Good solder wick (for german market)

[Traceless]

Hi everyone,

I cheaped out on solder wick (bought it for 1€) and I regret it. As far as I read on the forum Chemtonics wick seems to be a good choice, unfortunately that stuff is insanely overpriced on the german market (between 12-15€/1.5m). So currently I'm looking for alternatives. Some wicks that I found and look promising:
MG Chemicals 424-LF
Ersa No-Clean
Stannol no-clean
Can anyone recommend any of these, or maybe a completely different type/brand that is available in Germany for <= 5€/1.5m?

[Kerlin]

Goot is good.
A desoldering gun, must be cleaned every morning, is way way far better.

[Traceless]

Hey Kerlin,

thanks for the recommendation you mean this one?

I actually do have a desoldering gun, but there are still occasions where I prefer to use wick, mostly for small corrections or when cleaning SMD-pads.

[AlfBaz]

thanks for the recommendation you mean this one?

Yes, that's the one. Works great

[nctnico]

Hi everyone,

I cheaped out on solder wick (bought it for 1€) and I regret it. As far as I read on the forum Chemtonics wick seems to be a good choice, unfortunately that stuff is insanely overpriced on the german market (between 12-15€/1.5m). So currently I'm looking for alternatives.

Buy it from Ebay. Lots of sellers with sane prices. Just check the feedback.

[BrokenYugo]

All I've ever used is MG, seems to do the job.

[m98]

I use the Stannol NC wick. Works for me, but I really haven't ever noticed any relevant differences between the name-brand wicks, so I couldn't really suggest the best out of the bunch.

[Traceless]

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:



For reference currently (12€ ~ 19 AUD ~ 14 USD)

[tooki]

Hi everyone,

I cheaped out on solder wick (bought it for 1€) and I regret it. As far as I read on the forum Chemtonics wick seems to be a good choice, unfortunately that stuff is insanely overpriced on the german market (between 12-15€/1.5m). So currently I'm looking for alternatives. Some wicks that I found and look promising:
MG Chemicals 424-LF
Ersa No-Clean
Stannol no-clean
Can anyone recommend any of these, or maybe a completely different type/brand that is available in Germany for <= 5€/1.5m?

I don’t like the chemtronics braid: it’s a coarser wick. MG Chemicals, Stannol, and Felder are nice, fine braids.

Years ago I posted some macro photos of a bunch of different wicks, but I can’t find the thread.

For you in Germany, Stannol and Felder are probably the easiest to get, and Felder is much cheaper. Reichelt carries it for €1.40-1.85 per 1.5m, depending on width, or €11-17 for a big roll (depends on width and length). We switched from Stannol to Felder at work since it’s far cheaper and seems to work just as well.

[madires]

Yep, Felder is less expensive and as good as any other well known brand. However, the magic ingredient is flux. Adding some fresh flux makes nearly every solder wick a winner.

[nctnico]

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:

Don't buy from Germany 

[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]

@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.

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.

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

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.

[madires]

From my experience I don't need to clean pads after using the Felder solder wick. What would the purpose of that (unless you deal with some highly sensitive circuit, extremely low leakage and guard traces)? If you replace an SMD you'll even add more flux and clean everything after soldering anyway. The cheap solder wick you have must be really bad if even additional flux doesn't help.

[Traceless]

@tooki: Okay great I'm gonna try the Felder then as well. For stubborn residues I've got a bottle of Kontakt WL here, do I have any advantage using Kontakt LR over WL for flux removal?

@madires: Yes for SMD replacements I use lots of flux but I make sure that it is all declared no-clean so I don't need to worry about corrosion in cases where I don't/can't clean up perfectly. And yes the cheap wick was absolute rubbish. Mostly I work on PC parts (mainboard, GPU), power supplies (ATX and bricks for notebooks, screens) and also occasionally on fun projects or my own appliances. I don't do this for a living just as a hobby, to learn and also because I think that it is absolutely stupid to throw away perfectly good electronics just because a 30 cent component died.

[madires]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that the term "no-clean" is trying to sell the obvious, i.e. standard flux meant for electronics isn't corrosive anyway. There are corrosive fluxes for special purposes, like for hard to solder metals, and things like plumbing, but you have to especially look for them.

