What kind of Solder?

What kind of Solder you guys use?

I'm sure any 50/50 to 60+/40- Rosin Core is good. I have pretty much used these over the years. Alphasonic/Archer(ie, Radio Shack)/Other. I do have some with like 2% silver. Most of mine is 10-20 years old as I kept finding a spool here or there (or pocket pack) where I fixed something for people. I actually am about out, and need to buy some.

I'm just asking out of curiousity.

Also, I use liquid and rosin flux, seperate, if I need to.

I am well aware NOT to use acid core. I know what that is for, and it's not electronics.

What about lead-free electronic solder, I somehow got some of that, but don't use it.

Jason

Probably any typical 60/40 lead solder will be best. I wouldn't use lead-free solder.

I agree with Corona, 60/40 is probably the best choice. The "silver" bearing solders may or (likely) may not make a significant improvement to conductivity, but they do have a higher melting temperature. Higher temperatures are not necessarily friendly to many components or to the copper traces on most circuit boards. Having never used it, I'm not sure about the melting temperature of lead free solder (sure is expensive, though...about twice the price of 60/40)

Best Regards,

Charlie

Luddite wrote:I agree with Corona, 60/40 is probably the best choice. The "silver" bearing solders may or (likely) may not make a significant improvement to conductivity, but they do have a higher melting temperature. Higher temperatures are not necessarily friendly to many components or to the copper traces on most circuit boards. Having never used it, I'm not sure about the melting temperature of lead free solder (sure is expensive, though...about twice the price of 60/40)

Best Regards,

Charlie

Charlie is absolutely right. 63/37 Sn/Pb solder has a melting point of 183C. Typical Lead-free solders (i.e. tin/silver, etc.) have much higher melting points (~250C+). It's not just bad for your components and traces, but it is also hard to reflow those solders properly.

By the way, to those who buy 'modern' components. Check if those components are not pure tin-plated. If they are, at least make sure that the parts on the PCB are separated by at least 1-2 cm from each other. Tin whiskers can make wonders.

Have a look at the cardas silver solder, it has a really low melting point and is a pretty high quality solder. If you are going to go the tube route for fidelity reasons, splurging a little on solder seems to be pretty reasonable.

RichJB603 wrote:Have a look at the cardas silver solder, it has a really low melting point and is a pretty high quality solder. If you are going to go the tube route for fidelity reasons, splurging a little on solder seems to be pretty reasonable.

"really low" meaning what exactly is it? I.e. what is the materials mix in that solder? Any Pb-free solder will have much higher melting point than SnPb.

I'm not sure the ratios offhand but it's good stuff and not rediculously priced for like 24 ft

here is a link to the solder

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=oem&pagestring2=Solder%20and%20Flux&pagestring=Solder%20and%20Flux+(closeup)&content_id=19&part_id=70

Found a site that sells the 100g roll for about $25.

Might be too rich for this dude.

it's like 50ft for $10, I mean if you are going to dump $600-$800 on a tube amp, whats another $15-$20?

Maybe huffing solder fumes isn't exactly healthy, but whenever a project presents itself, usually find myself reaching for a very vintage roll of Kester eutectic, just because the rosin has a different odor than the modern stuff. Pine or cedar or something? Yumm!!

Dynalover wrote:Maybe huffing solder fumes isn't exactly healthy, but whenever a project presents itself, usually find myself reaching for a very vintage roll of Kester eutectic, just because the rosin has a different odor than the modern stuff. Pine or cedar or something? Yumm!!

LOL, we must indeed be from the same planet. I completely agree. Furthermore, I found a "NOS" Carter brand Marks-A-Lot marker when cleaning out my dad's garage a few years ago. As soon as I removed the cap, I was transported back to my grade school days making posters for all those school projects.

Charlie

Reassuringly, I read somewhere on the net that the puff of smoke when you melt solder is not lead vapour, but rather flux -- lead doesn't vapourize until much higher temperatures, so huff away in confidence that them fumes ain't toxic. Well, not from lead anyway.

;-)