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Hi,
I recently bought some from a company in Canada and the name of the solder and company i bought it from escapes me.
Anyhow, does this stuff require a special iron?
I recently used it to make some ICs and it was really hard to melt. The wbt solder I normally use never had a problem with my iron. There was nothing to indicate that a higher temp was needed.
Follow Ups:
It is from Wako.
Normally I'll put the iron tip on the wire and rca and let the solder melt by touching the Rca. With this stuff the only way to melt it was to touch the iron.
I am assuming that this would make cold joints???
And if so, what do they sound like?
Sorry I did not see your post earlier. I've used this material to make nice solder joints with a regular soldering iron.
The joint needs to be scrupulously clean, and you need to apply liquid solder flux, such as GC Electronics 10-4202. Your iron should have a fresh tip that has never seen leaded solder.
For a really pretty result, quench the solder with ethanol (Ever Clear) from an eye-dropper.
Remove the toasted residue of the solder flux with gentle scraping followed by clean solder flux remover solvent. Goof-Off also works.
Note that any solder joint will be better if you approach it the same way.
A cold solder joint will have intermittent conduction, and you can't predict when it will fail.
Hey Al,
Thanks for chiming in. It was your post that caused me to buy this solder.
Anyhow I must say I am a bit lost. Having never used flux (I think the solder I used before had flux in it anyhow??), I am not sure what you mean by "apply" Before the solder goes on so the iron heats the flux and the work? Or after or during?? Do I dip the solder in it then heat??
I just ordered a new solder station because I thought it was merely a heat issue and well it would be nice to control the temp too and hey, I get a new toy for the cables I plan to make.
The tip I used definitely had leaded solder on it and I made some ICs that required me to melt the solder with the iron and not the parts. My system is balanced and these were single-ended so outside of using them for TV, I never listened critically. The person who tried them had all kind of bad things to say about them. In the past this has always been a great design. COuld the method I described above be a reason for a bad sounding IC?
Thanks for the help!
First, clean the wire ends or parts to be joined, and assemble them without touching them with your bare fingers (nitrile exam gloves work well).
If you have a soldering station with temperature control, do raise the temperature setting above where you use it for leaded solder. Uncontrolled irons should work fine unless your parts to be joined are large. I use a 40-watt or 80-watt iron for soldering large bits.
The Wako solder is so expensive that it is worthwhile keeping a dedicated tip around for it.
When you are ready to solder, simply use the enclosed brush to apply a small amount of the liquid flux to the joint. The stuff is thick, so it is difficult to get a really tiny amount unless you use something like a toothpick. Be sure all the surfaces where you want the solder to go get some flux on them.
Then apply the iron to the joint for a few seconds and apply the solder. The flux should smoke and sizzle. The solder should melt and flow easily into and around the joint.
If desired, quench with ethanol. This leaves the joint shiny and beautiful. I believe it also fixes the solder grain structure for improved sound, but I have not tested for this.
Yes, if your solder joints were bad, your cable could have sounded awful.
A 40W or 45W iron should do it for PCB work, but when working with RCA barrels or other large metal tabs, you will need a hi-temp station with a heavy iron, or a 100W Radio Shack trigger operated gun.
Not true. I use a Weller WES51 soldering station. Does everything including jacks, and large ground terminals. Some irons are better than others at heat transfer and materials, so they work better. I also have a 50 watt cheapo that can't solder 22 ga. wire.
Lead free does have a higher melting point than leaded. The closest I've come is from Kester. Bought from Newark.
The only issue so far has been that it really eats up the tips on my Weller iron. Cleaning after use is a must.
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