PS: I'm also supporting the idea of repairing stuff. The big project I'm working on is the Transistortester.

[tooki]

@tooki: Okay great I'm gonna try the Felder then as well. For stubborn residues I've got a bottle of Kontakt WL here, do I have any advantage using Kontakt LR over WL for flux removal?

I honestly don’t know. I actually have both here, but I’m about to head out so I can’t test it right away.

I know I looked at the ingredients long ago, and Kontakt LR, WL, and LS are all very similar. (LS is the more unusual one, because it comes in a larger can with much higher pressure.)

Maybe I'm wrong, but It think that the term "no-clean" is trying to sell the obvious, i.e. standard flux meant for electronics isn't corrosive anyway.

I’d say half right. Indeed, standard RMA flux does not need to be cleaned for most applications.

No-clean liquid fluxes tend to have far less solids content than liquid rosin fluxes: most have under 5% (often under 2%), versus the 10-30% typical of liquid rosin flux. The no-clean liquids in turn have more non-rosin agents.
The low resin content makes any residues practically invisible.

For the flux core in wire solders, as well as in pastes/gels, no-clean usually has paler residues than traditional rosin. The amount of flux is also usually slightly less.

Paste/gel and liquid no-clean also can only be considered no-clean when used for full-board reflow soldering. These fluxes must be heated to a particular temperature to neutralize the fluxing agent, and in hand soldering, it’s very common for part of the flux (at the edges) to get heated enough to activate the fluxing agents, but not hot enough to neutralize them! That leaves them in an active, corrosive state. So always thoroughly clean such fluxes when hand-soldering. (That problem doesn’t affect no-clean flux cores, since the flux is heated sufficiently by the molten solder.)


I don’t know this for sure, but my hunch is that no-clean really became more important with lead free solder, because the higher temperatures required end up burning a lot of traditional rosin fluxes. (Burnt flux could well be conductive, and it is unsightly.) It seems to me that no-clean is mostly used in a sense to indicate fluxes that can handle higher temperatures better.

But for sure, there’s a ton of overlap, and the terminology chosen sucks.

Also, corrosive fluxes are actually common in electronics manufacturing: most water-washable fluxes are highly corrosive and need to be removed flawlessly. (And must not be used whatsoever for anything the flux wicks into, especially stranded wire.) The stringent cleaning requirements are why such fluxes are best avoided for hobbyist use.

Some traditional electronics rosin flux types (like RA) do require cleaning, because the residues are conductive and/or corrosive.

[madires]

Interesting topic! I only "manufacture" a few PCBs at home, nothing fancy, and repair a lot of stuff. So far I haven't had any problems with standard solder with RMA flux. For decades I'm using Kontakt Lötlack SK 10 (basically rosin) for protecting my home made PCBs and it works well. I've used some no-clean flux pen for SMD work but ended up making my own flux (rosin dissolved in IPA). Sometimes I stumble across some vintage electronics with really crusty old flux residue (residue is an understatement in this case) and the traces and pads are still fine while the soldering looks horrible.

[Traceless]

@tooki: Very thorough explanation, that pretty much sums it up perfectly. I also think that you have a very good point saying

the flux in it won’t cause damage (otherwise the wick itself would be corroded)

I guess that means that most (all?) solder wick is safe to use (aka non-corrosive). I was looking for no-clean specifically because I wasn't sure if there is some sort of flux that gets activated once heat is applied but does not corrode wick before it gets heated up for the first time, who knows? But as you also correctly stated the terminology is pretty imprecise. Just because a flux is advertised as "no-clean" does not mean that it is completely non-corrosive, as proven by SDG's video I linked below. So takeaway for me is that the label "no-clean" is not as meaningful with respect to flux corrosiveness as I initially considered it to be.

@madires: If you're interested in the topic there are some interesting videos on youtube that talk about different types of fluxes and the damage they may do, like this one from Mr Carlson or this one from SDG Electronics.

P.S.: The transistor tester project you mentioned is this one I assume?

[madires]

P.S.: The transistor tester project you mentioned is this one I assume?

Yup!

[Microdoser]

+1 from me for GootWick

One thing that can turn bad wick into better wick is adding some flux to it...