When it comes to soldering, I consider myself a soldering fanatic. I make no excuses for my choices of soldering wire and flux core. This is part of my soldering training in the Air National Guard. We used only leaded solder that was a pure eutectic alloy with an RMA flux core. This has proven over decades to be the best combination to produce joints of the best appearance, best quality and best reliability. Joints produced using a pure eutectic alloy have only two states of being, liquid or solid. This is the easiest solder to learn with because of this point. RMA flux core is the best because it produces the best appearance and the joints endure G forces, physical and mechanical stresses and thermal inversions. This is the level of quality and reliability necessary for avionics, aerospace, biomedical electronics and even high end audio. When human life and class A assets are involved, failure is not an option nor is mission failure. For those who go with lead free, ask someone else. For leaded soldering, there are get by solder wire and there are pure eutectic alloys with RMA flux cores which deliver the ultimate in soldering excellence. This isn’t opinion, it is proven fact over decades of use. Kester, AIM, Alpha Metals and Multicore are the brands who have proven themselves over time. Each must use what they can afford and tolerate. Having a solder which only has two states, liquid or solid, and a proven flux core of decades of use that endure the worst of conditions make the best solder joints you can deliver. It won’t make you a solder expert, but it will give you the ability to produce this level of quality and reliability with practice, practice, practice! It’s up to you and your budget. If you only want to produce the best results, you need the solder wire that yields this. A pure eutectic leaded solder alloy, Sn63, 63% tin/37% lead or Sn 62, 62% tin, 36% lead and 2% silver are the best choices. The solder’s flux core that makes the best joints is RMA, Rosin Mildly Activated. When decades of proven results tell you that you have made the best choice, no argument exists. Save yourself frustration, use only a pure eutectic alloy with an RMA flux core. You can’t lose. Frustrations melt away when you use the best solder!
@@charlieoscar09, there are only a few brands that I can recommend that offer the consistency, repeatability and quality that yields the right results. The only brands I have used and recommend are Kester, AIM, Alpha Metals and Multicore solders. RMA, rosin mildly activated, flux core is the only flux core I will use in a leaded solder. Sn63, 63%tin/37%lead or Sn62, 62%tin/36%lead/2%silver are the two options I use with high reliability and high quality results. 0.025” or 0.020” are the two sizes I use for through hole soldering. Anything larger is just wasteful and great solder isn’t cheap. There is no Sn60, 60%tin/40%lead I would ever use as it is not a pure eutectic solder. Sn60 has a plastic state or range as it is called. This is why I only use a pure eutectic solder. I will gladly answer any other questions you may have. Feel free to ask. 3.3% flux ratio to weight is the best you can get. The solder I am using is Kester 282 solder and Kester 186 liquid flux. I use 0.015” size solder which allows me the greatest control with the least waste.
@@markphilpot8734 very detailed information from you Mark, I would also like to know what solder and flux is best to use for soldering Brass, I build model trains and want to have the best strength when it comes to physical and mechanical stresses because of the they will be handled and carried around to different shows and layouts. I read somewhere that the one with Silver is the way to go for Brass but of course I would like for you to shed some light on this as I am a beginner and would love to learn the proper way from the start. At the moment I have a reel of Kester Sn62 Pb36 Ag2 (24-7150-8800) with no clean 245 flux but I'm not extremely impressed by it and doesn't seem to flow very good on my Brass joints. Thank you
@@daniell37, Daniel, this depends on what flux matches what is in this solder. In order to achieve top drawer performance, the flux core of the solder must match the extra flux used. This is key to soldering anything. If the fluxes are mismatched, the results are not ideal and dubious as their chemistries are mismatched and therefore not optimized and there will not be predicable, compatible, ideally optimized for maximum performance. The one key thing is flux core/extra flux matching. I use Kester 282 which has an RMA flux core and has a flux percentage of 3.3% flux by weight ratio. The extra flux I use is Kester 186 liquid RMA flux. Same manufacturer yields the best possible match. By brand, also known as brand matching is the other optimum way to get perfect chemical matching of both flux core and extra flux. This is the best because they’re both manufactured for each flux type to each type of flux core offered. Always use brand matched solder and extra flux regardless of which flux type for whatever brand used. It would be the same if it were AIM, Alpha Metals, but I have not seen any for Multicore which is what my Sn62 is with an Rosin flux core. I use Kester 186 with any Rosin cored solder. The base of the fluxes is rosin. Only the activation is different while the bases are identical. This is the key to results. An R, RA or RMA may use and RMA extra flux. The RMA is less active than either the R or RA flux core. The results offered with the RMA flux is how it cleans the joint and the appearance it achieves as a result. The RMA flux helps yield that jeweled look that wows. This is the critical circuit mentality. Focus, one joint at a time, cleaning between joints and always starting and ending cleaning always. Cannot yield if you want the best result. I know jack about brazing, but clean surfaces, no vibration during the procedure, apply the right amount of extra flux and time management to minimize tempering. That’s the best for you. Mixing flux core types with extra flux yields questionable results as the chemistry is not exact and maybe even conflicting which leaves you with very bad end product which has a less than favorable result. Only matched flux core and extra flux will yield the optimum results. Silver content solder is used in jewelry making and electronic instrumentation. Think about that. Ideal for jewel and instrumentation use. There is something special about silver content solder. When you have tin plated stranded wire and you pre solder the wire, the wire has the silver solder on it. If you are soldering to a board, your joint is clean and the pad. Best practices, as it is called, work for brazing as well. Excess extra flux use is something you also want to avoid. There is an ideal amount of flux for any fluxed operation is learned. Practice is where you gain this. You will tire of the flux cleanup if you use too much. It makes you a better solderer or brazer. Hope this helps, a bit long winded. Brass is used as a base for connections on electronic components. Maybe ask some specialty lighting companies to see what they use. Flux core and extra flux needs to match for optimum results, even with brazing. Take care and be safe Daniel.
For the most part, I agree. However, there is ONE lead-free solder that I can't differentiate from lead so much so it's the only thing I use. It's 100% eutectic, it wets incredibly well, it shines like a diamond and has similar vibration cracking resistance than 63/37 SnPb ( "RELIABILITY TESTING OF Ni-MODIFIED SnCu AND SAC305 - VIBRATION" ). It's Nihon superior's SN100C licensed and produced by AIM. There's no God-given reason why Lead makes the perfect counterpart to Tin in solder. It's just technology and eventually something better will come along. I think SN100C is that combination.
Here is a tip from Germany: Flux residues (rosin) left by the Felder solder can be removed with 99% ethanol. Felder "RA" is activated with halide, so I would highly recommend it when it comes to soldering very old components.
Extensive, great test! Thank you for making this comparison. I was relieved when I tested Mechanic HXT-100 63/37 solder. It has nice amount of flux in it, it melts and flows just like some older solder that I've been using for years. Reason for getting new brand of solder was the ban of lead (=not being able to buy "regular" solder locally). Cheers!
Yeah tottaly my problem i've been buing one Brand localy and it was amazing now i've tried a lot of lead solders but nothing could even compare to my favourite one. I Will try the pros kit looks great
Well, you can't get much more comprehensive that this. Thanks a lot for being so fair. I was beginning to wonder about lead-free solders, but you've convinced me that they're worth looking at.
At first, I was going to post a cynical remark like "clearly, you have far too much time on your hands" but refrained as I found myself watching hypnotically as you ran through your tests. Thank you for your efforts and the information!
Brand new parts to gold plated pads is not much of a challenge for the solder or the flux. Maybe a bit more of a challenge would help to sort out the capabilities of each. I know I am not alone in having tried some lead free solders that were awful. In your tests everything works great and it seems any differences are really subtle. Get some uniformly old parts and some uniformly oxidised copper contacts and then see what works better and compare the costs & availability. Thanks!
I think lead-free solder is quite different and has the following problems: 1) it may form tin whiskers 2) afaik, it less mechanically robust, lead has much more plasticity and better reacts on thermal stress 3) requires higher soldering temperature, this becomes a problem when soldering big ground polygons, additional equipment like bottom heater may be needed 4) wetting is much worse 5) it tends to form solder bridges on fine-pitched ICs. To have same soldering experience, lead-free requires more aggressive fluxes, flux becomes more important. Most of these observations come from my personal experience (except tin whiskers and mechanical properties, I read about these, but haven't experienced myself yet).
