dip soldering, prevent oxidation ?

On Sun, 03 Apr 2016 23:00:04 -0500, Jon Elson Gave us:

You DRAG the dross away just before you dip. The formation of it is inevitable... UNLESS you have the solder bath contained and the chamber is filled with Nitrogen.

Dip solder? All thru hole?

People do surface-mount in toaster ovens. It's a relatively benign process.

I think he means a solder pot. (Which is great for tinning magnet wire.)

George H.

Yes, and he said he was soldering boards. Envision icicles.

Den mandag den 4. april 2016 kl. 06.00.08 UTC+2 skrev Jon Elson:

tin too hot or wrong oil?

-Lasse

Ohh, use the clarified butter! Then you can cook mushroom caps in the butter. :^) I worked as a cook for a year, while I was on the line, I was in charge of making the "mushroom caps boiled in butter". Took about 20 minutes for the caps to cook in clarified butter on the steam table. I almost always put an extra one in.. so I could check if it was done. Yummmmy!

George H.

(...)

Try using "wave oil" to reduce dross: Instead of peanut oil's 225C smoke point, these start smoking at 280C. I've used various oils in wave solder machines, but have never tried it in a solder pot.

However, the amount of smoke produced seems to indicate either your solder pot is too hot, or there was something else in the peanut oil. Peanut oil is a mix of different types of fats, which might be part of the smoke problem.

What is the best way to reduce the dross in tin/lead solder pot?

Right I do the SMT parts with the thermocouple-controlled toaster oven, works great! Then, I add 40 (gasp) through-hole connectors by hand, and dip solder these. I have this process just about perfected, too.

Some people suggested putting peanut oil over the solder bath to slow oxidation, but it is just too messy/stinky.

Jon

Yes, I got this giant 5x7" solder pot for soldering the through-hole parts.

Jon

Yes, that was the first obstacle! But, proper pre-heat of the board, and then a tricky tilting motion before raising the board SLOOOOWLY from the pot, seems to have almost completely eliminted that.

Jon

Yes, but 250 C is 482 F, so all of the listed oils will smoke. And, it seems 250 C is just about right to prevent icicles.

Jon

Thanks MUCH for the above. I had already found wave oil, it seems expensive, and looks like it is normally put up in 5 gallon or larger containers. It seems like I would not be able to use 5 gallons in the remainder of my life! But, maybe somebody will sell it in one gallon sizes.

The peanut oil was in the local grocery store for a few $.

Thanks a LOT guys, for all the answers!

Jon

What would happen if you threw a chunk of flux into the solder pot?

One New Orleans treat is mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat, breadcrumbs, and lots of butter. They dodn't care much about cholesterol down there.

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016 09:49:21 -0700 (PDT), George Herold Gave us:

Lead free? Even worse.

Well, some of the magic powerds are basically that. They reduce the oxides back to pure metal. I guess I will have to investigate these things and see if I can get them in smaller quantity.

Jon

Find an oil with a higher smoke point. Refined peanut oil is only

to find. Otherwise you will need to find a specialty oil with a higher smoke temperature. This is also called "flash point".

How about a mineral oil?

George H.