Best solder for you?

[particleman]

right now I have some
Qualitek 63/37  NC601
Kester 44 60/40
Kester 44 SN62/PB36/AG2 for silver sintered ceramic soldering

[Cnoob]

All my solder is Multicore/Loctite.

High Melting Point 1.2mm

Low Melting Point 0.56mm and 0.7mm

60/40 0.56 mm

I prefer the LMP 0.7mm to use as it leaves a shiny looking joint. Solder which is too fine, breaks too easily.

The HMP 1.2 is too thick but was all I could get at the time, but does stand out from my other solders.

[dk_wiking]

Yes. It pays of to use quality solder. I personaly use some Felder 60-40 and some Stannol 60-40. I have a litle leftover from old days - alpha-grillo made in west germany, must be more than 25 years old - which works very well. My last purchase in regards to solder was a small test amount of Cynel 60-40 made in Polland. Cynel solder works surprisingly well.
I think you will see a pattern in the prefferences depend on where the person is placed in the wolrd - USA, Australia or Europe.

[stj]

if your in Europe you wont be getting lead based solder now.
TME has removed it from the site, RS has this notice.

[labjr]

if your in Europe you wont be getting lead based solder now.
TME has removed it from the site, RS has this notice.

Even for hobbyist non-production use? I hope there's a warning if that happens in USA. I'd have to stock up because lead free is terrible.

[stj]

yes.

it says it can be purchased by trade, but that's not really likely.
it's not legal for a company to use it unless they are repairing old equipment that already had lead based solder in it.


personally i'm not effected because i use this:

[labjr]

I've heard of SN100C but don't know a lot about it. How well it flows, temperature etc.? Does it eat soldering iron tips?

[labjr]

If the US bans leaded solder, I'll buy a lifetime supply of Kester 44 and others. 

[stj]

the u.s. wont ban lead, it will piss off the gun collectors too much.
it shouldnt, because solid copper rounds are far more effective - but you cant cast your own.

that said, u.s. manufacturers will drop leaded solder because it restricts exports.

[stj]

I've heard of SN100C but don't know a lot about it. How well it flows, temperature etc.? Does it eat soldering iron tips?

soldering tips are eaten by flux, not solder.
leaving agressive flux on the tip will eat through them pretty fast.
i use very mild flux cored solder (HS10 / Kristall505/511) so my tips are not effected.

[Monkeh]

the u.s. wont ban lead, it will piss off the gun collectors too much.

Err.. they haven't banned lead ammunition here, either.

I sometimes wonder what it's like to live in your world.

[stj]

are you sure about that?
they banned it in mainland europe, and they banned lead for fishing weights too.

[Monkeh]

are you sure about that?
they banned it in mainland europe, and they banned lead for fishing weights too.

Are you?

Banning lead shot in hunting and lead weights, both of which tend to cause significant lead contamination, is fair. This is not the same thing as banning lead ammunition.

Why do I bother with you anyway - you'll believe any website which says the government is out to get you.

[stj]

monkey, why do you need lead bullets?
the days of casting in the field died over 100 years ago.
even good lead bullets are in a copper jacket,
the military fire copper bullets with a steel core, why do you think you need lead?

[Monkeh]

monkey, why do you need lead bullets?

stu, who said I do?

the military fire copper bullets with a steel core, why do you think you need lead?

Actually they fire a wide variety of ammunition types including lead core. Again, who said I do?

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

Quote from: stj on Today at 16:19:59

monkey, why do you need lead bullets?
To make sure the perp dies of lead poisoning as well after shooting him.

[Hemi345]

the "no clean" type doesnt use Rosin, but something else.

FWIW, some no-clean formulations use rosin as it's base resin. It's just filtered a lot more than it is with a traditional rosin formulation, usually followed by some different chemistry processing going on.

I had some 62/36/2(Ag) which was great.  Ran out and bought some 63/37 Kester.  Wouldn't use 60/40 again.

Snagged a couple of 1.5oz. spools from the one RadioShack that was closing here in town, as it's not something I frequently use.

Regarding Rat Shack solder, my existing spool works very well, but it's out of the early '90's. Figure worst case, I can add flux with the current stuff if it doesn't wet. 

I had a spool of the RadioShack 62/36/2 Silver-bearing solder from the '90s too that finally ran out.  I just picked up another couple 1.5oz spools off RadioShack's website a month ago.  I just haven't found anything that solders as easily as this does or makes shiny strong joints.   So far the new stuff seems just as good.   Cleanup is easy with IPA.

I tried a roll of Gootwick and it was terrible.  I think they forgot to put the flux in it. I have a few rolls in different sizes of MG Chemicals Superwick and it works really well without adding any additional flux.

[labjr]

soldering tips are eaten by flux, not solder.
leaving agressive flux on the tip will eat through them pretty fast.
i use very mild flux cored solder (HS10 / Kristall505/511) so my tips are not effected.

According to the Pace marketing rep, lead free alloys are much more corrosive. Bad for tips. I'll never use lead free.