I have a video coming up soon for comparing different fluxes. I may consider testing a small number of solder pastes, but it gets expensive quickly! The solder wire has no shelf life to speak of, so less of an issue :)
I've got a 0.5kg roll of 0.7 rosin core solder, 60/40, RS 4.1/327 (not sure what 327 means) the label says Billiton It's quite old (at least 30 years old I think) but still performs well. As a hobbyist, it will last me a long long time still. It does spit a bit on occasion which can be annoying for smd work with a head band magnifier with my face quite close to the work piece. Should probably invest in a video microscope or something. Thanks for showing what to look for in a good solder joint.
I have always used leaded multicore. Works fine, but one thing I've found over years using it is that it is consistent from one roll to the next in batches that are years apart. Others may be similar, but if I find a good product I stick with it.
Excellent! As ever in the world of electronics there are questions to ask, these tests are no different. Testing in this manner I suggest you have covered all of the main Brands, Alloys available and demonstrated clearly what’s going on. For me, I’m always having to go away and look at the Halides, Rosins etc. Now that’s when things can get confusing. Maybe its an area I just have a mental block. A BIG 👍 from me. Keep up the great content.
I would have previously said that the types with high rosin and high halide content would typically be the best solder to buy, but following these tests that doesn't appear to be the case any more. The Multicore Smart solder is testament to this. Thanks!
Excellent and detailed examination of solder. One thing I noticed on the final test is the addition of the flux may have been negative. The flux is mostly doing its job OK, but too much flux the solder flows too much. I noticed in this test, the solder looked cracked past its meniscus point. The non-fluxed solder seemed to flow until it stopped at the right spot before splitting. I am not an expert, but I do a lot of soldering, and that is how I would imagine it. Most of the time, I use flux for either difficult joints or when I reuse solder usually the good stuff. It was straightforward to see the crystalline solders will not last over time. In my 35 years soldering, I have witnessed many dry joints, and they all come from a matt finish.
@@sdgelectronics There is a lot of variables associated with solder and from my material science studies at University (which I enjoyed) solder when it goes from liquid to solid goes through a Solidus zone that forms crystal and later reduces the structural integrity of solder. This is only part of the reason for the reason why solder goes dry. The use of flux helps resolve this problem, but some solders are just too cheap to go into high-level material science. I have always stuck to Multicore, but from your video, I see a few others that I like as well. ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B9780815515937000047-f04-68-9780815515937.jpg (image credit - Jaydeep Sarkar). This image shows the perfect lead-based solder point where the solder goes from liquid straight to solid called the Eutectile Region. Flux broadens this region but not by much. I will leave the rest of the theory up to the scientists.
I spent 3 years building satellites and their various sub-assemblies. The first thing was to de-gold and re-tin all components using leaded solder. (reduces possibility of tin whiskers). Memory ddims and other small pcb's had to have the unleaded solder removed, then re-soldered using leaded solder. 0402's were a complete pain! Soluble non-active resin flux in liquid form was always used plentifully, then removed with IPA and careful light brushing. The important thing is to get all the factors correct: Heat available, solder alloy, flux, duration of operation, cleaning, etc. There is no step-ladder long enough to remake a dry joint once the craft is up there...
You should have shown how well the solder on THT test flowed to the other side of the PCB as I have found during my job that the multicore 362 60/40 solder flows better through the joint so as to make good contact on both sides of PCB
I noticed the actual solder wire on the Kester is extremely shiny in comparison to any other solder I've seen. Seems to work well, but the brand is very uncommon in the UK. I had to import this reel.
It would be good to see a similar test of solder paste, I always have to use wick on such as 28 pin ssop packages, the stencil applied paste spreads out when heated and bridges a lot of the pins.
The quality of solder wire is related to its flux. Flux needs to be active to achieve good soldering good wetting. However it also need to have very reliable residues after soldering. If you have very active flux, means too much acids in it, you do very quick and perfect soldering but in couple of months you start to see very electrochemical reactions. This is why you need to more focus on flux reliability details on product datasheets especially if you are soldering fine pitch components and highly populated boards. We do not recommend post-cleaning after soldering if you use no-clean products.
Thanks Steve for the detailed analysis...as I was watching I looked over at the bench where there are three 1lb. rolls of Kester/Multicore silver/non-silver that at this point should last me until my soldering iron "goes cold!" Biting the bullet and getting it in quantity pays off in the long run.
A fantastic comparison video. I enjoyed that very much. Personally, I have had terrible results with the inexpensive solders from China. I mainly stick to name brand types now, Kester and Multicore/Loctite. I don't know if you have access to MG Chemicals brand products in the UK, but I have started using their solders (63/37 No Clean in particular) which is not quite as expensive as the other big brands but performs very well for me. Again, excellent video. Keep up the great work.
Yes, I've got a few items from MG Chemicals, although I've not tried their solder wire. I would normally stick with the known good brands, but the Mechanic branded items do seem relatively genuine - especially the solder paste, which is more cost effective than most other options.
Interesting comparison. Solder has gotten ridiculously expensive in recent years. For years, I used Radio Shack solder for general electronic use because it flowed well. Now buying Kester from Kimco. The price is more reasonable than even the Chinese stuff and it's brand name.
this was insanely informative. I always felt so lost going to the store to buy solder. I feel like i could make really informed ecisions now. Thank you so much.
Spent quite some time on trying out different affordable types of solder, and settled on the Mechanics brand. They are consistently good. Wish I had seen your video though, would have saved so much money :D.
Yes, Mechanic is much better than other Chinese brands, because Mechanic is Hong Kong brand. Other solders at banggood or aliexpress are all garbage and waste of money.
Im using the Kester one, it's really nice to use, and has a no-clean flux while still having great performance. But I never solder corroded stuff.. but for pcb work, I stay with this Kester one😉
I think it's possible that Jinhu Solder may have some zinc in it for it to look that way. Zinc can wreak havoc for Lead Casters as well. That's my best guess.
Interesting results. BUT I am living in the Philippines and solder here (from China) varies a lot in quality. Many are pretty much useless; lacking flux and having a very high melting point. I had the same experience when I lived in mainland China and gauging from the store sales staff they were well aare of the quality problems; when I asked for VERY GOOD solder they smiled and pointed to a brand and would say, THIS is good.
I like when you commented on the "old school smell". Please don't do any smell testing if at all possible. I'm no solder scientist but sounds like smelling solders are not super duper for you. GREAT video. LOVE the detail
Thanks Steve, this is an excellent reference. Very detailed reviews with the product stats shown on the screen, including the price. I have 250g of the mechanic stuff @1mm which is perfect. I also bought 250g of a 60/40 rosin lead free cheap reel at the same time and that is terrible. You have to run your iron around 380 to even start melting it, whereas the mecanic stuff begins to melt from 320c. Although I mainly use 350c like Big Clive due to the boards and the speed I work at.
The mechanics solder works pretty well around 250c when doing small through hole stuff. I do have my solder iron calibrated so temps I quote should be pretty accurate.
Brilliant comparison ,use old fashioned 60-40 tin lead myself but open minded. Interested to know from a fanatic if theres a gold coloured solder ,not gold itself but something that melts at low temp thats more gold coloured ,thanks
At what temperature did you solder the joints for the pin-headers? Was it the same temperature across all solders, or did you use different temperatures? Also I am mostly soldering SMD parts and for that I am preferring to use EDSYN SU 5250 which is a 0.5mm Sn60Pb38Cu2 with FSW 34 flux.
MG Chemical 63/37 No Clean Leded Solder, i wish you would do review or comparison to that one. Its pretty cheap and has unique No clean formula but it's rosin activated, no clean again formula. I'm going to order that one and see how it does.
I have subscribed some time ago, but this is a keep, so placed in file. I do everything but mostly automotive and sick of current crop of solder. This helpful as I solder automotive wire and components. I spent almost 4 decades fixing vehicles for others so now retired, building one for me. If you have kids, you know they have fully grown when they total out their cars instead of yours. I got my C10 this way after son quit lost interest and hit black ice slide into tree then towed to my back yard. I harvested the EFI engine, sold the new trans, kept all wires, connectors, and modules. Instead of outside near engine, mine past thru firewall and sit in vertical slots in console made from PVC board. Facing up for service, the PCM, TAC, BCM is in console for easy service. Magnets hold leather center cover over all including door switches. They use serial data to control engine, power windows, theft, lights, horn & RKE on factory key fob push button. Just having fun as I draw this stuff out and measure everything including power seats as I am 6’ 3” but wife is 120 lbs at 5’7” and has factory switch to change gas & brake pedal for her. Thanks for the work as camera, lights, PCB, planning, filming, editing and watching how many times before uploading? A bunch! Thank you because is solder, shrink tube, etc. Tip: Wrapping harness is needed using electrical tape either cords or bundles. Wrap and place dab of weather strip adhesive on tag end and will not unravel. Thank you again for this work! DK. Omaha. ASE Master Tech since 78
Fantastic! Thanks for making the effort to do this. Very interesting and useful! 👍🏼 I've been using Warton 63/37 for a few years now, and it's an excellent solder, but considering how well the cheaper brands perform, I may consider one of them....if I live long enough to use the remainder of the 500g Warton reel. 😆
I had a hard time remembering which THT was better, but the hot-plate test was good because you could see all of them at once. Maybe a summation in order of best to worse in each category, like shiniest to dullest, etc. All the cheap Ebay solder tests that I've seen all came out frosty like the Jinhu, like some local 99% tin I got, but that Mech looks like it's worth a risk.
