was 2018/03/13, and sold in 2018/08/27... 4 months away from its official ending shelf life as I started using it today.
https://www.digikey.co.za/product-detail/en/chip-quik-inc/TS391AX50/TS391AX50-ND/7802229

Any comments on this product ?

[schmitt trigger]

The Chip Quick is a no-clean solder paste.

And....do you know exactly what type of flux is being employed on the Mechanic's Paste? Of course not, it does not say.

Your soldering conditions may not be optimized for the Chip Quick paste. Or perhaps the Mechanics use a more aggressive flux that requires mandatory cleaning.
Either way, you are not comparing apples to apples.

[jmw]

I've used the leaded Chip Quik paste and haven't experienced the issues you've described. I find it's more difficult to spread than I'd like and can see there could be problems if you don't have good process control over stenciling. I also felt a bit burned ordering from Digikey and getting months old paste.