Hacking Paste vs Liquid flux

[HisshouBuraiKen]

My local store has flux in both paste and liquid forms, can anyone comment on one being better than the other? I'm inclined to go w/the liquid and just dab it on with a q-tip since it's cheaper and there's less of it (the paste is way more than I'll probably ever use).

2) This is the soldering iron I'm gonna get, how's it look? I know 15 watt irons are the consensus but would the lower settings be better or would it not be enough heat?
hxxp://skycraftsurplus.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=880

3) That store also had some .022" solder but it's called "Ersin" solder. I already got .022" silver-bearing solder (like the one in M370ID's guide) but I just wondered what Ersin is and what combination/ratio of metals are used.

Thanks in advance

 

[FAST6191]

Flux should be included in the solder so there should be no need to use any extra: it tends to be sold for more industrial/automotive or hypersensitive applications, the Wii is none of those.

If it is liquid make sure it is resin/rosin flux for the acid stuff is not good (for electronics or you).

I dislike using silver solder but that is personal preference, if I recall Ersin is the trade name for a group of products but tends to refer to a ternary alloy with about 35% lead (rather than 40%) with a few % silver.
As it stands though just about any normal consumer solder will work

 

[plexo]

as the guy above says, theres enough flux within the solder itself sop you wont need any more flux... just a waste of money if your not doing alot of different mods.

 

[panther_512]

Flux is only used for industrial soldering of PCBs.

You don't need to use it for no reason at all.

I'll try to explain:

When you produce a lot of PCBs, you don't solder the pads by hand.

You put the parts on the PCB and then you spray the bottom surface (where the pads are locatted) with Flux.

Then you have a small tank full of liquid solder at 300 degrees Celsius. This liquid solder doesn't have any flux in it, so, if you don't spray the bottom of the PCB with Flux, no solder will stay on the pads.

With special tools and mask for yourself and proper ventilation, you put the bottom side of the PCB to sit on the surface of the liquid solder for no more than 2 seconds. The gases that are produced these 2 seconds are pure cancer.

Then you lift it and ouala! All the pads have been soldered.

Afterwards you have to clean the remaining flux from the PCB and cut the legs of the parts.

Of course there are also automated machines that do all this soldering procedure for you....

 

[HisshouBuraiKen]

Thanks for the answers.

What about the iron, it's adjustable from 5w to 50, should I still use the 15-setting? would the lower ones be better or would they not provide enough heat and increase the chances of a pad lifting?

 

[alucard77]

I actually use flux, the wax flux. I find that it makes the wire stick automatically to the point. Of course, I also know what I am doing. You can really do some damage with flux if you don't.

Pretty much practice as much as you can first. If your having issues getting something connected, then try dipping the wire in the wax very quickly. And try again. You will notice a difference (at least I do).

But don't start out on the wii using flux.

Also, for soldering, I mean I know people here disagree with me, but I think the safest way to solder is with the smallest tip possible and a 12 Watt Iron. This is what I do:

1- Strip all cables (30 awg only)
2- Tin all cables (find yourself the smallest width rosin core solder you can find)
3 - Flux all cables by quickly dipping them in flux wax
4 - Make sure the soldering iron is preheated to proper temperature
5 - place the wire on the solder pad
6 - Tap the solder iron to the wire and the connection for a fraction of a second. What your trying to do is get the wire hot, not the soldering point. (Or you could do some damage) This will make the solder on the tinned wire stick to the regular soldering point

If it doesn't stick, this is what I do.
7 - Take an extremely small amount of solder and melt it to the very tip of the soldering iron. Basically, my soldering iron looks like a ball point pen, the point is basically the solder. So it is the smallest amount of solder possible. If you do it right, you will have just enough solder that will not drip.
8 - Put the wire to the solder point
9 - With the very tip of the soldering iron (where the melted solder is), tap the wire and the soldering point at the same time. This should automatically make a connection. You don't have to heat the soldering point at all. The solder from the tip of the pen should automatically stick to the soldering point creating a proper joint.

Of course this takes practice. To much Solder and your bridging points. What I would say, is stop as soon as the solder melts on the iron. A 12 watt iron shouldn't melt almost any solder quickly. However, this is the best way in my opinion. This severly limits the chance you will over heat a pad and remove it from the board. The total amount of heat exposure a solder point would have is less then one second, so no damage will be done.

Hope this helps.

 

[plexo]

eres wot i do

30watt iron

 

[alucard77]

Pretty hard to argue with your methods, especially since you have nice soldering jobs. I find that most new solders burn the hell out of their systems when heating a pad. Not sure why... but I am sure you came across a bunch like that.