Really enjoyed this one. I went with the Pro's Kit some time ago after watching this and have been completely happy with it. Finally almost through one tube so I ordered 3 more. Would love to see some more comparisons between gear - especially a larger comparison of flux.
I have just very sadly used the last few mm of my Maplin solder. Like you I have used this for many years and think it was one of the best. It's like losing a good friend. I still have not found anything quite as good.
I use the mechanics solder and I have had no real problems with it. I use a really thin solder though because I solder small pitch smd components and it is hard to feed enough solder onto the tip of the iron when trying to do drag soldering. It is good to keep a few thicknesses on hand depending on what you are doing. I paid
It could be, and may explain the difficulty in getting it to melt on the hot plate. I guess tin is cheaper than lead, so they may have just increased the tin ratio to cut costs.
@@sdgelectronics i have jinhu lead free solder wire is need high temp dan the solder wire label is wrong on lead free it say leaded solder but it lead free
Please, can one of you test the hardness of the reflowed alloy? I had qiute opposite theory, that they put more lead in there, because tin is usually much more expensive than lead and you can rarely see the Chinese manufacturers using the more expensive materials instead of the cheapest available. Mechanic brand is known to be significantly higher quality than other Chinese brands. In fact, Mechanic isn't Chinese brand, but Hong Kong brand.
Hey can you do a stress test, like with those plates you have for letting the solder melt how about a wire attached to it and put a weight on it and see how long it will take for the solder to break hopefully it doesn't break the tinning.
Right now I'm comparing LAOA soldering wire vs Kaina (blu) soldering wire. On Aliexpresss these seem to be the best options available right now (or at least that I'm aware of). LAOA seems to be very good, and costs relatively little - 26 euros for 400 grams.
Exactly what I was looking for. I was wondering if the tin amount matters that much in non-lead solder, but every brand seemed to function pretty well!
Thank you for taking out so much time to make a decision simple. This video is the best for beginners like myself. I just watched the flux, awesome. Can you recommend a soldering iron for newbs.
Excellent. One of the best videos and best technical videos on UA-cam. Lots of information well conveyed. I ordered some Multicore 362 (62, 36, 2 Sn, Pb, Ag)(#5 on your list), it's a little hard to find - I ordered from Newark (the company) and getting one spool from US and one from UK sent to me in Georgia. I considered the Pro'skit solder because of your tests but it's only available in 17 gram tubes and the equivalent amount (to the Multicore I ordered) would have cost 8 times as much. And there's a certain guaranteed consistency with a brand like Multicore (which is now Henkel\Loctite). Thanks for the information. Added credentials: long time IT & Technology consultant. Been around for so long that most of the people I learned soldering from are dead now. Is that too dark?
Maybe you could have switched the position of the different solders on the plates? To make sure there isn't a temperature gradient responsible for the differences And you mention it at the end but yeah, the point of the strong activated flux is to clean the corrosion, so doing it it with older PCBs would be very interesting.
Very nice video! Apparently mechanic makes a 60/40 solder as well. Would have been great to include that one as well. They also have much thicker solder in the 60/40.
Which one is the best option for soldering on a budget that you can order through aliexpress? It should be easy to clean and leave a shiny surface without sputting. Which solder would you recomment to me?
You will only get shiny surfaces from lead containing solders. Both 60/40 or 63/37 are fine. Having said that, I am soldering commercial product with lead-free by hand and it's fine. Does it look shiny? No. Does it work? Yes, it works perfectly. You just have to get used to solder joints that make you feel like you are a beginner. It's all in your head, though. ;-)
I know not what solder among your kit that can be horrible, but I do know we have a tube of solder that came with an PI beginner kit (or something like that) that DEFINITELY was low grade. I had to manually add flux to help it, because oh man did it have trouble flowing across and taking my tip away resulted in a solder spike forming if i didn't add any paste. Weirdly enough, i cut a bit off once, and it seemed like it had a flux core. Probably cheap flux.
@@sdgelectronics I have is right in front of me and was like, what? really? silver? don't remember having any solder with silver in it. Sure enough, there is none
@@sdgelectronics I see their products are changing a lot, can't even find mine on it. Same part number now has 1% CU. That is not what I would expect to see
Sadly (?!) really enjoyed that. I've the identical Maplin solder I bought 30+ years ago (still works fine!). Also bought some Koccu branded solder from China which appears identical in all but name to your Jinhu, and which went straight in the bin after a few tests because the joints looked so weird. Am going to try Mechanic solder on the basis of this vid. Thanks!
try the kester. its the best one in my opinion because the flux is very well proportioned so when you solder there will be no flux leftover on the board. I have never had to clean my boards witch saves me a lot of time.
I have 2 rolls of solder behaves just like that jinhu solder and I hate the appearance of it, it's not shiny and pretty dull, but it still flows ok though and still gives a reliable joint but it's dull when it's solidify
Excellent content, interesting topics and reviews, I have only just discovered your posts ( now subscribed ), nice unbiased , sensible comments. I am a now retired electronics technician, ( life long in the industry ) and fully endorse your UA-cam channel. Best wishes. Richard.
One other brand I would suggest checking out is cynel. It's a polish company and their solder wire is professional grade too and it's relative cheap compared to other high name brands, such as kester. Also if I'm not mistaked it's no clean too
@@sdgelectronics I have their 60/40 0.8mm and it's great. I also have a 0.5mm mechanic and although it's made in China, it's not the typical Chinese solder that you buy off aliexpress and banggood. It's really good and the fact that it's 63/37 is definitely a plus
just picked up some multicore with Crystal 400 the c400 any experience with that one? he had 10 rolls I got them for 10$ on clearance on the counter each for 500g rolls I figured why not haven't had a chance to use them yet though I figured even as backup solder it should be decent. they are 63\37 can't find much info other then the datasheet. another really decent China solder is the best brand 60\40 and the BLUE kaina but you have to make sure to get the blue version there is an orange one which sucks imo, the best branded one is really nice though
I'm relatively new to soldering. One thing I've read a lot already is that a key reason for using leaded-solder instead of lead-free solder is because lead-free solder is much more tedious to desolder later on. Is there any truth to this? Curious on your views.
Lead solder is a lot easier to work with and your soldering iron tips will last a lot longer. The flux used in lead-free solder is quite nasty stuff. Generally speaking, lead-free works fine, but I subjectively see more lead-free joints fail over time than lead.
Here’s the thing. There are many opinions on solder and which is best. While in the Air National Guard, I used three different brands of solder which all had the same specs. All were Rosin Mildly Activated flux cored, all were 3% flux content and all were 63/37 pure eutectic leaded solders. The key was the type of soldering we did and the standard of quality was stringent. DOD STD 2000-1 was the soldering standard back then and compliance to it was not a question as critical circuitry has no lower standard. Human life and mission requirements are harsh realities in avionics and also other fields. Mediocrity does not exist in this environment and failure is not an option. As I stated, human life and mission requirements are not subject to arguments, they are requirements! This skill is hard as are it’s processes. It is learnable and was by myself. Over four decades I have practiced my craft and all with pure eutectic leaded solder. The higher flux content aided the processes, but cleaning was done only with 99% isopropyl alcohol as it poses no harm to plastic parts(PCBs). I haven’t used lead free and based on what I have heard, it is harder to achieve the level of appearance that the leaded solder yields. We used additional flux and cleaned everything including the solder as corrosion would leave air pockets in the joints. At lower frequencies, this was not as much an issue, but at higher ones, the air pockets would act like tiny capacitors and reap sconion with the circuitry. So even solder must be clean to solder on critical circuits to obtain the required results. The RMA solder and flux always produced the brightest and shiniest joints, these joints can withstand G forces, mechanical and physical stresses and thermal inversions and vibration resistance. The methods and materials were chosen based on this ability and for their consistency, reliability and repeatability. When someone’s going to fight a war or save a life, there is no place for second place. Second place means loss of life and or mission failure. No one wants that on their conscious. That is it in a nutshell. The J STD level 3 is the same as DOD STD 2000-1 back in the day. It is a hard standard, but level 3 is the critical requirement level and not for the lazy or the uncommitted techs. There is no tomorrow or second place in this level. Second place is first loser. Therefore, you must have your head completely in the game and at all times. It’s not for everyone, only the committed need apply! Life is precious and mission is first. That is the way it is in the high quality, high reliability world of professional soldering. That’s not an opinion, that’s a fact! Stay safe mates!😊👍🏻😷
Excellent comparison. I am trying to generate best temperature profile for some cheap solder paste i purchased from China.. Will try to recreate this test
You had one on start Stanol 60/40 but not on test, so you indeed missed to test best of the best , at least at my opinion, using same stanol for over 30 years.
i think that without any wires across the pads, you will heat up the pad quite fast, so then the flux reacts differently, would have cost you no added money to have more real thermal performance during the soldering, if those pads were connected to another rows in paralell, same applies for the video with smd parts soldering, second thing is you could have left half of the board not cleaned up, or have a double view before and after cleaning, but thanks for the video anyway!
