Hi All !
That no-clean solder "wet's" a bit harder, i think it has to do with
the flux used, but i've experienced no "tooth-paste" effects . This
with an unregulated iron . Since a good week i'm using a kit-built
electronic soldering station, and get similar results to the organic
and rosin solder, with the temperature 20C higher . At this temp the
organic and rosin solders splatter more . That no clean solder still
leaves a deposit, but i gather that this is inoffensive .
Not all rosin solders are the same . I still got some that resulted
in a brown molasses-like crust . Here in europe it is almost
impossible to find anything else than rosin based solder in shops .
(But my stock of no-clean is growing ;-) )
Another thing is that double sided boards "take" more solder than
single sided . Hence more flux remains .
Vinegar is acetic acid, afaik always liquid . Probably still got
lung damage from the years passed poring over the infamous "stop-
bath" used in B-W chemical photography . I believe nowadays citric
acid or potassium-bromide is used here . Citric acid is available in
cristallline form, so could be used in solder . But there are many
more compounds around . It's anybody's guess what they are actually
using . The smoke it gives off is no less irritating than the rosin
fumes, imo, but the smell is different :)
Freons are good products with the unfortunate property of destroying
the ozone layer . They are rightly banned from most applications,
and production has stopped afaik . The airliner industry still uses
halon fire extinguishing systems, as they are still the best way to
put out a fire . And they are not poisonous when inhaled .
Releasing massive amounts of co2, as normal for electrical fires, in
the confines of that pressurised cigar-tube is just not on :) . The
freons used here are religiously recuperated and recycled, at great
cost . In the "cold" industry replacements are used that are similar
but less reactive .
I assemble my boards in 3 layers, depending on the height of the
components . Recently i got an assembling frame that can hold the
board at 3 different depths (4 euro cards/MOTM boards at once, if
needed) . One closes a foam lined lid over the parts, flips over the
frame and the soldering fest can begin :) No splaying of leads to
hold the components . Still, i only solder one lead per component at
first, then inspect and adjust, then the rest of the pins . Before
the frame i used a diy version of this procedure .
Haa, nothing like a vacation to write long emails :) Off to the next
module .
Bye for now .
Keep 'em oscillating :)
Hugo
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