Random solder tests.

You mentioned the low temperature Sn/Pb/Ag solder you used to use, would Chip Quik's SMD3 series Sn62/Pb36/Ag2 tickle your fancy? 179C melting point, no-clean water soluble flux (core is 2.2%). Available in 0.38mm (.015"), 0.5mm (.020") and 0.8mm (.031") thickness. Part number is SMD3SW.XXX YYY where .XXX is thickness in inches (.031 for example) and YYY is spool size for example 8OZ. Mouser and Digikey lists them, for example the 0.8mm 8oz spool is listed on Digikey.co.uk for 17.11£. For whatever reason the 1lb spool is 46% more expensive per weight so do note that. Edit: Also, I haven't personally used this specific solder so I don't know if it's any good. Just figured I'd mention it if you weren't aware of it.

The guys that do it tend to have very powerful but very precise irons, soldering big chunks of brass at very precise temperature needs quite adept kit, especially when you also involve white metal castings that can entirely melt at "normal" solder temperatures...

Charleso

I've run into high temperature solder in model construction, it lets you start assembly with high temp solder and then assemble those parts with lower temperature solder with everything falling apart.

Charleso

It's amusing when you hit the sections that are the other way around-- where the rosin core is thicker than normal and you get a big cloud of fumes and that sweet smell of burning flux. I love the smell of carcinogens in the morning...

Chris Talbot

Funny, I used to have a client whose name was spelt "Burger" (like HAMBURGER :) ) but he insisted it was pronounced "BER-JER", as per my first assumption on the pronunciation of your surname. Cheers Phil, have a nice one. :)

Chris Talbot

Hey Clive, glad you enjoyed what I sent! The last name is pronounced BER-GHER, like HAMBURGER (it's German origin)! Looking forward to seeing the taste test with your brother.

For maintenance lead based solder is still acceptable to the best of my knowledge.

Big Clive

They do make very useful weights.

Big Clive

I was fortunate enough to collect a few rolls of 60/40 solder back in the 90's. Also the company I work for understands that lead free solder is for crap. I have some of the silver bearing solder as well and it is nice looking. :D

Michael Thompson

It's more the quantity that went on. Even trying to use the minimum, too much melted at once. The joints look OK, but have too much solder resulting in a dome as opposed to inward curve. It doesn't have the crater effect at the end where it dips back down the component lead.

Big Clive

I used to leave may Antex on all the time when I was in my old workshop, but this one only gets turned on when needed because it heats up fast and has that annoying humming noise.

Big Clive

One of my soldering irons is pretty much the same as yours and I use the same kind of tip. I usually keep it at a lower temperature than you do (I do usually 230-250 and you around 300 C if I'm not mistaken). How long does a tip usually last you with that temperature and do you turn the iron on and off or do you keep it on for prolonged periods of time? Just curious, as I very seldom change tips (the last one I had to change was because I scratched it by mistake and it was unusable within days).

Axel DominatoR

Fascinating to see the copper detach from the cheapo paper laminate when heated. You can see how that isn't designed with the repair technician in mind ;-)

Gordo

Nice video. Those last 3 joints you did (using the super-thick solder) look like the result one gets when adding solder too soon, before the track & wire have had time to head up sufficiently. I find that often, with a joint like that, the solder may not even be joined to the wire - I'd suck/wick that off and start again..

Gordo

I wonder if the crusty iron was acting like a local reflow heater.

Big Clive

In my job as an engineering technician, I regularly solder itty-bitty SMD parts - 0603, 0805, etc. I use a shiny new Hakko soldering station with a small tip that's kept clean and tinned. My solder joints are okay, but a co-worker who has been working with SMD longer than I have produces absolutely beautiful joints; smooth, shiny, and just the right size. He uses a 20-year-old soldering iron with a rusty, crusty tip that doesn't look like it's been tinned since it was used to solder vacuum tube sockets. *sigh* Maybe *not* having the solder stick to the tip is the secret for surface mount parts. Surface tension even causes the solder on the tip to suck up the part I'm trying to solder now and then.

Daddy Bearcat

Rolls of solder with sections with no flux are certainly a thing. My favorite big roll of solder for a long time (80's vintage RS or CHS stuff) had about 10M part way through where the flux was missing in sections as though it had only been dripping in, then ran out, during manufacture.

Andy Brown

I really enjoyed this video. I find soldering very therapeutic and relaxing, except where tiny surface-mount components are involved.

You can never have too many rolls of solder. Even when you're not actually soldering, they come in handy as paperweights/counterweights for a variety of uses. I have a cheapo microphone boom stand with a terrible hinge mechanism that can't support the weight of my studio mic shockmount by itself. Jam a roll of solder onto the end of the boom pole and it behaves much better!

Chris Talbot

It's very common. Hence why it's sometimes useful to bridge between connected pads with a bit of thin wire.

Big Clive

Ah! I've had repairs on cheap random things fail because the copper pad or ring would completely detatch, leaving me with a floating ring attached by nothing but the trace. I thought I was doing something wrong, like using too much heat, but it was probably just a cheap board to begin with.

George Dorn

As a side note: It was amazing that the copper clad was lifting after a relatively short time of heat.

Chris Muncy

I still have and use a rather large spool of Kester multi core solder 60/40 that I had back when I got my engineering degree in the late 80's. Love the stuff.

Chris Muncy

Do they make grey stringy candy? Coz you could have fun with that.

Moz in Oz