Interesting tests! I use Griffon and they make very good solder, however not available in the test ( so many brands available, wow). The lead version is the one I prefer 60 tin/40 lead however it isn't available anymore, produces very nice and shiny joints (melting point 183 celcius) and a very good tempature to not overheat components. The lead-free version is 99/1, 99 tin and 1 copper and is a little harder to use (melting point 227 celcius) and I think the flux they use reacts differently (and different composition ofcourse). You must do it right the first time (heat it a little longer) to get a perfect joint. Heating again (or several times) can result in joints like the Jinhu brand (dim result). Maybe it is a good idea to add this to the tests, what will happen when you heat it up more than one time. Overall great video and a great subject.
Oh lord, I'm actually caught in a quagmire. I'm young enough to have learned soldering with lead-free (actually, I never used leaded so far), but I agree on the flux spitting. Actually, if I solder tinier components like SOP, I always use a dedicated flux (not only relying on the flux core). This helps really to counteract some bridging. From the health-perspective: you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Leaded solder - well, surprise - contains lead. It also adds some trouble for disposal of solder droplets (e.g. after tinning the solder iron's tip), because you mustn't dispose it in the residual waste. Lead-free on the other hand has more and more aggressive flux in it, it creates far more particulate matter (even smaller than the particles that get into your lungs if you smoke cigarettes). I would say - if you are a hobbyist like me, choose whatever you want - just make sure you have proper ventilation on your workplace.
I use a very strong DIY vent made from HVAC exhausts and activated carbon filtration. No vapor from flux makes it to me and the DIY solution cost like 75$ and is far more overkill than some pro solutions at 450CFM. :P Thing can filter my entire apt in a few minutes. Same crap folks use in grow tents too so you can find it cheap. Not even as a hobbyist do I play with flux fumes and metal fumes. In the US Army through no shits were ever given. I probably breathed in a shit ton of metal vapor and flux through the years. I am old now though, my lungs suck so filtration it is.
I need help with a question, please if someone can enlightening me. I bought a RAIDER brand 200g reel of solder - it has absolutely no markings on it except the logo (as in, what content it has, what material it is made out of - NOTHING) - anyway, the wire is 1.0mm thick, it has no rosin core (its a solid piece wire) - so I thought I would use a solid rosin core "slab" and make a "manual mix" with the tip of my soldering iron dipped in the slab and combining it with the solder... However, no matter what, the solder literally barely melts on my 30W soldering iron and is absolute rubbish when soldering electronics. The solder wire is barely shiny and in places it alternates shiny-matte-shiny-matte. Also, using this solder my soldering tip becomes very black and crusty with rubbish that accumulates on it. My question is what on earth type of solder did I buy??? I mean, is this solder meant for plumbing (soldering copper pipes, or...?) Can I somehow "fix" this or do I seriously need to buy another type of solder (specifically for electronics)? Thanks.
Thanks for the video, very interesting results. Did you keep a constant tip temperature for all the through hole tests or were you running at a higher temp for the lead free solders? If so how much hotter did you have to go, roughly, to get these results?
When initially soldering a new joint, especially through-hole parts, the flux that's in solder wire is usually enough, so you rarely need to add more. However if you have to re-work any solder joints - even just something like getting rid of a "spike" of solder - there won't be any flux left in the solder that's on the board (some of it vaporises and the rest spreads out on the board making a mess, but either way it's not where you need it to be!), so you'll have to add some more from somewhere, otherwise the solder won't behave well at all. One option is to simply use more solder wire, using the flux from inside of that, but then you end up with even more solder on the joint which you may not want! You could then remove that solder with braid or a desoldering pump, but that's annoying, time-consuming, and a waste of solder. So the better option is to add flux from an external source - such as a flux pen, bottle, syringe, or tub - which allows you to re-melt the solder that's already on the board, have it create a nice solder joint, and without unnecessarily adding more solder. Using extra flux is also helpful for soldering finer-pitch SMD parts. It helps the solder flow better, giving better joints, it reduces the chance of solder bridges between pins, and makes it easier to remove any solder bridges that *do* form :)
I'll point out that the good-quality desoldering braid will already be impregnated with flux (such as the Servisol Soldamop that I bought from Rapid Electronics, or the MG Chemicals Superwick that I bought from Digi-Key), but yes, buying the cheaper stuff from eBay/AliExpress and adding your own flux is probably more economical, so likely a better option for people just getting started and/or who are on a tight budget :) From my experience, the cheap stuff works totally fine once you add flux - even the cheap flux from the same sources - so as far as I'm aware, the only reason to buy the more expensive stuff is for convenience, which is absolutely a valid reason, but it should be a conscience choice. (And I guess it can be helpful to add more flux to the more-expensive braid if you want to get more use out of it - e.g. to use a section of braid that can still soak up more solder but no longer has any flux left after you attempted to use it elsewhere.)
When it comes to soldering, I consider myself a soldering fanatic. I make no excuses for my choices of soldering wire and flux core. This is part of my soldering training in the Air National Guard. We used only leaded solder that was a pure eutectic alloy with an RMA flux core. This has proven over decades to be the best combination to produce joints of the best appearance, best quality and best reliability. Joints produced using a pure eutectic alloy have only two states of being, liquid or solid. This is the easiest solder to learn with because of this point. RMA flux core is the best because it produces the best appearance and the joints endure G forces, physical and mechanical stresses and thermal inversions. This is the level of quality and reliability necessary for avionics, aerospace, biomedical electronics and even high end audio. When human life and class A assets are involved, failure is not an option nor is mission failure. For those who go with lead free, ask someone else. For leaded soldering, there are get by solder wire and there are pure eutectic alloys with RMA flux cores which deliver the ultimate in soldering excellence. This isn’t opinion, it is proven fact over decades of use. Kester, AIM, Alpha Metals and Multicore are the brands who have proven themselves over time. Each must use what they can afford and tolerate. Having a solder which only has two states, liquid or solid, and a proven flux core of decades of use that endure the worst of conditions make the best solder joints you can deliver. It won’t make you a solder expert, but it will give you the ability to produce this level of quality and reliability with practice, practice, practice! It’s up to you and your budget. If you only want to produce the best results, you need the solder wire that yields this. A pure eutectic leaded solder alloy, Sn63, 63% tin/37% lead or Sn 62, 62% tin, 36% lead and 2% silver are the best choices. The solder’s flux core that makes the best joints is RMA, Rosin Mildly Activated. When decades of proven results tell you that you have made the best choice, no argument exists. Save yourself frustration, use only a pure eutectic alloy with an RMA flux core. You can’t lose. Frustrations melt away when you use the best solder!
Mark could recommend a brand and thickness for through hole pcb work thanks
@@charlieoscar09, there are only a few brands that I can recommend that offer the consistency, repeatability and quality that yields the right results. The only brands I have used and recommend are Kester, AIM, Alpha Metals and Multicore solders. RMA, rosin mildly activated, flux core is the only flux core I will use in a leaded solder. Sn63, 63%tin/37%lead or Sn62, 62%tin/36%lead/2%silver are the two options I use with high reliability and high quality results. 0.025” or 0.020” are the two sizes I use for through hole soldering. Anything larger is just wasteful and great solder isn’t cheap. There is no Sn60, 60%tin/40%lead I would ever use as it is not a pure eutectic solder. Sn60 has a plastic state or range as it is called. This is why I only use a pure eutectic solder. I will gladly answer any other questions you may have. Feel free to ask. 3.3% flux ratio to weight is the best you can get. The solder I am using is Kester 282 solder and Kester 186 liquid flux. I use 0.015” size solder which allows me the greatest control with the least waste.
