Soldering Hell

[Jivemaster]

I still use a soldering iron, it's an Antex 50w with temperature display. I'm having problems with making good solder joints with modern solder. What bit temperature do people suggest please? I have old solder, I use it, but I still get bad issues with bad joints. I've been trying to repair a small pcb and three good solder joints took over an hour! Do I really need a soldering station?, or just a new tip for the iron?

[Junior8]

Urged on by one of Clive's videos I went back to construction last year, after a break of around 30 years, and dusted off my 1976 Antex Precison and a box of reels of RS Solder I inherited from the same period. It's a combination that still works like a dream 90% of the time but I have found that some of the PCBs in £5 Chinese kits I bought for my 'refresher course' won't cooperate with it. One of the bonuses of the last year is the incentive to get back to things like this but I have to say that Clive's videos were also a spur. Edited March 16, 2021 by Junior8

[Andrew C]

Mixing lead and lead-free is likely to cause issues. Most of the equipment here is so old it is lead, so I stick to that as far as possible. I'm not 'putting onto the market' or whatever the phrase is...

[Deep C]

Hi

First off solder containing lead is still available to buy, but it can NOT be sold to the general public only to professionals (how a seller is meant to tell the difference is anybody's guess, here's my "I'm a professional ID Card")

the main reason for restricting the sale of lead solder was the plumbing industry as it was used to join water pipes and the lead content could leach out into the domestic water supply. in the electronics industry lead solder is prefered as the joints are softer and do not fail as often due to thermal or physical shock, I believe several computer companies started re-using lead based solders in there PSU's due to problems with thermal shock on joints.

I still use lead solder and have a variety of Irons including gas and battery powered ones and as long as the iron is hot enough and the area your soldering is clean few problems are encountered. for home use I have a small modeling spray booth I use for paint spraying and soldering which vents all the fumes outside,and out on the road I have a couple of those cheap battery powered fans fixed to spring clips that can be clipped the edge of the pc board or unit to blow the fumes away from me.

As for irons if its really critical to know the temp of the iron tip buy a good digital thermometer and just point it at the tip, the display on your solder station will only tell you what it thinks the temp is due to power consumption but does not take into account the ambient temp around what you are working on, not so important in our industry but is a common practice in the aerospace industry.

As for tips it always good practice to change regularly and clean the tip before and after every join made as flux can eat in to it causing microscopic holes to form in the tip which degrade it over time.

And completely off topic the general public can not buy solder containing lead but can still buy over the counter, tin toy soldiers containing Lead. go figure!

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[themadhippy]

(how a seller is meant to tell the difference is anybody's guess, here's my "I'm a professional ID Card

Rs components seem to have managed it

[sunray]

Knowing the intention was to move away from lead solder I made the decision to stock up on the proper thing, 2 each of 0.7 & 1.2mm 500g reels at £4.70+VAT from CPC. So far the only difficulty I find with altering lead free work is having to use higher temperature to make the lead free flow but leaded then works nicely with it.

Trying to use lead free to alter leaded work is a total PITA for some reason, I find it tends to form a lump which I don't understand.

 

 

Urged on by one of Clive's videos I went back to construction last year, after a break of around 30 years, and dusted off my 1976 Antex Precison and a box of reels of RS Solder I inherited from the same period. It's a combination that still works like a dream 90% of the time but I have found that some of the PCBs in £5 Chinese kits I bought for my 'refresher course' won't cooperate with it. One of the bonuses of the last year is the incentive to get back to things like this but I have to say that Clive's videos were also a spur.

You're not the first person I've known make this comment, I can only assume the surfaces are optimised for lead free solder in some way.

[adam2]

I must admit that I still use proper lead solder and find that this produces far better results than lead free.

If problems are experienced with old leaded solder of perhaps unknown origins, then it might be plumbers solder that contains no flux. Plumbers solder is intended to be used with flux that is applied seperatly. Electrical solder contains one or more flux cores within the solder.

Electrical solder also contains about 60% tin and 40% lead. Plumbers solder is about 60% lead and 40% tin. Various other alloys exist for special purposes.

 

Lead free solder contains a large proportion of silver.

 

Leaded electrical solder is still sold by RS components, and also on fleabay.

 

Keep a supply of modern lead free solder for repairing modern equipment that was made with lead free solder, but for old equipment, or for new work, leaded is best. Avoid mixing the two types.

[sandall]

Do plumbers still use solder? The cash-in-hand brigade seem to use the horrible plastic push-fit fittings. I've still got a rod of solder & a tin of flux somewhere, but I don't suppose I've touched the solder since the 1980s.

[Andrew C]

Ours have gone over to crimping copper. Much more insurance friendly than setting fire to your Grade 2 buildings...

[Junior8]

Do plumbers still use solder? The cash-in-hand brigade seem to use the horrible plastic push-fit fittings. I've still got a rod of solder & a tin of flux somewhere, but I don't suppose I've touched the solder since the 1980s.

 

 

When I had some extension work done in 1995 he soldered a few joints. Not since. Crimps and threaded unions seem to be what they use now.

 

 

 

 

[J Pearce]

Heading OT, but had the whole house fully replumbed a year and a bit ago, plenty of soldered joints, though some of the long runs are plastic (easier to thread through joists than copper). The only compression joints are at final outlets.

[Stuart91]

I think gas needs to be soldered rather than crimps or compression fittings.

 

One hapless contractor that I know managed to re-plumb large areas of a school using crimps, didn't realise until after the system was pressurised that most of the joints were bad. That cost them quite a bit...

[dje]

When I'm working in the Far East I always try and stock up on lead solder because it's not generally for sale here.

 

As for temperature, whilst I know that it's not technically correct I personally run my soldering iron at maximum temperature all the time, it's easier on my wobbly hands as it liquifies faster. Yes feel free to frown at that but I know I'm not the only one doing it

[Jivemaster]

Last Tuesday I had nightmare job trying to resurect a pcb with probably lead free solder that had been attacked previously. With the Weller iron, I couldn't get leaded or lead free solder to melt or mix or stick to solder wick, I was short of enough pcb to rebuild the whole board, six little dots of solder took hours.

[timsabre]

Just sounds like it is not hot enough - are you sure it's reaching the set temperature? Edited March 16, 2021 by timsabre