| Electronics > Beginners |
| Plunger, needle tip & cap for flux & solder paste syringe - where / which to buy |
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| Rooster Cogburn:
When you buy solder and/or flux paste, it generally comes in a 10/30cc syringe like this: In their infinite wisdom, (most) manufacturers decided to save a few cents and not include a needle tip, cap for the tip & plunger :wtf:. I'm a bit lost on how to get these syringes into a usable state. Searching a bit on eBay / AliExpress, I see a lot of options: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?site=glo&g=y&SearchText=syringe+needle Getting a needle tip seems to be easy enough, lots of good looking options. But they never seem to come with caps. I of course don't want flux to smear all over my soldering consumables drawer or have my solder paste dry out. I don't see individual plungers on sale much, and it's not clear if they'd actually fit. There seem to be different mechanism to attach them. You can buy complete kits, but transferring a syringe of solder paste seems super messy. Why would they even bother putting it into a syringe if the first thing you have to do is transfer it to another. Seeing as this decidedly not-ready-to-use packaging the industry standard I'm sure somebody here has solved this issue and can hopefully point me at the right set of affordable Chinese parts to make 10cc / 30cc flux & solder paste syringes actually work. Thanks :) |
| Ian.M:
Pros use motorised or pneumatic syringe drivers, and use up a syringe of paste before it can dry out, and the needle dimensions are application and syringe driver specific (and temperature dependent) so all the extras that are nice for the hobbyist or occasional user would just end up in the bin as soon as the pack was opened, so the volume market wont pay for them. There was a thread on this a few years back. Try https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/solder-pasteflux-manual-syringe-applicator/ Affordable + Chinese + working is a low odds combo :( You can always cap straight needles with a slice of foam plastic wine cork you've bored a fractionally undersized hole in (so the needle doesn't plug itself with compressed foam). Conical 'needles' are more problematic - try bluetack for short term storage leaving a tiny bit of paste/flux on the tip so it doesn't block it. Long term, all are best removed, the syringe capped off and if you aren't going to thoroughly clean and flush the needles for dry storage, stored in a small sealed vial with a little IPA in the bottom to keep the flux/paste moist + a disk of plastic with legs folded down to keep them out of the IPA so it doesn't wash the flux out of the paste. |
| Rooster Cogburn:
I really just want a proper, working syringe. For instance, if you buy flux from MG Chemicals they do the right thing and give you a working tool, a full syringe with a plunger, needle and a cap. That's all I want. These solder paste applicators are complete overkill for me for the few times I need paste and I've never seen them used for flux gel. No need for a bulky contraption to squirt a glob of flux on your PCB. I guess I could poke my syringe into a piece of cork or whatever, but that seems sooooo janky. I want a cap like the one that comes with MG Chemicals flux. I also don't see why any of this would be expensive or should not be sourced from China. We're talking about a few really simple pieces of plastic & metal to complete a syringe (that 99.999% sure been manufactured in China for 5c anyway), that doesn't need to be sourced from some domestic specialty artisanal syringe store. I want to buy this: Minus the syringe of vaseline :) |
| Ian.M:
Its not expensive, but the Chinese market is extremely competitive and the manufacturers are trying to squeeze the last fen (cent) out of the unit cost. Kitting the syringes with prototyping accessories is an extra expense and time cost for resellers breaking case lots, and there's obviously not enough demand to make it commonplace, so it isn't going to happen unless you pay a considerable premium. Also 99% of the resellers have probably never spent an hour soldering in their entire lives so you can bet that if they did kit them with accessories you'd be complaining about the crappy plunger, needle and cap. |
| Psi:
search aliexpress for dispensing needle syringe kit You'll find lots of them for cheap. if you've never used aliexpress before, just make sure you pick a seller with lots of previous sales and a feedback percentage over 95%. The free cheap/shipping usually takes 2-4 weeks. EMS 1-2 etc https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SMT-Solder-Paste-Adhesive-Glue-Liquid-Dispenser-kits-pack-glue-dispensing-syringe-dispensing-tips-dispensing-needle/32618261912.html Those are the smaller syringes though, depends what you want. |
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