AVR Freaks

Hi,

I know this is an old thread, but I just used up my RadioShack  Catalog Number 64-035 Solder.

This is the .015 diameter 62/36/2 Silver-Bearing Solder

I'm with you on how that was nice solder to use.  

For what it is worth, I just ordered this:

Solder Wire 62/36/2 Tin/Lead/Silver no-clean .015 100g ULTRA THIN

[Part Number: SMD3SW.015 100g]

http://www.chipquik.com/store/pr...

 I liked the .015, so that seemed to really limit my options.

Did you ever find anything that you like?

I was recently reading an Amazon review that said the formula for Radio Shack's "High-Tech" line of solder has changed, and that it sucks now. Has anyone else noticed this? I took some photos of my old Radio Shack solders for comparison.

63/37:

This solder is my oldest, and was probably purchased in the mid 1990s. Notice how it says "Assembled in the USA," which means it was probably made in China. I never thought this solder was anything special.

62/36/2:

This solder was purchased around 2007. Notice it says "Made in Taiwan," which is reassuring. Taiwanese stuff is Ferrari-grade compared to Chinese crap. This solder was the best dang solder I ever used. The Kester 44 is very similar, but the Radio Shack just seems... better. I don't know, maybe I'm imagining it, but I always thought the Radio Shack stuff was the best.

So now I'm looking at the latest Radio Shack stuff, and it all says "Made in USA" on it. That means the manufacturing HAS changed, and it's not just new branding/packing. I've never heard of a company moving manufacturing from Taiwan back to the USA, so I'm thinking maybe a whole new company is manufacturing it. Anyway, any input would be appreciated.

Well, I can tell you one unfortunate fact - "Made in America" doesn't mean what it used to. The unfortunate reality is that a number of factors have led to the decline in American manufacturing quality. Many products that say "Made in America" are actually garbage now, inferior even to Taiwanese stuff. A few notable factors:

1. In the 1990s, the national education system shifted away from industrial/manufacturing and began promoting "Math, Science, and Engineering" above all else. The result is that high school classes like Metal-Shop and Wood-Shop became known as "dumb kid" classes, and started filling up with retards, druggies, burnouts, etc. It was only a matter of time before these courses were cut from the curriculum entirely, to save on costs. The result is that teenagers never learned how to use machines like mills, lathes, etc.

2. The "War on Drugs" locked up all the dads, so none of the kids ever had any male role models to teach them how to work with tools. The feminist push to have all women join the workforce meant that most kids were left at home, unattended, as latchkey kids. Most marriages split, and again, kids had no male role models.

3. At least 50% of American wealth has evaporated in the past 20 years. This is evident by the shift in the price of gold. For those who don't know, the price of gold doesn't actually change; it's the eternal, global constant. What DID change is that the value of the American dollar dropped by 2/3, which is why it takes three times as many dollars to purchase an ounce of gold now. The bottom line is that all the tools bought in America are crap now, because no one can afford good tools. In the 1950s, if you needed a hammer, you'd simply go to the store and buy one for $80. These days, most people go to Walmart and buy a Chinese piece of crap for $5. Pretty much NO one can afford a $2,000 drill press, so they resort to buying a $100 turd from Harbor Freight.

The combined effect of these factors is that no one has the knowledge, experience, or tools to make anything that doesn't suck. It's all garbage. And btw, the presidents in this country never change anything; American presidents have no power. The only thing that will "Make America Great Again" is if there's another World War, and Europe and Asia bomb themselves to pieces again. This country was great for 50 years after WWII because we were the only ones left standing, so we produced pretty much ALL of the worlds goods. That fifty-year high has been gone for two decades now, and the American Empire is in slow decline. How's THAT for an answer? Can you tell that I'm actively procrastinating my work? I just blew up a circuit board and REALLY don't want to dismantle it to fix it.

Something else I just thought of - my grandma used to tell me about how my grandpa took auto-paint, auto-body repair, and engine building classes in high school!! I can't even imagine having classes that fun in high school. I doubt if the kids would shoot the place up if they could do something that fun these days. I also remember when I was in Jr. High in the 90's, my P.E. teacher used to tell me stories about how they'd do ARCHERY every week when he first started working there, and how he was famous for being able to shoot arrows straight up into the air, on a parabolic trajectory, and have them fall straight down into gopher holes across the field and hit gophers in the head. I just... I can't imagine how quickly this country's drug problems and murder problems would evaporate if kids had something that fun to look forward to in school. I mean... fun as in archery, not killing small animals.

By the way, I just ordered some of that new Radio Shack solder from Amazon. I'll report back after I've tested it.

I clicked on the solder & flux page, and I see that they have many offerings of 60/40, but only one small roll of 63/37.  I always thought 63/37 was the ideal mix.  What do they know that I don't know?

Well that's the problem isn't it; the cause and effect are often one in the same. Students act like inmates because the schools are prisons, and the schools are prisons because the students act like inmates. The same goes for the War on Drugs - the more the government outlaws drugs, the more drug use goes up. Governments are always too stupid to move backwards, so instead of repealing the bad laws, they just keep stacking new ones on top. This is the mentality that brings down empires. This is why the whole Trumpism/MAGA/Nationalism movement is so threatening to the country. Every time a country tries to put themselves first, it always leads inexorably to their demise. This was a major cause of every World War and empire collapse of the past two millennia. Saying "America First" is like saying "Death to America," but since it's paradoxical, and counter-intuitive, the idiotic, uneducated masses don't realize what's happening until it's too late.

I did find the political discourse interesting - especially the reference to Melman, however, i agree, it is getting a little too ‘hot’.

I doesn't really matter, the difference from the eutectic is very small and so difficult to measure, that I can't find in the literature the exact composition of the ternary eutectic.

The closest I found is 38.1% Pb, 1% Cu, 60.9% Sn melting at 182.2 ºC (source - closed, but sci-hub is your friend).

I have some 63/37 solid core (no flux) solder.  It's no use to me because it won't stick to the soldering iron tip.

If you are soldering with one hand holding the solder and the other had holding the iron, you are doing it the hard, slow, clumsy, messy way.  Do it the way boards are soldered professionally.  They coat the board with flux and then hit the board with molten solder.

Many years ago I soldered with the solder in one hand and the iron in the other because the flux in the core was the only flux I had.  It's a lousy way to get flux on the surfaces to be soldered.  The main purpose of flux is to clean the surfaces to be soldered.

Now I put flux on the surfaces to be soldered first.  Then I get a lump of molten solder on the iron.  Then I hit the joint to be soldered with the molten lump.  The heat transfer is fast.  Soldering a small component like an 0604 chip resistor takes less than a second and gives a good soldering job.  Soldering bigger hunks of metal takes longer.  It takes several seconds to solder through hole header pins.

I use ChipQuik tacky flux that is water washable.  SMD4300TF10.  I use Kester 60/40 rosin core solder.  When done soldering, I easily wash the flux off under the faucet.  I don't know what happens to the rosin in the core.  This tacky flux may be unfit for the higher temperature for lead free solder.  I use around 305 C. 

I use a bent conical tip for almost everything.  I think you can buy them but I bend my own with pliers.  The soft copper bends easily. 

I discovered bent tips when I dropped my iron on the kitchen floor.  My first reaction when I saw the bent tip was damn! Now I'll have to buy another tip.  Then I tried it and OMG!  Now I won't use anything else.