General > General Technical Chat
Good solder wick (for german market)
<< < (3/5) > >>
nctnico:

--- Quote from: Traceless on October 18, 2021, 07:39:57 am ---Thanks everyone for sharing their experiences, I guess I have some reasonably priced alternatives to choose from.

@nctnico: I actually tried that. For some reason Chemtronics has crazy prices in Germany, even on ebay take a look:

--- End quote ---
Don't buy from Germany  :palm:
antenna:
In a pinch, scraps of coax shielding will work. I like to flatten mine with a hammer on the anvil. It increases the surface area and helps wick up the solder. Heat it slightly with a lighter and get some flux into the braid and wipe clean.
cybermaus:
I recently tried several, cheap ebay, proper branded MG Chemicals.
In the end, this techspray stuff trashed them all, its absolutely the best (of the ones I tried)
Not sure how consistent the quality is, I am only on my 2nd roll, but it really is good stuff

Traceless:
@madires, @tooki: Thanks for recommending the Felder, since you have first hand experiences with it, how aggressive is the flux in the Felder one, do you have to clean up super diligently? I wasn't sure about that that's why I left the Felder out of my initial selection in favor of the wicks that are advertised as "no-clean". I don't own an ultrasonic cleaner so with my usual paper towel/cotton swabs + IPA cleaning method I might not be able to remove every bit of residue.

@madires: Since you mentioned adding flux, with my current super cheap wick even that doesn't help I have to add flux and pre-tin it from the top to make it work. But I found a different use - it is quite coarse works pretty well as an abrasive to remove solder mask without damaging the traces below.

@cybermaus: Thanks for recommending the techspray, I'm gonna give it a try and compare it with the "proper brands".
tooki:

--- Quote from: Traceless on October 20, 2021, 08:18:17 am ---@madires, @tooki: Thanks for recommending the Felder, since you have first hand experiences with it, how aggressive is the flux in the Felder one, do you have to clean up super diligently? I wasn't sure about that that's why I left the Felder out of my initial selection in favor of the wicks that are advertised as "no-clean". I don't own an ultrasonic cleaner so with my usual paper towel/cotton swabs + IPA cleaning method I might not be able to remove every bit of residue.

--- End quote ---
Hmmm, I haven’t found flux residue from wick to be a problem with any brand of wick. I don’t think I ever bought one with no-clean flux in it, but if it’s anything like no-clean solder wire, the no-clean flux will be harder to clean off if you try.

Whether it’s regular or no-clean wick, the flux in it won’t cause damage (otherwise the wick itself would be corroded), cleaning is really mostly an aesthetic decision.

For what its worth, I recommend using a commercial flux remover anyway. Even with fluxes that do clean off completely with IPA, flux remover does it more quickly.

Should you order the Felder from Reichelt, I’d also go ahead and order a can of Kontakt LR flux cleaner.



--- Quote from: Traceless on October 20, 2021, 08:18:17 am ---@cybermaus: Thanks for recommending the techspray, I'm gonna give it a try and compare it with the "proper brands".

--- End quote ---
Techspray is a proper brand, they make good stuff. I used to be able to get their flux remover locally, and it worked great and cost less than Kontakt LR, for example.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod