Inexpensive Sot-23 hot air setup

[John Coloccia]

Thanks, but I'll go with the datasheets and the guy that designs and tests this stuff for a living.

[KL27x]

You apparently have not read the datasheets, yet.

The guys that designed this stuff did a fantastic job of mixing chemicals that will perform almost as good as rosin at a fraction of the cost. Really, they deserve a lot of credit. But the real kudos go to the marketing guys. Look what they done to you. You believe yourself and educate others, this... um, valuable marketing hype.

If you don't like the word "lead," use lead-free solder.
If you don't like brown residue on your board, and you prefer no clean flux, use the no clean.

But don't tell me it's for reliability reasons. I know better. So does the US military. Every electrical soldering joint on our 700 million dollar jets is done with lead solder and rosin flux.

BTW, not only have I actually read all the datasheets (what I do for fun on Saturday night, lol), I have a plaque on which I regularly pick up solder from rosin solderwire. And I "clean" the tip of my dirty iron by touching it to the rosin that collects on this board. It's dark brown, borderling on black in spots. Probably close to a mm thick layer... a year's worth, or so.  I can't record any conductance in this residue cold, melted with a heatgun, or even when damped with water. Using an ohm meter or jabbing 20V probes into it with my lab PSU... (20V is the highest it will go).

Some no cleans are using a synthetic resin which performs the same as rosin. The major improvement is the residue is clear, not brown. You have to read the datasheet. Others leave nekkid salts which ionize in water and become conductive. And they rely on careful application to minimize this residue. If you have almost no visible residue, this is the kind you are using. It's left on the board in many applications. But not in anything life-critical.

Not only do you have to read the datasheets, you may have to read between the lines and/or do some outside research and/or do your own testing. If you want to get your information from a rep of a company that manufactures flux and operates for profit, then that's your choice.

[John Coloccia]

You apparently have not read the datasheets, yet.

The guys that designed this stuff did a fantastic job of mixing chemicals that will perform almost as good as rosin at a fraction of the cost. Really, they deserve a lot of credit. But the real kudos go to the marketing guys. Look what they done to you. You believe yourself and educate others, this... um, valuable marketing hype.

If you don't like the word "lead," use lead-free solder.
If you don't like brown residue on your board, and you prefer no clean flux, use the no clean.

But don't tell me it's for reliability reasons. I know better. So does the US military. Every electrical soldering joint on our 700 million dollar jets is done with lead solder and rosin flux.

BTW, not only have I actually read all the datasheets (what I do for fun on Saturday night, lol), I have a plaque on which I regularly pick up solder from rosin solderwire. And I "clean" the tip of my dirty iron by touching it to the rosin that collects on this board. It's dark brown, borderling on black in spots. Probably close to a mm thick layer... a year's worth, or so.  I can't record any conductance in this residue cold, melted with a heatgun, or even when damped with water. Using an ohm meter or jabbing 20V probes into it with my lab PSU... (20V is the highest it will go).

Some no cleans are using a synthetic resin which performs the same as rosin. The major improvement is the residue is clear, not brown. You have to read the datasheet. Others leave nekkid salts which ionize in water and become conductive. And they rely on careful application to minimize this residue. If you have almost no visible residue, this is the kind you are using. It's left on the board in many applications. But not in anything life-critical.

Not only do you have to read the datasheets, you may have to read between the lines and/or do some outside research and/or do your own testing. If you want to get your information from a rep of a company that manufactures flux and operates for profit, then that's your choice.

To be perfectly blunt, I don't know WTF you're talking about.

A big thanks to everyone else for steering me in the right direction!

[KL27x]

You apparently have not read the datasheets, yet.

The guys that designed this stuff did a fantastic job of mixing chemicals that will perform almost as good as rosin at a fraction of the cost. Really, they deserve a lot of credit. But the real kudos go to the marketing guys. Look what they done to you. You believe yourself and educate others, this... um, valuable marketing hype.

If you don't like the word "lead," use lead-free solder.
If you don't like brown residue on your board, and you prefer no clean flux, use the no clean.

But don't tell me it's for reliability reasons. I know better. So does the US military. Every electrical soldering joint on our 700 million dollar jets is done with lead solder and rosin flux.

BTW, not only have I actually read all the datasheets (what I do for fun on Saturday night, lol), I have a plaque on which I regularly pick up solder from rosin solderwire. And I "clean" the tip of my dirty iron by touching it to the rosin that collects on this board. It's dark brown, borderling on black in spots. Probably close to a mm thick layer... a year's worth, or so.  I can't record any conductance in this residue cold, melted with a heatgun, or even when damped with water. Using an ohm meter or jabbing 20V probes into it with my lab PSU... (20V is the highest it will go).

Some no cleans are using a synthetic resin which performs the same as rosin. The major improvement is the residue is clear, not brown. You have to read the datasheet. Others leave nekkid salts which ionize in water and become conductive. And they rely on careful application to minimize this residue. If you have almost no visible residue, this is the kind you are using. It's left on the board in many applications. But not in anything life-critical.

Not only do you have to read the datasheets, you may have to read between the lines and/or do some outside research and/or do your own testing. If you want to get your information from a rep of a company that manufactures flux and operates for profit, then that's your choice.

To be perfectly blunt, I don't know WTF you're talking about.

A big thanks to everyone else for steering me in the right direction!

Exactly.