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sodium_stearate
Hazard to Others
Posts: 255
Registered: 22-4-2011
Location: guard duty at the checkpoint
Member Is Offline
Mood: No mask.
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One of the wire ends is usually held using a small
heatsink clip that has a magnet on the base. The heatsink
clip is used just as a holder, not as a heatsink. Usually
one wire is held steady in the clip, with the clip being oriented
slightly more than an inch back from the splice area.
That is, if there is sufficient space to do so. Some small
number of the wires are so short that no such holding
and steadying is possible.
The other wire usually gets hand held with my left hand
while the iron is held in my right hand.
That is very interesting to hear that an additional 3% of
tin can make a marked difference in the surface tension,
making the solder have much better wetting properties.
I see this same thing happening when casting the
wax cylinder blanks. If the free stearic acid content
gets below a certain critical point, the liquid wax has
very lousy wetting properties. It gets so it has a rather thick
consistency that makes a convex meniscus. Bump up the free
stearic content and just like magic, the whole gets a very
runny and watery consistency which wets much better
and the meniscus formed is concave. That is how the wax
is supposed to be to make it cast properly.
So, it makes a lot of sense that increasing the tin content
of lead/tin solder can make a very noticeable improvement
in its overall wetting and flow capabilities by lowering
the surface tension.
Makes sense almost on a gut level because I've seen this
in action with the stearic content in the cylinder wax.
By the way, part of the reason for keeping a telephone
exchange as a pet comes from my being a life-long
phone-phreak. For reference see http://www.phonetrips.com
if you've never heard that term before.
[Edited on 22-11-2017 by sodium_stearate]
"Opportunity is missed by most people
because it is dressed in overalls and it
looks like work" T.A. Edison
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Twospoons
International Hazard
Posts: 1324
Registered: 26-7-2004
Location: Middle Earth
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Mood: A trace of hope...
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You might like to look at the wikipedia page on solder. The list of alloys is enormous, each with different properties and intended end use. All the
solder I have (both paste and wire) seems to be Sn67, some of it has a bit of Cu in it to reduce iron tip corrosion. I've also used SnPbAg solder too
- quite nice to work with, and essential for soldering contact wires on piezo discs. I hate the lead free stuff - the joints just don't look right
and it doesn't flow nicely, unless you're using one of the expensive Indium based ones.
I suspect every EE older than 30 has a stash of lead solder against the day the safety Nazis ban sales completely.
[Edited on 22-11-2017 by Twospoons]
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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sodium_stearate
Hazard to Others
Posts: 255
Registered: 22-4-2011
Location: guard duty at the checkpoint
Member Is Offline
Mood: No mask.
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update
Thanks to the suggestions I've gotten here on this
forum, I went back and tried having a small fan blowing
the fumes away.
Tried that many years ago and it did not work very well.
However, that was due to using a different type of soldering
iron. The iron I am using now has no problem staying
hot enough while being temporarily in the air draft created
by the fan.
So far the fan seems to be taking enough of the fumes
away to make it a workable situation.
"Opportunity is missed by most people
because it is dressed in overalls and it
looks like work" T.A. Edison
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