Re: [time-nuts] Subject: Re: Working with SMT parts (Bob Albert)
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for around $3. Is this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 12:11 PM, Bob Albert <bob91343@yahoo.com> wrote:
So where do you get this expired paste? I have tried a few searches but no luck.
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 12:00 PM, Chuck Harris <cfharris@erols.com> wrote:
I have had similar experience with well expired paste.
I just don't worry about it.
The issue is the solder is ground to such a fine powder that
it has a huge surface area to oxidize. As long as you keep
the air off, and refrigerate the paste, it seems to go forever.
Oh, and I only use tin/lead paste, not the RoHS stuff.
-Chuck Harris
Steve Wiseman wrote:
On 18 August 2016 at 07:07, Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com wrote:
I didn't use the liquid solder because I didn't have any and it doesn't keep very long.
That's not really the case. It may change consistency so that it
behaves a little differently and fouls up automated stencilling
machines (which are the most finicky devices on the planet), but with
a human in the loop, you can expect most of a decade unless you let
it dry out or do something daft.
I'm still happily using stuff with a 2007 expiry code, in (big)
plastic syringes. Still behaves fine. (and the benefit of the
stirred-in flux and excellent wetting does make paste a joy to use
compared to even good solder wire).
'Expired' solder paste can be a bargain.
Steve
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The Chinese are certainly using a lot of solder paste, so they
are a source. I tend to buy mine from Mouser, Digikey, TekSource,
places like that.
The last stuff I bought was made by Kester, and came from TekSource.
The only problem with using the real sources is in the summer, they
will pack your paste in an ice pack, and send it over night unless
you insist otherwise (and absolve them of any warranty). That kind
of shipping is very expensive.
And, there is absolutely no possible way the paste you get from
China is going to make it here and follow the manufacturer's
guidelines for safe handling. So, even if you buy new and pay
a premium price from China, you are getting paste that is expired
by the poor handling (not refrigerated).
I would bet that any paste you get on ebay is expired, for a variety
of reasons.
Also, I only buy tin/lead, though it is getting very hard to find.
It works so much better than lead free.
-Chuck Harris
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for around $3. Is
this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
On 8/18/2016 2:41 PM, Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for around $3. Is this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
Best and Mechanic brand from China in small (50 gr) containers seems to
work fine. The small containers are good because the stuff dries out
pretty fast. I've not bothered trying to add flux to it when it does. I
keep a few containers of Best-605 on hand for home projects. I hav a
few containers of Mechanic i bought to try, but haven't used yet. I'm
guessing it all comes from the same 55 Gallon drum ;-)
SRA Solder repackages lead based and lead free solder paste in hobby
friendly quantities (10 - 250 gr) at generally rational prices. Not
nearly as cheap as the Chinese 'brands' off eBay. Good customer service
and quick shipping though.
http://www.sra-solder.com/soldering-brazing-supplies/electronic-grade-solder-paste
I'll use chipquick or Kester paste from Mouser or Digikey for paid projects.
--
mailto:oz@ozindfw.net
Oz
POB 93167
Southlake, TX 76092 (Near DFW Airport)
I don't care about lead-free since I am not manufacturing, just repairing or building or experimenting. But there seems to be more than one way to view this stuff. Yes, it might be expired, but some say that's not a major issue. I can't justify the prices asked by US distributors, especially in light of the fact that I use very little. So the fresh stuff, carefully refrigerated, would be expired by the time I use the second or third scoop of it, anyway.
What's a casual experimenter to do?
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 3:33 PM, Chuck Harris <cfharris@erols.com> wrote:
The Chinese are certainly using a lot of solder paste, so they
are a source. I tend to buy mine from Mouser, Digikey, TekSource,
places like that.
The last stuff I bought was made by Kester, and came from TekSource.
The only problem with using the real sources is in the summer, they
will pack your paste in an ice pack, and send it over night unless
you insist otherwise (and absolve them of any warranty). That kind
of shipping is very expensive.