[labjr]

I had a spool of the RadioShack 62/36/2 Silver-bearing solder from the '90s too that finally ran out.  I just picked up another couple 1.5oz spools off RadioShack's website a month ago.  I just haven't found anything that solders as easily as this does or makes shiny strong joints.   So far the new stuff seems just as good.   Cleanup is easy with IPA.

I tried a roll of Gootwick and it was terrible.  I think they forgot to put the flux in it. I have a few rolls in different sizes of MG Chemicals Superwick and it works really well without adding any additional flux.

Cardas Quad Eutectic is very good and makes beautiful shiny joints but it's expensive.  Kester 63/37 is good too.

A lot of solder wick is crap. Looks like wire from a cheap shielded cable with no flux on it. Good flux is like a drug. You need lots of it.

[stj]

soldering tips are eaten by flux, not solder.
leaving agressive flux on the tip will eat through them pretty fast.
i use very mild flux cored solder (HS10 / Kristall505/511) so my tips are not effected.

According to the Pace marketing rep, lead free alloys are much more corrosive. Bad for tips. I'll never use lead free.

lol
pace-rep is a liar or fool.
alloys arent corrosive, other than copper leaching - and that has been pretty much solved now.
besides, very few people have exposed copper soldering tips - they are iron-plated.
it's the flux that does damage - that's it's job.

[tooki]

The PACE rep is neither a liar nor a fool: That lead-free soldering is harder on the tips is no secret. The higher temperatures not only cause metal to dissolve more readily, but the thermal shock of top cleaning is greater when the temperature is greater.

I think labjr was simply paraphrasing when he said “corrosive”, I’m fairly sure that’s not the wording the PACE guy used.

[labjr]

Actually, those were the words he used. I'm no scientist. I never really thought about it but just took his word for it. He seems to have been in the business forever and has been very helpful. Whatever the reason I will avoid lead-free.

From post 122 of the ADS200 thread:

How does lead-free affect soldering? There is a higher tin content, higher melting points, tighter process window, decreased wetting, longer dwell times, duller solder joints – all these elements can affect tip life. It's been estimated that Tip life can be decreased by up to 2/3 when using lead-free!

Increased Tin Content + Higher Temperatures = Aggressive Corrosion: Lead-free solder is much more corrosive to iron-plating than standard 63/37 tin-lead alloy, especially at elevated temperatures. Higher Sn (tin) content, higher idling temperatures, greater rate of oxidation, and rapid flux degeneration all contribute to lower tip life. The most important thing to remember is the higher the tip temperature, the higher the likelihood of increased plating erosion due to iron leaching.

[OwO]

Why bother with lead free at all? If it's just for hobby and not for production, provided you know how (not) to dispose of electronics it really doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure you will be able to buy the leaded stuff online from non-EU countries for the foreseeable future.

Lead free solder is also more "corrosive" to the iron tip because more aggressive flux has to be used, but this isn't my main concern as I use cheap tips. My main objection with lead free is the higher temperatures needed during soldering.

[OwO]

350C tip temperature is not uncommon, and it solders lead free well. If you play with some very temperature sensitive stuff like GaAs microwave chips, then there are other lead free solder alloys, such as Sn42Bi57Ag1.

I haven't used SnPb for a long time on my own projects, and I don't feel soldering to be hard at all.

I generally use <300C iron temperature, usually 280C. 350C is reserved for soldering SMA connectors.
The stuff I do isn't temperature sensitive, but I think 350C for soldering chips is way too high because of thermal shock. I would probably have to go with reflow for everything. It's also harder to see if a joint is good with lead free.

Lead free BGA is a pet peeve for me, it's the only time I have to really turn up the temperature on the hot air. I don't use solder paste for BGA but the surface finish on my boards is always leaded HASL. We'll see whether this causes problems.

[macboy]

soldering tips are eaten by flux, not solder.
leaving agressive flux on the tip will eat through them pretty fast.
i use very mild flux cored solder (HS10 / Kristall505/511) so my tips are not effected.

According to the Pace marketing rep, lead free alloys are much more corrosive. Bad for tips. I'll never use lead free.

lol
pace-rep is a liar or fool.
alloys arent corrosive, other than copper leaching - and that has been pretty much solved now.
besides, very few people have exposed copper soldering tips - they are iron-plated.
it's the flux that does damage - that's it's job.

A document by Weller "Soldering Tips & Lifetime Issues Coping with Lead Free" has a lot of data in it from their research. They conclude that a tip wears out 4 to 5 times faster when used with lead free solder.  It turns out that the much higher tin content causes a higher rater of erosion of the iron plating. An iron-tin intermetallic forms at the surface of the tip's iron plating, leading to migration of iron into the solder. The presence of lead (which is usually 1.5x as high as the tin content) significantly reduces this migration rate. Higher typical temperature and more aggressive fluxes also contribute. Surprisingly, rosin is worse than halogen based flux.