Author Topic: Flux - you learn something new every day  (Read 4048 times)

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nkalanaga

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #30 on: August 05, 2013, 12:58:02 AM »
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For soldering tips, they don't get much cheaper than my "electronics" tip.  My cheap pencil had a nice thin, round tip, until the thin part broke one day.  Soldering away, no stress, and the inch or so that did the work fell off.  The chisel tips were all too large for what I was doing, and buying new tips isn't easy in eastern Kentucky. 

The solution?  Unplug the iron and let it completely cool.  Get a piece of 12-gauge house wire, in this case from the black/white/ground cable used for permanent inside wiring, and cut a section a little over an inch long.  File one end to a point, then drill a hole in the broken end of the tip, tight enough that the wire didn't want to go in.  Clamp the iron to the bench so it can't move, and the tip won't touch anything meltable, and plug it in.  When it gets hot, the hole expands a little, and the wire can be pressed in with pliers.  Be careful, as a slip could burn your fingers!  If the wire is good and clean, a bit of solder will go right into the joint, and you've got a new tip.  Tin the end like any other copper tip and go back to work. 

One could use expensive copper rod, and it may last longer, but if this wears out I have another fifty feet of wire!
N Kalanaga
Be well

mmagliaro

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #31 on: August 05, 2013, 01:41:35 AM »
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For the record, I'm using
Radio Shack's  Rosin Soldering Paste Flux (64-022)

It is not an acid flux, so I do not expect corrosion problems.

And Cody, you will see more of my steam project.   It certainly has not stopped.  But I work on it when I can get the time,
and I try to wait until I have a logical sequence of photos that complete some small sub-assembly before I post anything.
More will be coming some time in the next week, I hope.   I'm waiting on a few electronic components in the mail.

« Last Edit: August 05, 2013, 01:43:43 AM by mmagliaro »

Chris333

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #32 on: August 05, 2013, 02:49:17 AM »
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Max,  I forget the exact model number, but I also have an Ungar soldering iron. The last time I stocked up on tips they were a little bit loose so I just put a shim of .005" brass on the half round side.

Did your element burn out?

Once I dropped my base on the floor and broke a joint inside. Had to solder it back together with a lighter till it started working. Then I re-soldered it with itself  :facepalm:

mmagliaro

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #33 on: August 05, 2013, 03:44:20 AM »
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Max,  I forget the exact model number, but I also have an Ungar soldering iron. The last time I stocked up on tips they were a little bit loose so I just put a shim of .005" brass on the half round side.

Did your element burn out?

Once I dropped my base on the floor and broke a joint inside. Had to solder it back together with a lighter till it started working. Then I re-soldered it with itself  :facepalm:

My element broke inside the handpiece tube.  It's a ceramic "stick" as you probably know.
My tips aren't loose.  In fact, since the replacement heating element I use is thicker than the original one in the 9000,
my tips' half-round parts won't even fit into the tube without filing them down, but then they work fine.

That's cool .... having to repair the soldering station with itself. 

Chris333

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #34 on: August 05, 2013, 03:51:56 AM »
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hmmmm I probably have your tips and you have mine...

mmagliaro

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #35 on: August 07, 2013, 06:43:28 PM »
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Regarding that Radio Shack tip cleaner and tinner compound...

I looked at stuff in a store the other day.  The sales rep said they don't know if it's good anymore because
when you take the cover off the jar, it is a hard gray mass in there.  She expected it to be
more like a paste.

So did I.

To those of you who have used it, is that right?  Should it be a hard gray stuff?  I am guessing that you wipe
the hot iron on it and it cleans, and also melts and coats  the tip.  Should it be hard or gooey?

Thanks

peteski

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #36 on: August 07, 2013, 09:14:35 PM »
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I never used the Radio Shack stuff - just a moist sponge.
. . . 42 . . .

SkipGear

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #37 on: August 08, 2013, 01:16:11 AM »
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Regarding that Radio Shack tip cleaner and tinner compound...

I looked at stuff in a store the other day.  The sales rep said they don't know if it's good anymore because
when you take the cover off the jar, it is a hard gray mass in there.  She expected it to be
more like a paste.

So did I.

To those of you who have used it, is that right?  Should it be a hard gray stuff?  I am guessing that you wipe
the hot iron on it and it cleans, and also melts and coats  the tip.  Should it be hard or gooey?

Thanks

The tip cleaner/conditioner that I have is hard. It softens with heat and has solder mixed in the paste to help pre-tin a new tip.
Tony Hines

mmagliaro

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #38 on: August 08, 2013, 01:44:22 AM »
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The tip cleaner/conditioner that I have is hard. It softens with heat and has solder mixed in the paste to help pre-tin a new tip.

Thanks, Tony.  That sounds exactly like what this looked like in the store.  I figured it was okay, but I passed on it
until I could check around a little.  I can do fine without it, but I'd like to try it to see if it makes tinning any better
or easier than just me and a sponge.

bill pearce

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #39 on: August 08, 2013, 03:47:44 PM »
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The use of flux was the key to my success in building turnouts. I used, and will again if it's still made, Kester soldering paste. It is also a rosin flux, and very effective.

I thank my father for those Heathkits he got me when I was young. I learned soldering on those when I was in the fifth or sixth grade.

mionerr

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #40 on: August 09, 2013, 10:40:13 AM »
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I learned how to solder in college, freshman year in Electrical lab, San Luis Obispo. Learned about flux then. Also learned about another type of flux in the cafeteria, but we won't go any further with that.
Roger Otto
Pueblo, CO

SebastianLee

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Re: Flux - you learn something new every day
« Reply #41 on: August 09, 2013, 11:31:44 PM »
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Here's a word of caution. Etch these words into your soldering brain.

Although flux is great for soldering joints and some electrical contacts, as model builders it's important for those joints to last a long time.  Certain fluxes can really make the solder flow and stick, but in the long run, they will cause your joint to self-destruct over a time period of a few months to a few years.

These fluxes are highly acid and are available easily at your local The Home Depot's or Lowe's and are designed for soldering stuff like copper pipe for your toilets and bear such names as "Plumber's Honey" and work great for soldering pipes using a big-ol' Propane torch when building your house.

Way back when, when I was learning to build N-scale turnouts so I could use Railcraft Code 70 flex on my Ntrak modules (as a compromise between scale appearance and Ntrak's requirement to use code 80 track), I discovered highly acidic flux works GREAT for making solder flow!  I also realized that this flux was highly acidic, so I washed my bench-made turnouts in warm, soapy water and got rid of all the visible signs of it.  After two years of being painted and ballasted, every single turnout I had built started disintegrating with even the plastic Delrin ties going brittle and white.  This caused me to scrap three extensive modules after five years of attempting to fix the problem by resoldering all of the joints on my PCB turnouts as they broke.

After that horror story, I was introduced to a brand of flux that a manufacturer of N-scale catenary was using to construct his models, and that discovery rocked my soldering world just like Max's discovery of plain ol' flux.  Two reasons...it works better than Plumber's Honey and its slight acidity is neutralized by the heat of soldering.  Since those days 25 years ago, all of my brass and NS model building has been done using this brand of flux, and turnouts and models I made that long ago have not exhibited a single moment of self-destructive behavior!

So, make sure the flux you choose is either non-acidic, or that it self-neutralizes or you'll be sorry down the road, believe me.

two words  dishwasher  and oven  :-)   when doing pcb  repair / prototyping  running it through the dishwasher  and drying in a low temp  warming oven makes thorough clean up a breaze.   Also a solder pot is a great luxury for a lazy person like me.