MOTM

hey paul, have you changed the type of organic solder shipped with 
kits? i put together two identical boards tonight - one is done with 
organic i had lying around from a kit i bought a while back, the 
other is done with organic that arrived with my 700 kit today. with 
the new stuff, there's considerably more flux left on the board after 
a wash.

> hey paul, have you changed the type of organic solder shipped with
> kits? i put together two identical boards tonight - one is done with
> organic i had lying around from a kit i bought a while back, the
> other is done with organic that arrived with my 700 kit today. with
> the new stuff, there's considerably more flux left on the board after
> a wash.


This has come up 2 or 3 times over the last 2 years. I have *no explanation*, 
the solder is the same for the last 10 years. It could be many things, such as:

a) soldering iron temperature. Needs to be between 695F and 705F. If you solder 
over 705F, the flux 'boils off' too quick. If you solder too low, then the flux 
does not spread evenly

b) minerals in the water. The best thing to use is distilled water.

c) surface contaminates on the pc board

d) replace the tip on your iron

Paul S.

well i'm glad that you didn't say "oh shit, we have a roll of 
no-clean masquerading as organic" !

are there any other factors? in this particular case, the *only* 
difference is the solder. the two boards are the same design shipped 
at the same time from the mfr in the same little baggie. they have 
been stored and handled identically.

they were soldered within an hour of each other with the same iron, 
which had been up to temperature for an hour or so. the tip was 
bought new with the iron last year and has about 10 modules on it. 
soldering was done before & after board washes. all washes done with 
the same water, and rinsed with the same filtered water.

oh and the last few parts on the first board i did were done with the 
"new" organic. same result - much more flux. i've never seen flux 
remain like this before.

how often should one replace a tip? how can i tell if it's on the way 
out? this one seems as good as ever to work with.

Jason Proctor wrote:
> well i'm glad that you didn't say "oh shit, we have a roll of 
> no-clean masquerading as organic" !

...

> oh and the last few parts on the first board i did were done with the 
> "new" organic. same result - much more flux. i've never seen flux 
> remain like this before.

I've never had the organic flux not wash off. I just bought a new roll 
and it works as good as the old stuff. I would assume in this case 
someone has labeled the package wrong...

> I would 
> assume in this case someone has labeled the package wrong...

I suggest comparing the relative sizes of the two kinds of solder. In MOTM
kits, the no-clean stuff is a heavier gauge than the organic.

--Adam

>I suggest comparing the relative sizes of the two kinds of solder. In MOTM
>kits, the no-clean stuff is a heavier gauge than the organic.

well, i sent the ball back to the heavily-staffed solder analysis 
dept at motm megacorp, inc, so we'll see.