@@markphilpot8734 very detailed information from you Mark, I would also like to know what solder and flux is best to use for soldering Brass, I build model trains and want to have the best strength when it comes to physical and mechanical stresses because of the they will be handled and carried around to different shows and layouts. I read somewhere that the one with Silver is the way to go for Brass but of course I would like for you to shed some light on this as I am a beginner and would love to learn the proper way from the start. At the moment I have a reel of Kester Sn62 Pb36 Ag2 (24-7150-8800) with no clean 245 flux but I'm not extremely impressed by it and doesn't seem to flow very good on my Brass joints. Thank you
@@daniell37, Daniel, this depends on what flux matches what is in this solder. In order to achieve top drawer performance, the flux core of the solder must match the extra flux used. This is key to soldering anything. If the fluxes are mismatched, the results are not ideal and dubious as their chemistries are mismatched and therefore not optimized and there will not be predicable, compatible, ideally optimized for maximum performance. The one key thing is flux core/extra flux matching. I use Kester 282 which has an RMA flux core and has a flux percentage of 3.3% flux by weight ratio. The extra flux I use is Kester 186 liquid RMA flux. Same manufacturer yields the best possible match. By brand, also known as brand matching is the other optimum way to get perfect chemical matching of both flux core and extra flux. This is the best because they’re both manufactured for each flux type to each type of flux core offered. Always use brand matched solder and extra flux regardless of which flux type for whatever brand used. It would be the same if it were AIM, Alpha Metals, but I have not seen any for Multicore which is what my Sn62 is with an Rosin flux core. I use Kester 186 with any Rosin cored solder. The base of the fluxes is rosin. Only the activation is different while the bases are identical. This is the key to results. An R, RA or RMA may use and RMA extra flux. The RMA is less active than either the R or RA flux core. The results offered with the RMA flux is how it cleans the joint and the appearance it achieves as a result. The RMA flux helps yield that jeweled look that wows. This is the critical circuit mentality. Focus, one joint at a time, cleaning between joints and always starting and ending cleaning always. Cannot yield if you want the best result. I know jack about brazing, but clean surfaces, no vibration during the procedure, apply the right amount of extra flux and time management to minimize tempering. That’s the best for you. Mixing flux core types with extra flux yields questionable results as the chemistry is not exact and maybe even conflicting which leaves you with very bad end product which has a less than favorable result. Only matched flux core and extra flux will yield the optimum results. Silver content solder is used in jewelry making and electronic instrumentation. Think about that. Ideal for jewel and instrumentation use. There is something special about silver content solder. When you have tin plated stranded wire and you pre solder the wire, the wire has the silver solder on it. If you are soldering to a board, your joint is clean and the pad. Best practices, as it is called, work for brazing as well. Excess extra flux use is something you also want to avoid. There is an ideal amount of flux for any fluxed operation is learned. Practice is where you gain this. You will tire of the flux cleanup if you use too much. It makes you a better solderer or brazer. Hope this helps, a bit long winded. Brass is used as a base for connections on electronic components. Maybe ask some specialty lighting companies to see what they use. Flux core and extra flux needs to match for optimum results, even with brazing. Take care and be safe Daniel.
For the most part, I agree. However, there is ONE lead-free solder that I can't differentiate from lead so much so it's the only thing I use. It's 100% eutectic, it wets incredibly well, it shines like a diamond and has similar vibration cracking resistance than 63/37 SnPb ( "RELIABILITY TESTING OF Ni-MODIFIED SnCu AND SAC305 - VIBRATION" ). It's Nihon superior's SN100C licensed and produced by AIM. There's no God-given reason why Lead makes the perfect counterpart to Tin in solder. It's just technology and eventually something better will come along. I think SN100C is that combination.
Wow.. that is one comprehensive collection of solder you have there. Thank you so much for doing these test. Cheers!!
Should take quite some time to get through them all...
@Forrest Raul making a new account to promo your self
@Raul Franklin no one cares about fake hackers
I bought the Mechanic solder. Really happy with the result. It behaved just as you showed. Thanks!
Here is a tip from Germany: Flux residues (rosin) left by the Felder solder can be removed with 99% ethanol. Felder "RA" is activated with halide, so I would highly recommend it when it comes to soldering very old components.
Look no further than home! Stannol, a German brand, has a couple of halide activated flux core alloys. The red ones are leaded.
You Germans know your stuff about engineering and electronics.
Dankje!
Extensive, great test! Thank you for making this comparison.
I was relieved when I tested Mechanic HXT-100 63/37 solder. It has nice amount of flux in it, it melts and flows just like some older solder that I've been using for years. Reason for getting new brand of solder was the ban of lead (=not being able to buy "regular" solder locally).
Cheers!
Yeah tottaly my problem i've been buing one Brand localy and it was amazing now i've tried a lot of lead solders but nothing could even compare to my favourite one.
I Will try the pros kit looks great
Well, you can't get much more comprehensive that this. Thanks a lot for being so fair. I was beginning to wonder about lead-free solders, but you've convinced me that they're worth looking at.
Great tests, thanks. Would love to see some mechanical vibration or stress tests to simulate how they may perform in a working environment over time.
At first, I was going to post a cynical remark like "clearly, you have far too much time on your hands" but refrained as I found myself watching hypnotically as you ran through your tests. Thank you for your efforts and the information!
Starving EE students everywhere thank you for this, and the flux review videos. You've earned a new subscriber. Keep up the good work!
Brand new parts to gold plated pads is not much of a challenge for the solder or the flux. Maybe a bit more of a challenge would help to sort out the capabilities of each. I know I am not alone in having tried some lead free solders that were awful. In your tests everything works great and it seems any differences are really subtle. Get some uniformly old parts and some uniformly oxidised copper contacts and then see what works better and compare the costs & availability. Thanks!
I think lead-free solder is quite different and has the following problems: 1) it may form tin whiskers 2) afaik, it less mechanically robust, lead has much more plasticity and better reacts on thermal stress 3) requires higher soldering temperature, this becomes a problem when soldering big ground polygons, additional equipment like bottom heater may be needed 4) wetting is much worse 5) it tends to form solder bridges on fine-pitched ICs. To have same soldering experience, lead-free requires more aggressive fluxes, flux becomes more important. Most of these observations come from my personal experience (except tin whiskers and mechanical properties, I read about these, but haven't experienced myself yet).
I agree with you on these points. There are quite a lot of lead-free alloys, but the good performance seems to depend mainly on the flux.
Also, leaded solder is toxic and not available anymore in the EU by now
Lead was removed from fuel for good reason, leaded solder should no longer exist.
This video deserves a follow up. A comparison between different solder pastes
I have a video coming up soon for comparing different fluxes. I may consider testing a small number of solder pastes, but it gets expensive quickly! The solder wire has no shelf life to speak of, so less of an issue :)
I've got a 0.5kg roll of 0.7 rosin core solder, 60/40, RS 4.1/327 (not sure what 327 means) the label says Billiton It's quite old (at least 30 years old I think) but still performs well. As a hobbyist, it will last me a long long time still. It does spit a bit on occasion which can be annoying for smd work with a head band magnifier with my face quite close to the work piece. Should probably invest in a video microscope or something. Thanks for showing what to look for in a good solder joint.
I have always used leaded multicore. Works fine, but one thing I've found over years using it is that it is consistent from one roll to the next in batches that are years apart. Others may be similar, but if I find a good product I stick with it.
You should do a video about the case where the PCB is old. We need to know what the best flux and solder combo is for that.
I have some experience with Mechanic soldering wire. It's ver easy to use, It's smooth, clean and shiny when you are soldering with it.
Excellent! As ever in the world of electronics there are questions to ask, these tests are no different. Testing in this manner I suggest you have covered all of the main Brands, Alloys available and demonstrated clearly what’s going on. For me, I’m always having to go away and look at the Halides, Rosins etc. Now that’s when things can get confusing. Maybe its an area I just have a mental block. A BIG 👍 from me. Keep up the great content.
I would have previously said that the types with high rosin and high halide content would typically be the best solder to buy, but following these tests that doesn't appear to be the case any more. The Multicore Smart solder is testament to this. Thanks!
Excellent and detailed examination of solder. One thing I noticed on the final test is the addition of the flux may have been negative. The flux is mostly doing its job OK, but too much flux the solder flows too much. I noticed in this test, the solder looked cracked past its meniscus point. The non-fluxed solder seemed to flow until it stopped at the right spot before splitting. I am not an expert, but I do a lot of soldering, and that is how I would imagine it. Most of the time, I use flux for either difficult joints or when I reuse solder usually the good stuff.