And, there is absolutely no possible way the paste you get from
China is going to make it here and follow the manufacturer's
guidelines for safe handling. So, even if you buy new and pay
a premium price from China, you are getting paste that is expired
by the poor handling (not refrigerated).
I would bet that any paste you get on ebay is expired, for a variety
of reasons.
Also, I only buy tin/lead, though it is getting very hard to find.
It works so much better than lead free.
-Chuck Harris
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for around $3. Is
this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
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and follow the instructions there.
Bob wrote:
So the fresh stuff, carefully refrigerated, would be expired by the time I use the second or third scoop of it, anyway.
What's a casual experimenter to do?
Build More Stuff !!! ;-)
Charles
The stuff I use is Chipquik SMD291AX. The first syringe of it I bought was from Mouser and was 15 grams. That was back in 2014. The second syringe I got was SMD291AX10, which is 35 grams. It's dated 3/15/16, so you can see how long solder paste will last if you take reasonable car of it. I pumped about 15 grams of that into the original syringe and put them both in the fridge. I've had the small one out on the workbench for several weeks now, and there doesn't seem to be a problem. I fold a piece of tape around the needle when it's not in use to keep the air out. When I pull the tape off, I pump out about a 1/4" string and throw that away. The rest works just fine.
If you haven't switched to using a hot air gun, I strongly suggest it. They take a bit of getting used to, but after that, they're a time-saver. I have the cheap ebay solder station labeled 852D+. It has solder pencil and hot air. There are two things I don't like about it. One is that you can't turn the air flow down enough to use narrow nozzles for anything other than blowing soldered components off the board. But it's Much better than trying to use a pencil for that chore! The other is that the tips are attached by tightening a screw. There are units out there that have a little tool that you use to give the tip a 1/4 turn twist to attach. I don't change tips much, but not having to wait for the hot air gun to cool down would be nice. The first time you reach for the hot air gun to shrink tubing or to solder the center pin for an SMA connector, you know you've "arrived".
Bob
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From: Bob Albert via time-nuts <time-nuts@febo.com>
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2016 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Subject: Re: Working with SMT parts (Bob Albert)
I don't care about lead-free since I am not manufacturing, just repairing or building or experimenting. But there seems to be more than one way to view this stuff. Yes, it might be expired, but some say that's not a major issue. I can't justify the prices asked by US distributors, especially in light of the fact that I use very little. So the fresh stuff, carefully refrigerated, would be expired by the time I use the second or third scoop of it, anyway.
What's a casual experimenter to do?
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 3:33 PM, Chuck Harris cfharris@erols.com wrote:
The Chinese are certainly using a lot of solder paste, so they
are a source. I tend to buy mine from Mouser, Digikey, TekSource,
places like that.
The last stuff I bought was made by Kester, and came from TekSource.
The only problem with using the real sources is in the summer, they
will pack your paste in an ice pack, and send it over night unless
you insist otherwise (and absolve them of any warranty). That kind
of shipping is very expensive.
And, there is absolutely no possible way the paste you get from
China is going to make it here and follow the manufacturer's
guidelines for safe handling. So, even if you buy new and pay
a premium price from China, you are getting paste that is expired
by the poor handling (not refrigerated).
I would bet that any paste you get on ebay is expired, for a variety
of reasons.
Also, I only buy tin/lead, though it is getting very hard to find.
It works so much better than lead free.
-Chuck Harris
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for around $3. Is
this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
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and follow the instructions there.
I have a Chinese hot air gun with several nozzles. Mine are the quarter-turn type but that doesn't work too well due to sloppy tolerances. I have had nozzles fall off in the midst of use. With some care they can be made to stay on, and if necessary bend them a bit to make them more secure.
I have used my hot air device a lot but only for disassembly. For assembly, as I mentioned earlier, I would want to use solder paste. I can't control the hot air well enough to heat just a bit of solder from a spool, and clipping off a piece while trying to put it where it belongs is a poor system. So the paste seems to be the way to go.
