Hacking Solder types

[Lain]

I found a 30AWG (0.25mm) wire.

Now the solder I bought yesterday is the following: 60% Tin, 40% Lead.

The store informed me that all the solders that use Lead are being picked out of the market and being replaced by other ones that wont use Lead for health reasons of who solders.

At the store they have one that is 96.5% Tin and 3.5% Silver. It's the nearest that they have at the store, to the one being sold at Radioshack and adviced at this post which is 62% Tin, 36% Lead and 2% Silver.

Anyone that is experienced can advise me between the one I bought yesterday with (60% Tin, 40% Lead) and the other one with (96.5% Tin, 3.5% Silver) to use on the Wii?

Also, it seems not to have a rosin-core.. they didnt had any solder with it but they had a rosin flux sold apart that you could apply, will it do the same?

Is it considered a good solder when the solder makes a ball over the place you are solding? Because this is how the soldering ends up and it also gets a brown "liquid" (suppose its the Tin) around the solder. Is this a good or bad signal?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lain]

anyone?

 

[Takrin]

didnt you post on another thread? and didnt i answer it? hmm maybe i'm going senile

*Edit*

anyhow the lead version flows at lower temp, meaning easier to work with if you dont have a rohs soldering iron, think they need to be 200c+ or something like that to be rohs friendly iron.

lead free solders bit harder to work with, and they do the job, they leave somewhat dull surface unlike lead based which has a nice shine. basicly theres not much difference in lead free/leaded solder if your wondering which performs better

you really dont need flux for wii modding, if your going to solder more stuff i'd pick it up if it cost less then $3 it helps on bare copper and durring tinning wires. also the brown liquid is flux burning, it should say its rosin-cored on the package or the famous "No Clean" refers to the flux, and it just means rosin and non acid flux, if it says water soluble, its most likely acidic/organic flux which you have to wash off to avoid corrosion

Btw, lead based solder is poison, tons of neg side effects, i switched to lead free, need to pawn off my leaded solder on ebay or give it away...

 

[FAST6191]

If commercial solders are being used I prefer lead tin solder, health risks are more in disposal and it ending up in water supplies. The lead - tin with silver in is merely there to stop/slow the connections in audio equipment being leeched (silver from the coating diffusing into the solder).

The high tin solders like you have are basic lead replacement solders and melt at a higher temperature (and do not really flow as well) so unless you have some experience go with the lead-tin one.

I am suprised there was not any resin/rosin core solder, if that is the case grab yourself a pot of either resin/rosin and use a cotton bud to apply it. Make sure it is conventional resin/rosin not anything acid based.

The brown liquid is likely a mixture of glue and gunk, a bit of flux should take care of it.

Edit, talk about too slow (as usual).