It was straightforward to see the crystalline solders will not last over time. In my 35 years soldering, I have witnessed many dry joints, and they all come from a matt finish.
The solder was still a bit molten in the last test. I think that was rosin that you could see floating around which made it look cracked
@@sdgelectronics There is a lot of variables associated with solder and from my material science studies at University (which I enjoyed) solder when it goes from liquid to solid goes through a Solidus zone that forms crystal and later reduces the structural integrity of solder. This is only part of the reason for the reason why solder goes dry. The use of flux helps resolve this problem, but some solders are just too cheap to go into high-level material science. I have always stuck to Multicore, but from your video, I see a few others that I like as well.
ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B9780815515937000047-f04-68-9780815515937.jpg (image credit - Jaydeep Sarkar). This image shows the perfect lead-based solder point where the solder goes from liquid straight to solid called the Eutectile Region. Flux broadens this region but not by much.
I will leave the rest of the theory up to the scientists.
Thanks for the info, great stuff.
I spent 3 years building satellites and their various sub-assemblies. The first thing was to de-gold and re-tin all components using leaded solder. (reduces possibility of tin whiskers). Memory ddims and other small pcb's had to have the unleaded solder removed, then re-soldered using leaded solder. 0402's were a complete pain! Soluble non-active resin flux in liquid form was always used plentifully, then removed with IPA and careful light brushing. The important thing is to get all the factors correct: Heat available, solder alloy, flux, duration of operation, cleaning, etc. There is no step-ladder long enough to remake a dry joint once the craft is up there...
You should have shown how well the solder on THT test flowed to the other side of the PCB as I have found during my job that the multicore 362 60/40 solder flows better through the joint so as to make good contact on both sides of PCB
I got tired just looking at the image of all those.
What a great job you did. Thanks for sharing!
Been working on a 1lb roll of REL22 from AIM lately. The smell took a few uses to get used to, its a bit different but I've been happy with it so far.
Thanks Steve! I use Kester 63/37 mostly.
I noticed the actual solder wire on the Kester is extremely shiny in comparison to any other solder I've seen. Seems to work well, but the brand is very uncommon in the UK. I had to import this reel.
Mine is "44" rosin core 0.020". I am happy with it. My solder joints look pretty shiny as well.
It would be good to see a similar test of solder paste, I always have to use wick on such as 28 pin ssop packages, the stencil applied paste spreads out when heated and bridges a lot of the pins.
Love these sort of videos, nothing was spared to give us the information we need to choose a solder to work with! Thanks!
would love to see you do an updated video with only the AliExpress brands or cheaper brands that are current.
The quality of solder wire is related to its flux. Flux needs to be active to achieve good soldering good wetting. However it also need to have very reliable residues after soldering. If you have very active flux, means too much acids in it, you do very quick and perfect soldering but in couple of months you start to see very electrochemical reactions. This is why you need to more focus on flux reliability details on product datasheets especially if you are soldering fine pitch components and highly populated boards. We do not recommend post-cleaning after soldering if you use no-clean products.
Thanks Steve for the detailed analysis...as I was watching I looked over at the bench where there are three 1lb. rolls of Kester/Multicore silver/non-silver that at this point should last me until my soldering iron "goes cold!" Biting the bullet and getting it in quantity pays off in the long run.
Yes, my advice is if you find one you get on well with - just buy a big reel - it's cheaper in the long run anyway.
Thank you for taking the time to help us all pick the right product for each of us. Well done !
A fantastic comparison video. I enjoyed that very much. Personally, I have had terrible results with the inexpensive solders from China. I mainly stick to name brand types now, Kester and Multicore/Loctite. I don't know if you have access to MG Chemicals brand products in the UK, but I have started using their solders (63/37 No Clean in particular) which is not quite as expensive as the other big brands but performs very well for me. Again, excellent video. Keep up the great work.
Yes, I've got a few items from MG Chemicals, although I've not tried their solder wire. I would normally stick with the known good brands, but the Mechanic branded items do seem relatively genuine - especially the solder paste, which is more cost effective than most other options.
That has been my experience with Chinese brands; a FEW are good but MOST are rubbish
@@kennmossman8701 You get what you pay for.
@@MindFlareRetro which is why I am happy to pay a high price and get good solder.
Interesting comparison. Solder has gotten ridiculously expensive in recent years. For years, I used Radio Shack solder for general electronic use because it flowed well. Now buying Kester from Kimco. The price is more reasonable than even the Chinese stuff and it's brand name.
this was insanely informative. I always felt so lost going to the store to buy solder. I feel like i could make really informed ecisions now. Thank you so much.
Which one did you go for?
Spent quite some time on trying out different affordable types of solder, and settled on the Mechanics brand. They are consistently good. Wish I had seen your video though, would have saved so much money :D.
Yes, Mechanic is much better than other Chinese brands, because Mechanic is Hong Kong brand. Other solders at banggood or aliexpress are all garbage and waste of money.
Im using the Kester one, it's really nice to use, and has a no-clean flux while still having great performance. But I never solder corroded stuff.. but for pcb work, I stay with this Kester one😉
Great comparisons and examples here mate. I'm going to have to get me some of that Smart26 solder, the finish looks great.
Cheers, John
I was quite surprised how little differences there are, but the Smart flux and the silver alloy really look good.
I think it's possible that Jinhu Solder may have some zinc in it for it to look that way. Zinc can wreak havoc for Lead Casters as well. That's my best guess.
Interesting results. BUT I am living in the Philippines and solder here (from China) varies a lot in quality. Many are pretty much useless; lacking flux and having a very high melting point. I had the same experience when I lived in mainland China and gauging from the store sales staff they were well aare of the quality problems; when I asked for VERY GOOD solder they smiled and pointed to a brand and would say, THIS is good.
I like when you commented on the "old school smell". Please don't do any smell testing if at all possible. I'm no solder scientist but sounds like smelling solders are not super duper for you. GREAT video. LOVE the detail
Thanks Steve, this is an excellent reference. Very detailed reviews with the product stats shown on the screen, including the price. I have 250g of the mechanic stuff @1mm which is perfect. I also bought 250g of a 60/40 rosin lead free cheap reel at the same time and that is terrible. You have to run your iron around 380 to even start melting it, whereas the mecanic stuff begins to melt from 320c. Although I mainly use 350c like Big Clive due to the boards and the speed I work at.
The mechanic solder definitely seems pretty good. Thanks
The mechanics solder works pretty well around 250c when doing small through hole stuff. I do have my solder iron calibrated so temps I quote should be pretty accurate.
Brilliant comparison ,use old fashioned 60-40 tin lead myself but open minded.
Interested to know from a fanatic if theres a gold coloured solder ,not gold itself but something that melts at low temp thats more gold coloured ,thanks
At what temperature did you solder the joints for the pin-headers? Was it the same temperature across all solders, or did you use different temperatures?
Also I am mostly soldering SMD parts and for that I am preferring to use EDSYN SU 5250 which is a 0.5mm Sn60Pb38Cu2 with FSW 34 flux.
A mine if gold of information for every professional, hobbyists and maker about soldering, thanks
MG Chemical 63/37 No Clean Leded Solder, i wish you would do review or comparison to that one. Its pretty cheap and has unique No clean formula but it's rosin activated, no clean again formula. I'm going to order that one and see how it does.
That's an impressive breadth of options.
Good comparison video. Question: What brand and model or iron/station was used, and what temperature? Thanks
I have subscribed some time ago, but this is a keep, so placed in file. I do everything but mostly automotive and sick of current crop of solder. This helpful as I solder automotive wire and components. I spent almost 4 decades fixing vehicles for others so now retired, building one for me.
If you have kids, you know they have fully grown when they total out their cars instead of yours. I got my C10 this way after son quit lost interest and hit black ice slide into tree then towed to my back yard. I harvested the EFI engine, sold the new trans, kept all wires, connectors, and modules. Instead of outside near engine, mine past thru firewall and sit in vertical slots in console made from PVC board. Facing up for service, the PCM, TAC, BCM is in console for easy service. Magnets hold leather center cover over all including door switches. They use serial data to control engine, power windows, theft, lights, horn & RKE on factory key fob push button. Just having fun as I draw this stuff out and measure everything including power seats as I am 6’ 3” but wife is 120 lbs at 5’7” and has factory switch to change gas & brake pedal for her.
Thanks for the work as camera, lights, PCB, planning, filming, editing and watching how many times before uploading? A bunch! Thank you because is solder, shrink tube, etc.
Tip: Wrapping harness is needed using electrical tape either cords or bundles. Wrap and place dab of weather strip adhesive on tag end and will not unravel.