Someone needs to invent a low cost paste that doesn't spoil in a few months. It does seem that the Mechanics paste might be an answer to this; I would keep it refrigerated although that might be locking the barn door after the theft.
Again, I am not trying to meet some government soldering specification; I just want something to work without a lot of fuss and cost.
What do major companies do when they discover their stuff is outdated? I need a connection to some of those people, maybe pick up some of it now and then at low cost.
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 7:26 PM, Bob Stewart <bob@evoria.net> wrote:
The stuff I use is Chipquik SMD291AX. The first syringe of it I bought was from Mouser and was 15 grams. That was back in 2014. The second syringe I got was SMD291AX10, which is 35 grams. It's dated 3/15/16, so you can see how long solder paste will last if you take reasonable car of it. I pumped about 15 grams of that into the original syringe and put them both in the fridge. I've had the small one out on the workbench for several weeks now, and there doesn't seem to be a problem. I fold a piece of tape around the needle when it's not in use to keep the air out. When I pull the tape off, I pump out about a 1/4" string and throw that away. The rest works just fine.
If you haven't switched to using a hot air gun, I strongly suggest it. They take a bit of getting used to, but after that, they're a time-saver. I have the cheap ebay solder station labeled 852D+. It has solder pencil and hot air. There are two things I don't like about it. One is that you can't turn the air flow down enough to use narrow nozzles for anything other than blowing soldered components off the board. But it's Much better than trying to use a pencil for that chore! The other is that the tips are attached by tightening a screw. There are units out there that have a little tool that you use to give the tip a 1/4 turn twist to attach. I don't change tips much, but not having to wait for the hot air gun to cool down would be nice. The first time you reach for the hot air gun to shrink tubing or to solder the center pin for an SMA connector, you know you've "arrived".
Bob
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From: Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2016 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Subject: Re: Working with SMT parts (Bob Albert)
I don't care about lead-free since I am not manufacturing, just repairing or building or experimenting. But there seems to be more than one way to view this stuff. Yes, it might be expired, but some say that's not a major issue. I can't justify the prices asked by US distributors, especially in light of the fact that I use very little. So the fresh stuff, carefully refrigerated, would be expired by the time I use the second or third scoop of it, anyway.
What's a casual experimenter to do?
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 3:33 PM, Chuck Harris cfharris@erols.com wrote:
The Chinese are certainly using a lot of solder paste, so they
are a source. I tend to buy mine from Mouser, Digikey, TekSource,
places like that.
The last stuff I bought was made by Kester, and came from TekSource.
The only problem with using the real sources is in the summer, they
will pack your paste in an ice pack, and send it over night unless
you insist otherwise (and absolve them of any warranty). That kind
of shipping is very expensive.
And, there is absolutely no possible way the paste you get from
China is going to make it here and follow the manufacturer's
guidelines for safe handling. So, even if you buy new and pay
a premium price from China, you are getting paste that is expired
by the poor handling (not refrigerated).
I would bet that any paste you get on ebay is expired, for a variety
of reasons.
Also, I only buy tin/lead, though it is getting very hard to find.
It works so much better than lead free.
-Chuck Harris
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for around $3. Is
this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.
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and follow the instructions there.
A good source for experimenters / home builders of small quantities of
tin-lead solder paste is:
http://kd5ssj.com/
http://kd5ssj.com/solderpaste
The supplier, Cash Olson, KD5SSJ, is an amateur radio operator that for
some extra pocket money in his retirement, repackages fresh Kester 256
solder paste into syringes of about 0.5 CC per syringe, and sells them mail
order for $5, postage included (in US).
One of his syringes is enough to assemble several boards. They last about
a year if stored in a refrigerator.
--- Graham
==
On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 9:40 PM, Bob Albert via time-nuts <
time-nuts@febo.com> wrote:
I have a Chinese hot air gun with several nozzles. Mine are the
quarter-turn type but that doesn't work too well due to sloppy tolerances.
I have had nozzles fall off in the midst of use. With some care they can
be made to stay on, and if necessary bend them a bit to make them more
secure.
