^ Do a quick search using your favorite search engine for "lead free solder whiskers" and/or "lead free solder dendrites". No need to re-type it all.
That will find it. I thought the problem was so serious that military and space applications still use leaded solders.
I’m getting great joints with the tip temp set to 325C. Solder flows well and 0805 and leaded components soldering well. I turfed the old bit and put a new one in - the high temps really ruined the coating on it.
If you're using any of the currently available decent makes this isn't a problem. It was an issue when lead-free was first being adopted but if you think that pretty well ALL commercial electronics available within Europe is lead-free. The exceptions tend to be specifically exempted stuff like space/aerospace, medical kit.
Reading your posts has made me look again at my tip temperature settings. Consequently, I realised my current 350C is a leftover from when I was using lead-free solder.
When I switched back to SN63 leaded solder, I didn't reduce the setting accordingly (lead-free typically needs around 10-15C higher temps than leaded). While I'm getting good results, the flux tends to burn off quicker than I'd like so I'll drop my temp back down to 325C for my next run at soldering. Lets see how we go.
Bonsai, What tip(s) are you using or have tried?
I have the Weller set for 725F/385C using a ETA tip, AIM glow-core no-clean leaded, 15mil (0.318mm), 32, 40(1mm) . Good enough for small TH and smt. The only time I crank it is to remove leads/solder from PTH connections to a ground plane, 2-layer pcb.
The ETV tips do not work, won't stay wet.
Next up in the Mouser shopping cart, will be to try a few others, ETL, ETH, ETJ, ETR, ETAA and report back
That and trying out 757-TTA006BQ (757-TTC011BQ) to replace EOL KSA1381(2SA1381) in the DH-220C design
IMO if it's built to last forever, and easy to repair, then leaded solder is just fine. If it's throw-away electronics it should be lead free 🙂
I have the neighbour's Daughter doing some THT assembly, what a relief, she's really good, build complete power supplies now.
Some have it and some don't, like music etc., I suck at playing music, like listening to it thou, one of her next lessons, smt 🙂 !
Women are way better than the average Joe at soldering, At the Motorola factory where I worked, the techs/EE's where not allowed to change parts in production, only diagnose the fault. Too many damages 🙂
Happy soldering.
I have the Weller set for 725F/385C using a ETA tip, AIM glow-core no-clean leaded, 15mil (0.318mm), 32, 40(1mm) . Good enough for small TH and smt. The only time I crank it is to remove leads/solder from PTH connections to a ground plane, 2-layer pcb.
The ETV tips do not work, won't stay wet.
Next up in the Mouser shopping cart, will be to try a few others, ETL, ETH, ETJ, ETR, ETAA and report back
That and trying out 757-TTA006BQ (757-TTC011BQ) to replace EOL KSA1381(2SA1381) in the DH-220C design
IMO if it's built to last forever, and easy to repair, then leaded solder is just fine. If it's throw-away electronics it should be lead free 🙂
I have the neighbour's Daughter doing some THT assembly, what a relief, she's really good, build complete power supplies now.
Some have it and some don't, like music etc., I suck at playing music, like listening to it thou, one of her next lessons, smt 🙂 !
Women are way better than the average Joe at soldering, At the Motorola factory where I worked, the techs/EE's where not allowed to change parts in production, only diagnose the fault. Too many damages 🙂
Happy soldering.
I expect Bonsai will be along shortly. One thing I found when switching to SMD from THT was that 1mm dia solder is way too large. Generally recommended dia is 0.5mm. I think I've got a virtually full reel of 1mm going unused🙁
I have two rolls (1Lb) and that's it 15, 32 or 40 mil no-clean Pb/Sn 63/37.
Going thu a roll or more a year of 32mil now with orders.
A 15mil rolls lasts a life time of smt, we use it for sfr16s resistors too on the STK products.
I do not sell anything in smt, if I did, I would sub it out, but hand solder smt for prototypes and one of's
DIY folks do not like to smt solder.
Going thu a roll or more a year of 32mil now with orders.
A 15mil rolls lasts a life time of smt, we use it for sfr16s resistors too on the STK products.
I do not sell anything in smt, if I did, I would sub it out, but hand solder smt for prototypes and one of's
DIY folks do not like to smt solder.
That certainly seems to be the general thing for DIYers. Having transitioned to SMD and invested in the right tools for the job, I've found I really enjoy it and resent having to assemble the odd THT board. I haven't gone down the solder paste / reflow oven approach.
My setup consists of a good digitally controlled 60W solder iron (Ersa i-Con Nano) with a range of different sized wedge and chisel bits, a decent magnifier headset and a decent anti-stat worksurface. To hold my boards when I'm doing SMD work, I have a piece of the black antistatic sheet that acts to keep everything in place while I work on it.
Works well for me.
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Most of the time its a mix of smt and TH parts
Still to this day it seems like there is more TH ecap selection than smt and I do not get why they can't mark values on mlcc. It's like I have to chose a different mfg just so I get a different colour dielectric to differentiate them 🙂 I remember Motorola forcing the mfg to print codes on the MLCC for inspection purposes and that was in 1985. Head's stuck in sand?
Still to this day it seems like there is more TH ecap selection than smt and I do not get why they can't mark values on mlcc. It's like I have to chose a different mfg just so I get a different colour dielectric to differentiate them 🙂 I remember Motorola forcing the mfg to print codes on the MLCC for inspection purposes and that was in 1985. Head's stuck in sand?
Personally, I find SMD versions of electrolytics are a pain to solder so tend to use THT in any layouts I do.
Agree. It's a PITA for inspecting. I've recently had a number of 0805 resistors with no marking - a good brand too!
To help my assembly, I've started to use an interactive BOM add-on for KiCad that gives a great visual aid to highlight part locations on the board as you select the part in the BOM.
I use THT for electrolytics and film caps where I need high values because NP0/COG are not available. But for everything else. I use SMT if I can - once you've made the switch, it is fantastic IMV.
I use 0.5mm older for SMT and 1mm for THT.
I use 0.5mm older for SMT and 1mm for THT.
Bonny,
I see your problem. You are holding those two soldering tools wrong. They will work much better if you hold the thermally insulated handles during use! 😉
I see your problem. You are holding those two soldering tools wrong. They will work much better if you hold the thermally insulated handles during use! 😉
Andrew, try the 3mm chisel for SMD It works great for 0805 resistors and capacitors. Also for SOICs and SSOPs - using a drag technique you can complete these two packages really quickly and neatly. Have a look online for this.
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