Thank you again for this work!
DK. Omaha. ASE Master Tech since 78
Fantastic!
Thanks for making the effort to do this. Very interesting and useful! 👍🏼
I've been using Warton 63/37 for a few years now, and it's an excellent solder, but considering how well the cheaper brands perform, I may consider one of them....if I live long enough to use the remainder of the 500g Warton reel. 😆
the ENIG finish sometimes does mess with the alloy because it gets dissolved in it, but it is a realistic use scenario, no worries.
I had a hard time remembering which THT was better, but the hot-plate test was good because you could see all of them at once. Maybe a summation in order of best to worse in each category, like shiniest to dullest, etc. All the cheap Ebay solder tests that I've seen all came out frosty like the Jinhu, like some local 99% tin I got, but that Mech looks like it's worth a risk.
Really enjoyed this one. I went with the Pro's Kit some time ago after watching this and have been completely happy with it. Finally almost through one tube so I ordered 3 more. Would love to see some more comparisons between gear - especially a larger comparison of flux.
I have just very sadly used the last few mm of my Maplin solder. Like you I have used this for many years and think it was one of the best. It's like losing a good friend. I still have not found anything quite as good.
I do think the Multicore 60/40 is quite similar. The ones with the Crystal flux work well too. Thanks
I use the mechanics solder and I have had no real problems with it. I use a really thin solder though because I solder small pitch smd components and it is hard to feed enough solder onto the tip of the iron when trying to do drag soldering. It is good to keep a few thicknesses on hand depending on what you are doing. I paid
The Jinju may be a lead free variety ... labeled incorrectly. You didn't mention that the odd one was 50% 50% (you did write but did not say).
It could be, and may explain the difficulty in getting it to melt on the hot plate. I guess tin is cheaper than lead, so they may have just increased the tin ratio to cut costs.
@@sdgelectronics i have jinhu lead free solder wire is need high temp dan the solder wire label is wrong on lead free it say leaded solder but it lead free
Please, can one of you test the hardness of the reflowed alloy? I had qiute opposite theory, that they put more lead in there, because tin is usually much more expensive than lead and you can rarely see the Chinese manufacturers using the more expensive materials instead of the cheapest available.
Mechanic brand is known to be significantly higher quality than other Chinese brands. In fact, Mechanic isn't Chinese brand, but Hong Kong brand.
@@ales_xy Hongkong = China close enough the best solder is not mechanic but blue kaina
That Duratool solder if I'm not mistaken was the same stuff sold by Rapid Electronics a few years ago, I ought to grab myself some.
Update: I did, it's just as good as I remember it being.
Hey can you do a stress test, like with those plates you have for letting the solder melt how about a wire attached to it and put a weight on it and see how long it will take for the solder to break hopefully it doesn't break the tinning.
Right now I'm comparing LAOA soldering wire vs Kaina (blu) soldering wire. On Aliexpresss these seem to be the best options available right now (or at least that I'm aware of). LAOA seems to be very good, and costs relatively little - 26 euros for 400 grams.
My favorite is the Multicore 362 Solder, it's a dream to solder with, I actually like the generous amount of rosin flux!
Exactly what I was looking for. I was wondering if the tin amount matters that much in non-lead solder, but every brand seemed to function pretty well!
Thank you for taking out so much time to make a decision simple. This video is the best for beginners like myself. I just watched the flux, awesome. Can you recommend a soldering iron for newbs.
The KSGER soldering irons are good for the price. I did a video a while back - SDG Mailbag #021
@@sdgelectronics thank you I literally just discovered your channel today and I'm hooked. Thank you.
I really like the TS100 soldering iron.
Excellent. One of the best videos and best technical videos on UA-cam. Lots of information well conveyed.
I ordered some Multicore 362 (62, 36, 2 Sn, Pb, Ag)(#5 on your list), it's a little hard to find - I ordered from Newark (the company) and getting one spool from US and one from UK sent to me in Georgia. I considered the Pro'skit solder because of your tests but it's only available in 17 gram tubes and the equivalent amount (to the Multicore I ordered) would have cost 8 times as much. And there's a certain guaranteed consistency with a brand like Multicore (which is now Henkel\Loctite).
Thanks for the information.
Added credentials: long time IT & Technology consultant. Been around for so long that most of the people I learned soldering from are dead now. Is that too dark?
Maybe you could have switched the position of the different solders on the plates? To make sure there isn't a temperature gradient responsible for the differences
And you mention it at the end but yeah, the point of the strong activated flux is to clean the corrosion, so doing it it with older PCBs would be very interesting.
I wonder if the Jinhu 63/37 was really 63/37 SnPb. It looked like a lead-free solder!
I see now that you raised that question around 17:14.
Very nicely demonstrstion guide. Now I know which type of solder wired to get for all my electronic motherboard soldering.
very good test, what about cynol, what i saw at beggining of video. im curious because that brand is most available localy in my area
A comparison of desoldering braid would be great.
As a Multicore user myself, thanks for this review !
Very nice video! Apparently mechanic makes a 60/40 solder as well. Would have been great to include that one as well. They also have much thicker solder in the 60/40.
Which one is the best option for soldering on a budget that you can order through aliexpress? It should be easy to clean and leave a shiny surface without sputting. Which solder would you recomment to me?
You will only get shiny surfaces from lead containing solders. Both 60/40 or 63/37 are fine. Having said that, I am soldering commercial product with lead-free by hand and it's fine. Does it look shiny? No. Does it work? Yes, it works perfectly. You just have to get used to solder joints that make you feel like you are a beginner. It's all in your head, though. ;-)
I know not what solder among your kit that can be horrible, but I do know we have a tube of solder that came with an PI beginner kit (or something like that) that DEFINITELY was low grade. I had to manually add flux to help it, because oh man did it have trouble flowing across and taking my tip away resulted in a solder spike forming if i didn't add any paste. Weirdly enough, i cut a bit off once, and it seemed like it had a flux core. Probably cheap flux.
number 12, the ISO core "RA"
does not have 2% silver, but 2% copper
Yep, a slip of the tongue - was waiting to see if someone was paying attention...
@@sdgelectronics I have is right in front of me and was like, what? really? silver? don't remember having any solder with silver in it. Sure enough, there is none
@@First2ner actually I'm mistaken, it was another solder I made a mistake on. This is part number 18.720.72037, which is Sn62Pb36Ag2
@@sdgelectronics I see their products are changing a lot, can't even find mine on it.
Same part number now has 1% CU. That is not what I would expect to see
Have you ever tried soldering with Cynel solder? I find their leaded mixes very nice but I'm not very pleased with their lead free mixes
Sadly (?!) really enjoyed that. I've the identical Maplin solder I bought 30+ years ago (still works fine!). Also bought some Koccu branded solder from China which appears identical in all but name to your Jinhu, and which went straight in the bin after a few tests because the joints looked so weird. Am going to try Mechanic solder on the basis of this vid. Thanks!
try the kester. its the best one in my opinion because the flux is very well proportioned so when you solder there will be no flux leftover on the board. I have never had to clean my boards witch saves me a lot of time.
I have 2 rolls of solder behaves just like that jinhu solder and I hate the appearance of it, it's not shiny and pretty dull, but it still flows ok though and still gives a reliable joint but it's dull when it's solidify
This Video and the flux comparison you did are both extremely informative and helpful, thanks! :)
Excellent content, interesting topics and reviews, I have only just discovered your posts ( now subscribed ), nice unbiased , sensible comments.
I am a now retired electronics technician, ( life long in the industry ) and fully endorse your UA-cam channel. Best wishes. Richard.
Much appreciated!
One other brand I would suggest checking out is cynel. It's a polish company and their solder wire is professional grade too and it's relative cheap compared to other high name brands, such as kester. Also if I'm not mistaked it's no clean too
I did end up buying a few rolls from TME a while back, they have a lot of their range in stock
@@sdgelectronics I have their 60/40 0.8mm and it's great. I also have a 0.5mm mechanic and although it's made in China, it's not the typical Chinese solder that you buy off aliexpress and banggood. It's really good and the fact that it's 63/37 is definitely a plus
just picked up some multicore with Crystal 400 the c400 any experience with that one? he had 10 rolls I got them for 10$ on clearance on the counter each for 500g rolls I figured why not haven't had a chance to use them yet though I figured even as backup solder it should be decent. they are 63\37 can't find much info other then the datasheet. another really decent China solder is the best brand 60\40 and the BLUE kaina but you have to make sure to get the blue version there is an orange one which sucks imo, the best branded one is really nice though
I'm relatively new to soldering. One thing I've read a lot already is that a key reason for using leaded-solder instead of lead-free solder is because lead-free solder is much more tedious to desolder later on. Is there any truth to this? Curious on your views.
