Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

WOW!
That was a very educational discussion pretty much settling on DON'T DO IT.

I was not having anything lined up now that required vias.
I had just stumbled onto the brass tubes in a hobby shop and remembered someone posting questions
about vias here so I bought a few and checked out their mechanical fit..... never actually soldering anything.

Thanks for the education!



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You may think that you have a good connection. The top manufacturing company who made the bad boards that I had to repair over and over again certainly did. But you can not trust it. PERIOD. The brass is swagged over the copper trace with a solder coating on it. Both brass and solder alloys are soft metals and expansion/contraction cycles will open a gap large enough for oxygen and other corrosive gasses in the air to penetrate. You will get oxidization and other forms of corrosion and eventually the joint may/will fail. And it will be HELL to find and repair especially with low level, high impedance signals. You could wind up completely replacing a PCB that cost hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars. I have seen it. I have fought it. Brass tubing or hollow brass rivets MUST be soldered for reliability and there is NO way to inspect that solder joint. It will look perfectly normal on the outside while it is was never a proper joint underneath and corrosion sets in. That is, assuming that the brass was not coated with corrosion before it was inserted in the hole.


USE soldered Z wires so you can see and inspect the solder joint if you want a dependable joint. Or get a board made with plated holes.



:
"Dale Chatham
said,

> The one thing one could do with the brass tubing is to make a

conical

> tool for both sides which will flange the tubing.  Done right,

it would

> produce an airtight seal and solder would be superfluous

(though highly

> advised).

 

YES, it is different than solid wire. Solid wire is copper and usually
plated with tin or solder so that it takes solder easily. Brass, if left
standing for any amount of time can acquire a coating of oxide which
resists solder adhesion. And most electronic fluxes are not formulated
to handle this. You would have to scrupulously clean the brass
immediately before inserting it and soldering it if you want reliable
connections. I have a lot of experience with brass that was "soldered"
to PCBs.

James said,

> Without rivet heads, is it really any different than solid core wire of
> appropriate thickness?

_