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Which solder?

I tried Kester "245" No-clean solder but sometimes end up with the conductive white residue problem from the moisture that is present in our environment. I'll often poly-coat this to block the moisture and it seems to work OK but I don't think this is suggested. Other times we pot this in epoxy but I worry about moisure migration down the wires, I dont want failures 2 years from now.

I tried Kester "331" Water-soluble solder but trying to solder a small

44pin microprocessor with it is tough. It doesn't seem to wet and flow as well, the soldering tip dries out too fast. Plus the fumes will gag you.

I have not tried regular Rosin core only because I don't know how to reliably clean it.

What do you use?

Reply to
creek
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Kester 63/37 with "44" resin core. Cleans nicely with isopropyl alcohol. If you need to go RoHS, try Kester's SAC 305 with "48" resin.

--
Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA
Reply to
Rich Webb

This will clean the flux residue.

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Note that this is neat isopropyl alcohol, not the drug store variety...

Reply to
Lord Garth

In what process ?

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

My pharmacist will get me pure ( medical grade ) isopropyl alcohol no problem. 500ml min but I bought 2l last time.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

What was his price?

Reply to
Lord Garth

Through hole and SMT hand soldering, if that is what you mean. The solder is 21 Gauge (.031"), cored 1.1% flux, used with an adjustable Weller WES51 iron set to around "6".

Is this the process for using 99% Iso: Soak, brush/scrub, rinse with iso, rinse with distilled.

Reply to
creek

I've used just plain IPA - squirt it, brush as needed, rinse with IPA, blow dry with clean, dry, oil-free air, done. :-)

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

Her actually.

About £5 for 500 ml and £15 for 2l.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

Yes.

If that's comparable to the venerable TCP, I use "8" almost always.

Soak in ? Soaking entire boards is not always advisable depending on certain components.You should be able to just brush with iso and rinse.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

As with most items, there is a discount for quantity...

99% IPA was what $89 for about 15l (4 US gallons)
Reply to
Lord Garth 

--
Try buying it from an industrial chemical supplier (if you\'re allowed
to) and you might do better.

I recently bought 4 liters of anhydrous isopropanol:

http://www.jtbaker.nl/bin/prod_gevonden.ASP?zoekprodnr=8067&language=EXP

for about $30.

JF
Reply to
John Fields

I have had good results from the 70% drugstore variety, using an old toothbrush to gently scrub. However, the same drugstore (Rite-Aid least in SE Michigan) also sells a higher concentration, 97% or something like that, which I have never tried. It's not much more than the standard 70% stuff.

Best regards,

Bob Masta DAQARTA v4.51 Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Reply to
Bob Masta

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