I have used my hot air device a lot but only for disassembly. For
assembly, as I mentioned earlier, I would want to use solder paste. I
can't control the hot air well enough to heat just a bit of solder from a
spool, and clipping off a piece while trying to put it where it belongs is
a poor system. So the paste seems to be the way to go.
Someone needs to invent a low cost paste that doesn't spoil in a few
months. It does seem that the Mechanics paste might be an answer to this;
I would keep it refrigerated although that might be locking the barn door
after the theft.
Again, I am not trying to meet some government soldering specification; I
just want something to work without a lot of fuss and cost.
What do major companies do when they discover their stuff is outdated? I
need a connection to some of those people, maybe pick up some of it now and
then at low cost.
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 7:26 PM, Bob Stewart <bob@evoria.net>
wrote:
The stuff I use is Chipquik SMD291AX. The first syringe of it I bought
was from Mouser and was 15 grams. That was back in 2014. The second
syringe I got was SMD291AX10, which is 35 grams. It's dated 3/15/16, so
you can see how long solder paste will last if you take reasonable car of
it. I pumped about 15 grams of that into the original syringe and put them
both in the fridge. I've had the small one out on the workbench for
several weeks now, and there doesn't seem to be a problem. I fold a piece
of tape around the needle when it's not in use to keep the air out. When I
pull the tape off, I pump out about a 1/4" string and throw that away. The
rest works just fine.
If you haven't switched to using a hot air gun, I strongly suggest it.
They take a bit of getting used to, but after that, they're a time-saver.
I have the cheap ebay solder station labeled 852D+. It has solder pencil
and hot air. There are two things I don't like about it. One is that you
can't turn the air flow down enough to use narrow nozzles for anything
other than blowing soldered components off the board. But it's Much better
than trying to use a pencil for that chore! The other is that the tips are
attached by tightening a screw. There are units out there that have a
little tool that you use to give the tip a 1/4 turn twist to attach. I
don't change tips much, but not having to wait for the hot air gun to cool
down would be nice. The first time you reach for the hot air gun to shrink
tubing or to solder the center pin for an SMA connector, you know you've
"arrived".
Bob
AE6RV.com
GFS GPSDO list:
groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/GFS-GPSDOs/info
From: Bob Albert via time-nuts <time-nuts@febo.com>
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <
time-nuts@febo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2016 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Subject: Re: Working with SMT parts (Bob Albert)
I don't care about lead-free since I am not manufacturing, just repairing
or building or experimenting. But there seems to be more than one way to
view this stuff. Yes, it might be expired, but some say that's not a major
issue. I can't justify the prices asked by US distributors, especially in
light of the fact that I use very little. So the fresh stuff, carefully
refrigerated, would be expired by the time I use the second or third scoop
of it, anyway.
What's a casual experimenter to do?
Bob
On Thursday, August 18, 2016 3:33 PM, Chuck Harris <cfharris@erols.com>
wrote:
The Chinese are certainly using a lot of solder paste, so they
are a source. I tend to buy mine from Mouser, Digikey, TekSource,
places like that.
The last stuff I bought was made by Kester, and came from TekSource.
The only problem with using the real sources is in the summer, they
will pack your paste in an ice pack, and send it over night unless
you insist otherwise (and absolve them of any warranty). That kind
of shipping is very expensive.
And, there is absolutely no possible way the paste you get from
China is going to make it here and follow the manufacturer's
guidelines for safe handling. So, even if you buy new and pay
a premium price from China, you are getting paste that is expired
by the poor handling (not refrigerated).
I would bet that any paste you get on ebay is expired, for a variety
of reasons.
Also, I only buy tin/lead, though it is getting very hard to find.
It works so much better than lead free.
-Chuck Harris
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Well I have found some Chinese sources of 42 - 50 grams on ebay for
around $3. Is
this the right stuff? The brand is Mechanics.
Bob
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/
mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.
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To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/
mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
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To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/
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