Time to buy solder - Page 2

  Grinder wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder

    "At the retail level, the two most common alloys are 60/40 Tin/lead
    (Sn/Pb) which melts at 370 °F or 188 °C and 63/37 Sn/Pb used principally
    in electrical/electronic work. The 63/37 ratio is notable in that it is
    a eutectic mixture, which means:

    1. It has the lowest melting point (183 °C or 361.4 °F) of all the tin/lead
alloys
    2. The melting point is truly a point - not a range."

The roll of solder I'm still using, has a gauge lower than the two you
mention. In the lab, I referred to that type as "angel hair". The
gauge is 0.015", and examples of that gauge can be seen here.
Mine is 63/37 eutectic. The resin on mine, is alcohol soluble, and
alcohol is what I use for cleanup (it's not the best, but where
are you going to find "trike" ?). It's fine enough for surface
mount stuff. But if you were soldering 0402 or 0201, you might
need something smaller again. With my eye sight, 0603 is about
as small as I could work (followed by checking with a magnifier
when finished). I've worked using a stereo microscope before,
but can't afford that for home use. Watching your hands shake
under a microscope, while working, is lots of fun.

http://www.abtronics.ru/components/code24-24/23.html

I have no idea what the current flux formulations are like.

    Paul

 wrote:


60% tin works for me.  Good for the odd plumbing job too.