General > General Technical Chat
Missing items to buy for my soldering kit
<< < (5/8) > >>
james_s:
That soldering iron takes me back to my childhood, it's much like the ones Radio Shack used to sell in the 80s and 90s. They are not very good by modern standards but they do work if you are careful.

As for solder, just forget all the cheap junk, buy a roll of Kester or other reputable brand 60/40 and you'll be set. I got nearly 10 years out of the last 1lb roll I bought so the cost spread out over time is very low.
tooki:

--- Quote from: james_s on August 21, 2022, 05:52:00 pm ---That soldering iron takes me back to my childhood, it's much like the ones Radio Shack used to sell in the 80s and 90s. They are not very good by modern standards but they do work if you are careful.

--- End quote ---
Hehehe yep. I, too, started with the Radio Shack 30W fire stick. Then I "graduated" to the 15W grounded one (whose superior tip shape meant it performed better).
Boris_yo:

--- Quote from: james_s on August 21, 2022, 05:52:00 pm ---As for solder, just forget all the cheap junk, buy a roll of Kester or other reputable brand 60/40 and you'll be set. I got nearly 10 years out of the last 1lb roll I bought so the cost spread out over time is very low.

--- End quote ---

Are there other ways to determine if solder is a quality one besides brand name and whether it gives off China-made vibes? I see many brand names on Amazon that have good rating.

Also does quality solder matter when it comes to solder something simple like kitchen timer versus PCB board of TV or air conditioner?

Is this even more more critical where beside elecrical conductivity there is also data transfer and communication like motherboard? Are there special solders specifically for that last one? Just curious.
Cubdriver:

--- Quote from: Boris_yo on August 22, 2022, 04:02:19 am ---
--- Quote from: james_s on August 21, 2022, 05:52:00 pm ---As for solder, just forget all the cheap junk, buy a roll of Kester or other reputable brand 60/40 and you'll be set. I got nearly 10 years out of the last 1lb roll I bought so the cost spread out over time is very low.

--- End quote ---

Are there other ways to determine if solder is a quality one besides brand name and whether it gives off China-made vibes? I see many brand names on Amazon that have good rating.

Also does quality solder matter when it comes to solder something simple like kitchen timer versus PCB board of TV or air conditioner?

Is this even more more critical where beside elecrical conductivity there is also data transfer and communication like motherboard? Are there special solders specifically for that last one? Just curious.

--- End quote ---

About the only way to find out is to buy some and try it.  That said, trust us - just buy a spool of the good stuff (Kester or Multicore) and be done with it.  Those will have good quality fluxes and well controlled alloy proportions, and they just work. It’ll be cheaper in the long run to buy the good stuff right out of the gate, rather than the false economy of buying one or more of the cheap ones, wasting time and effort discovering that they’re crap, then buying the good stuff.

To my knowledge there are no special solders for data transfer, other than just using good solder.  There are some speciality solders, such as alloys containing silver (used many years ago by Tektronix on their ceramic terminal strips, for instance), and some low temperature alloys for very special applications, but for normal electronics, normal solder will do.

-Pat
tooki:

--- Quote from: Boris_yo on August 22, 2022, 04:02:19 am ---
--- Quote from: james_s on August 21, 2022, 05:52:00 pm ---As for solder, just forget all the cheap junk, buy a roll of Kester or other reputable brand 60/40 and you'll be set. I got nearly 10 years out of the last 1lb roll I bought so the cost spread out over time is very low.

--- End quote ---

Are there other ways to determine if solder is a quality one besides brand name and whether it gives off China-made vibes? I see many brand names on Amazon that have good rating.

--- End quote ---
Given that Chinese vendors have proven themselves readily willing to cheat the ratings (by buying positive reviews or by simply fraudulently taking over an old listing for some unrelated, but positively rated, product), I wouldn’t trust Amazon reviews for Chinese items farther than I can spit. :(


--- Quote from: Boris_yo on August 22, 2022, 04:02:19 am ---Also does quality solder matter when it comes to solder something simple like kitchen timer versus PCB board of TV or air conditioner?

Is this even more more critical where beside elecrical conductivity there is also data transfer and communication like motherboard? Are there special solders specifically for that last one? Just curious.

--- End quote ---
Yes, quality matters: bad solder won’t flow properly. Solder quality depends fundamentally on two things: 1. the alloy and 2. the flux.

Quality manufacturers have tight control over the alloy, keeping detrimental impurities to a minimum and ensuring it’s all been alloyed correctly. There are rumors that the Chinese even recycle reclaimed solder to make new solder wire, meaning that contamination is included, and the actual alloy is poorly controlled. (Note that recycled solder does exist from top quality manufacturers, but they aren’t just collecting molten solder in a wok and reusing it right away. It’s a proper process with results indistinguishable from virgin metal.) FYI, two major solder contaminants are copper and gold, which dissolve into the solder while molten. Gold in particular is really detrimental to joint quality, which is why in military/aerospace, gold-plated components first have to have the gold removed before installation.

As for flux, this is where, even among top quality brands, there are huge differences in performance, and why a huge assortment of flux types are offered. A weaker, gentler flux will work perfectly on brand-new components and boards, but won’t cut through the oxidation of stuff that’s been stored longer. A more sctive flux will work well on those. Additionally, some fluxes “spit” more (bubble and spray droplets of flux around the board) than others. (Multicore and Stannol, two now-independent brands that had been merged for a few years and thus have similar products, tend to spit more in my experience.)

Three people, myself included, have advised you so far to not waste your time, money, and sanity on cheap solder. I don’t think this point can be emphasized enough. You use so little solder that even “expensive” stuff isn’t that expensive.

My favorite brands so far have been Kester (a very well known American brand, whose type 44 flux is more or less the gold standard in flux core, being active enough for almost anything, yet whose residues are inert enough to not require cleaning), Felder (a lesser known German manufacturer, whose products are quite aggressively priced but which perform very well in my experience), and Tamura-Elsold (a Japanese-German manufacturer whose products are the only ones allowed by the European space agency, but which are very hard to find available for purchase).

As Cubdriver said, there really aren’t any solders selected for special electrical properties — solder alloys are selected for mechanical, chemical, and metallurgical compatibility. As a hobbyist, you really don’t need to worry about that: just get a top quality 63/37 leaded solder if you can, 60/40 leaded if 63/37 isn’t available, and Sn100+ (tin with a minuscule amount of germanium, etc) if you can only get lead-free. (Sn100+ is the only lead-free alloy that, other than needing a higher temperature, really looks and behaves like leaded solder.)

Non-exhaustive list of quality brands:
Kester
Felder
Tamura-Elsold
Multicore/Loctite
Stannol
AIM
Indium
Almit
ChipQuik
MG Chemicals
Radio Shack (surprisingly!)
SRA
Weller
Asahi


As for flux types: rosin is the traditional kind, of which the aforementioned Kester 44 is IMHO the finest example. Nowadays, especially with lead-free, “no-clean” solders are very popular. (They’re called such because their residues are less conspicuous; rosin flux’s amber residues are visible but harmless.) They generally aren’t quite as active as rosin, and should you decide you do want to clean them, no-clean flux residues can be significantly more difficult to remove. Finally, there are water-washable fluxes, which are essentially acid fluxes similar to the ones for plumbing: DO NOT get water-washable! It demands absolutely flawless cleaning without exception and without failure, as even the tiniest amounts of residue will cause corrosion down the line. Plus, they categorically cannot be used on anything where flux can wick into a place it cannot be cleaned, such as stranded wire, where flux wicks under the insulation.
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