fake desoldering wick

[rookieme]

I'd like to inform the forum that lately when I try to buy desoldering wick from China [either via ebay or aliexpress] I'm receiving fakes that are not made from copper.
If you are having trouble when you are using your wick and it doesn't conducts heat maybe you get fooled too.
A simple test is with a magnet.
Copper doesn't get stuck at a magnet but these shity ones do get magnetized.
Also they are tougher than copper and cannot get chopped easily and can harm your tools.
Luckily so far I'm getting my money back at these cases after opening a dispute.
The affected brand is gootwick and so I'll try other brand to see the results.

[diif]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Why don't you buy some genuine Chemtronics braid from RS ?
http://gr.rsdelivers.com/productlist...ily=11992&tag=

[rookieme]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Nice one but it seems overpriced!
Seems to be the best quallity according its price though.

[diif]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Compared to fake Gootwick, yes it will seem a little pricey.
The first time you use it though, you will realise it's cheap.

[stj]

Re: fake desoldering wick

spirig wick is good.

[budm]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Why don't you buy some genuine Chemtronics braid from RS ?
http://gr.rsdelivers.com/productlist...ily=11992&tag=

+10, it is better to use good stuff instead of damaging the board with cheaply made stuff.

[petehall347]

Re: fake desoldering wick

try adding flux

[lti]

Re: fake desoldering wick

try adding flux

That won't help if the wick is made of copper-colored steel.

Copper doesn't get stuck at a magnet but these shity ones do get magnetized.
Also they are tougher than copper and cannot get chopped easily and can harm your tools.

[rookieme]

Re: fake desoldering wick

That won't help if the wick is made of copper-colored steel.

That is for sure, I have tested adding flux and rising temperature with bad results only.
The fact is that this situation happened after summer as before I could buy cheep wick and worked well as it was copper.

[llonen]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Cant say I have had any problems with Goatwick I obtained a couple from Uk sellers then imported a quantity from China, both seem to perform the same and both are copper as far as I can tell. That said I rarely use the stuff anyhow and quite a lot of the work I do it would not work with anyway, through hole plated with heavy ground-planes etc, as though with most soldering processes adding good quality flux helps. That said for what I charge for rework and repair the Chemtronics braid seems more than reasonable, might try some.

[Agent24]

Re: fake desoldering wick

I have never tried the stuff from eBay. Now that you mention this, I doubt I will.

I have never actually tried the expensive Goot ones. Jaycar's cheap wick has worked well enough for me so far that I didn't see the point.

[stj]

Re: fake desoldering wick

a friend used to make his own,

stripping old tv antenna cable and running it through a pot of flux & ipa!!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Have used Goot Wick in the past and it was decent, but have moved to using Chemtronics exclusively for a good while now. It ain't cheap, but the weave is a lot tighter than Goot Wick so you use less for the same job.

[llonen]

Re: fake desoldering wick

Have thus tried the chemtronics stuff for a while now and don't seem to notice any significant difference other than perhaps the weave, I too used to make my own de-soldering wick

[ratdude747]

Re: fake desoldering wick

For me I've only ever used (successfully) Chemwick and MG Chemicals. The former seems to be a hair better but both do the job well. Cheap crap, I've used on occasion and I will say, it is indeed shit, even when they do use real copper.

[dellxps15]

Re: fake desoldering wick

i use goot wick that buy from china. when i ask for them, i got a price list like this:

1$ for a fake, 1.5$ for a good fake, 2.7$ for a genuine japan.

i went always for the original and they are really good. i use the cp2015 2mm wide and ddesolder very good when applied the proper amount of flux.

before that, i got chemtronics from a local shop. got them for 2.5€, but now they havent them annymore and got some very very bad quality ones, so i still keep getting lots of that goot wick from china on each bga ic order i make.

[lax luthier]

Re: fake desoldering wick

I don't know if it's fake, but I bought ten rolls of "Solder-Wick" branded braid from All Electronics, which did not work. Could be stale?

Then one day recently I had an idea to soak it in acetone to remove the old flux, which it did. But also rendered was some nasty green stuff (copper oxide?)

After flushing the wick thoroughly it became nice and shiny as well as much more flexible and open-weaved. Now when dipped in some Kester liguid rosin flux it works perfectly.
Regards, "lax"

[stj]

Re: fake desoldering wick

the "nasty green stuff" may have been the old flux.

[lax luthier]

Re: fake desoldering wick

the "nasty green stuff" may have been the old flux.

I don't think so, the flux turned the solvent an amber color, pretty typical for rosin flux.

Well the good news is the treatment was successful. Could well be a remedy for
some of the other braid product cited earlier.

Regards, - L -

[stj]

Re: fake desoldering wick

plain rosin wont work with lead-free solder very well.