Has anyone use this solder before or recommend one

[sam_sam_sam]

https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...114-ND/2000368

[mariushm]

Re: Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one

MG Chemicals is a good brand.

The solder seems all right, it has Rosin activated flux which is good, easy to clean if you want, probably can leave flux residue on the board without affecting the circuits in long term (unlike water soluble fluxes or organic fluxes which would normally continue to attack the surfaces)

My only issue with that solder is the thickness at 0.81mm .. you can buy thinner solder (0.56mm for example) and if you need to solder thicker stuff where feeding a lot of solder would be better you could just cut a chunk of wire and bend it in two and work with it like that.

In fact what I'd suggest would be to go with something like this :

1. 1x19$ : Multicore 0.39mm (.015DIA/28SWG) 2.2% no-clean flux C400 1/2lb https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...117-ND/2498915

2. 1x19$ : Multicore 0.39mm (.015DIA/28SWG) 3% no-clean flux C502 1/2 lb https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...131-ND/2498929

OR

3. 1x 36$ : Multicore 0.56mm (.022DIA/24SWG) 2% no-clean flux C502 https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...129-ND/2498927

So in total you get 1lb of solder, but at only 36-38$.

If you want to save money, you can buy just the second suggestion... 1/2lb will last you for some time.

1 and 2 : They're both 0.39mm which make them great for surface mounted stuff or small pads, and you can always bend the wire in two and twist it together to get 0.8mm thick wire.

One of them uses flux without halides and only 2.2%, so it should be used for newer components that don't have as much oxides on them. It will leave less residue on circuit boards.

The other one has slightly more flux (3%) and has halides (a bit more active flux, works better with older components) which may leave a very tiny amount of residue on the board (practically clear, if you try hard you may see some slightly whiteish/yellowish transparent layer on boards) but it's not a strong enough flux that you'd have to clean... so you could wipe the boards with isopropyl alcohol if you want to, but you don't HAVE to.

The third suggestion is a better all around thickness, 0.39mm may be a bit annoying at some times, 0.56mm the third suggestion has you may find more convenient - it's exactly what I use and honestly i never felt the need to bend the wire in two to get thicker solder wire, it's a good diameter for most soldering jobs.


Oh, and they're all 63/37 which is better than 60/40 .. It's euctetic, it transitions from liquid to solid and back at an exact temperature (183c), unlike 60/40 which stays semi-liquid within a range of temperatures.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one

Topic: "Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one"
... Please don't abuse our military... Sorry that typo abuse

You should use the right sized solder for the job you're working with, the thicker solders are usually a bit cheaper as it's harder to get the flux percentage consistency for thin solder, plus faster to feed in large amounts of solder without having to fold it. Think about how long you'd have to keep the junction hot while feeding - and the plastics and semiconductors that need to remain hot while soldering.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one

Topic: "Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one"
... Please don't abuse our military... Sorry that typo abuse

You should use the right sized solder for the job you're working with, the thicker solders are usually a bit cheaper as it's harder to get the flux percentage consistency for thin solder, plus faster to feed in large amounts of solder without having to fold it. Think about how long you'd have to keep the junction hot while feeding - and the plastics and semiconductors that need to remain hot while soldering.

So are you saying to get both size instead just one size

[mariushm]

Re: Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one

If you use too thin wire, it would be a bit frustrating as you'd have to take a lot of wire off the spool and keep feeding solder into the area you want soldered. You'd also keep the part (the part, the lead) hot for a longer than desired period.

I'd say it would be useful to get solder wire larger than 0.56mm if you're constantly soldering thick wires (think AWG18 like the wires used on computer power supplies) or transistors/mosfet leads (to-220 and similar) in audio amplifiers. It would also help if you often have to tin thick wires, with lots of strands - with too think solder wire, you may have to keep the iron tip for a longer period on the end of the wire and keep feeding solder over the wires and the constant heat could affect the insulation of the wire.

Even those thick to-220 leads and lower can be soldered just fine with 0.56mm solder, it's just takes a tiny bit longer to feed the right amount of solder than what you'd normally want (around 2-3 seconds per operation is ideal). You can easily bend the solder wire in two and twist the wires to form a thicker solder wire for such "edge" situations.

In general, thinner wire is better, it gives you more control over how much solder you add to the contact between pad and lead. Too much solder is bad, as having too little solder.

0.39mm wires would be good for 0603 or 0805 resistors and ceramic capacitors, and tiny leads (to-92, soic chips, to-252, sot-23/223 surface mount chips), would give you find control over how much solder you add to pads and leads.
But you can do this with 0.56mm as well, just a tiny bit harder. It would however be almost impossible with 0.8mm to do that.

If you're low on money, I'd suggest buying 63/37 0.56mm and maybe a smaller amount of thicker gauge wire, 0.8mm or 1mm, could be the cheaper 60/40 or the more expensive 62/36/2 kind.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Has anyone use this soldier before or recommend one

I'd say just get the same mass of solder of each kind... and go from there.
The thinner wire will have a lot longer piece, and the thicker wire will be shorter, so it all comes out to exactly what you need.

I accidentally ordered 1.6mm solder, it was Kester 44... but after all's said and done I am glad I did to get those large joints. I still need to get myself 0.4 / 0.6mm wire, currently most of my solder is 0.8mm though I try to avoid SMT. 0.8mm is perfect for pretty much any through hole PCB I'd think, it has plenty of solder to feed a PCB joint quickly so you can get your iron off fast, but not too thick to cover up what you're looking at.

TO-92 is not tiny! At least in my opinion...