Lead solder is a lot easier to work with and your soldering iron tips will last a lot longer. The flux used in lead-free solder is quite nasty stuff. Generally speaking, lead-free works fine, but I subjectively see more lead-free joints fail over time than lead.
Useful information and test methods. Thank you for the tremendous effort.
Thanks for this very good test. I'm very impressed by the difference they each have.
Here’s the thing. There are many opinions on solder and which is best. While in the Air National Guard, I used three different brands of solder which all had the same specs. All were Rosin Mildly Activated flux cored, all were 3% flux content and all were 63/37 pure eutectic leaded solders. The key was the type of soldering we did and the standard of quality was stringent. DOD STD 2000-1 was the soldering standard back then and compliance to it was not a question as critical circuitry has no lower standard. Human life and mission requirements are harsh realities in avionics and also other fields. Mediocrity does not exist in this environment and failure is not an option. As I stated, human life and mission requirements are not subject to arguments, they are requirements! This skill is hard as are it’s processes. It is learnable and was by myself. Over four decades I have practiced my craft and all with pure eutectic leaded solder. The higher flux content aided the processes, but cleaning was done only with 99% isopropyl alcohol as it poses no harm to plastic parts(PCBs). I haven’t used lead free and based on what I have heard, it is harder to achieve the level of appearance that the leaded solder yields. We used additional flux and cleaned everything including the solder as corrosion would leave air pockets in the joints. At lower frequencies, this was not as much an issue, but at higher ones, the air pockets would act like tiny capacitors and reap sconion with the circuitry. So even solder must be clean to solder on critical circuits to obtain the required results. The RMA solder and flux always produced the brightest and shiniest joints, these joints can withstand G forces, mechanical and physical stresses and thermal inversions and vibration resistance. The methods and materials were chosen based on this ability and for their consistency, reliability and repeatability. When someone’s going to fight a war or save a life, there is no place for second place. Second place means loss of life and or mission failure. No one wants that on their conscious. That is it in a nutshell. The J STD level 3 is the same as DOD STD 2000-1 back in the day. It is a hard standard, but level 3 is the critical requirement level and not for the lazy or the uncommitted techs. There is no tomorrow or second place in this level. Second place is first loser. Therefore, you must have your head completely in the game and at all times. It’s not for everyone, only the committed need apply! Life is precious and mission is first. That is the way it is in the high quality, high reliability world of professional soldering. That’s not an opinion, that’s a fact! Stay safe mates!😊👍🏻😷
The irony of saving lives while being paid killers.
Thank you for the excellent video! Can u provide us with a link to buy the smart solder from loctite/multicore? Coz i cannot find it
great video thanks was wondering if it mattered which to buy. I see here it doesn't appear to be an issue what you choose.
Excellent comparison. I am trying to generate best temperature profile for some cheap solder paste i purchased from China.. Will try to recreate this test
give me 60/40 Erosin cored over all of them . Wish you could still get the Maplin solder as you say one of the BEst .
This video would be good if any of the solders were available to purchase as your list in the description seems random
Very nice video, I would be interested in also seeing a comparison between all your lead free solders!
it would be nice if somebody could test many Ag solders if they truly have the silver in them.
You had one on start Stanol 60/40 but not on test, so you indeed missed to test best of the best , at least at my opinion, using same stanol for over 30 years.
Thanks you for explaining , i use micanic solder
i think that without any wires across the pads, you will heat up the pad quite fast, so then the flux reacts differently, would have cost you no added money to have more real thermal performance during the soldering, if those pads were connected to another rows in paralell, same applies for the video with smd parts soldering, second thing is you could have left half of the board not cleaned up, or have a double view before and after cleaning, but thanks for the video anyway!
Interesting tests! I use Griffon and they make very good solder, however not available in the test ( so many brands available, wow). The lead version is the one I prefer 60 tin/40 lead however it isn't available anymore, produces very nice and shiny joints (melting point 183 celcius) and a very good tempature to not overheat components. The lead-free version is 99/1, 99 tin and 1 copper and is a little harder to use (melting point 227 celcius) and I think the flux they use reacts differently (and different composition ofcourse). You must do it right the first time (heat it a little longer) to get a perfect joint. Heating again (or several times) can result in joints like the Jinhu brand (dim result).
Maybe it is a good idea to add this to the tests, what will happen when you heat it up more than one time. Overall great video and a great subject.
Oh lord, I'm actually caught in a quagmire. I'm young enough to have learned soldering with lead-free (actually, I never used leaded so far), but I agree on the flux spitting. Actually, if I solder tinier components like SOP, I always use a dedicated flux (not only relying on the flux core). This helps really to counteract some bridging.
From the health-perspective: you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Leaded solder - well, surprise - contains lead. It also adds some trouble for disposal of solder droplets (e.g. after tinning the solder iron's tip), because you mustn't dispose it in the residual waste.
Lead-free on the other hand has more and more aggressive flux in it, it creates far more particulate matter (even smaller than the particles that get into your lungs if you smoke cigarettes).
I would say - if you are a hobbyist like me, choose whatever you want - just make sure you have proper ventilation on your workplace.
I use a very strong DIY vent made from HVAC exhausts and activated carbon filtration. No vapor from flux makes it to me and the DIY solution cost like 75$ and is far more overkill than some pro solutions at 450CFM. :P Thing can filter my entire apt in a few minutes. Same crap folks use in grow tents too so you can find it cheap. Not even as a hobbyist do I play with flux fumes and metal fumes. In the US Army through no shits were ever given. I probably breathed in a shit ton of metal vapor and flux through the years. I am old now though, my lungs suck so filtration it is.
I should really switch to lead free. Soldering with lead at home just leaves me paranoid about lead particles getting in food
I need help with a question, please if someone can enlightening me.
I bought a RAIDER brand 200g reel of solder - it has absolutely no markings on it except the logo (as in, what content it has, what material it is made out of - NOTHING) - anyway, the wire is 1.0mm thick, it has no rosin core (its a solid piece wire) - so I thought I would use a solid rosin core "slab" and make a "manual mix" with the tip of my soldering iron dipped in the slab and combining it with the solder...
However, no matter what, the solder literally barely melts on my 30W soldering iron and is absolute rubbish when soldering electronics. The solder wire is barely shiny and in places it alternates shiny-matte-shiny-matte. Also, using this solder my soldering tip becomes very black and crusty with rubbish that accumulates on it.
My question is what on earth type of solder did I buy??? I mean, is this solder meant for plumbing (soldering copper pipes, or...?) Can I somehow "fix" this or do I seriously need to buy another type of solder (specifically for electronics)? Thanks.
Best in the West Thank you for this resolved a lot of issues for me. Thumbs Up buddy!
In the end you mentioned that slightly more acidic solders would work better on older boards. What are some recommendations?
Anything with a SW-23 or SW-24 flux is likely to work better in those situations.
Wow so many collection of soldeiring lead. Now which is the best of them.
Thanks for the video, very interesting results. Did you keep a constant tip temperature for all the through hole tests or were you running at a higher temp for the lead free solders? If so how much hotter did you have to go, roughly, to get these results?
Constant temperature - it was using a Metcal 700 series tip which is somewhere around 350C I think
You said Autosol has 50% silver then on using it that turned to Tin.. So witch is it?
I'm JUST wondering what is Best for electric
Hello. I watched the video you did about flux. Since these include some flux, does that mean that I don't need to buy flux?
When initially soldering a new joint, especially through-hole parts, the flux that's in solder wire is usually enough, so you rarely need to add more.
However if you have to re-work any solder joints - even just something like getting rid of a "spike" of solder - there won't be any flux left in the solder that's on the board (some of it vaporises and the rest spreads out on the board making a mess, but either way it's not where you need it to be!), so you'll have to add some more from somewhere, otherwise the solder won't behave well at all.
One option is to simply use more solder wire, using the flux from inside of that, but then you end up with even more solder on the joint which you may not want!
You could then remove that solder with braid or a desoldering pump, but that's annoying, time-consuming, and a waste of solder.
So the better option is to add flux from an external source - such as a flux pen, bottle, syringe, or tub - which allows you to re-melt the solder that's already on the board, have it create a nice solder joint, and without unnecessarily adding more solder.
Using extra flux is also helpful for soldering finer-pitch SMD parts. It helps the solder flow better, giving better joints, it reduces the chance of solder bridges between pins, and makes it easier to remove any solder bridges that *do* form :)
If you use a desoldering braid a quick wipe with a flux pen makes it soak up things. As well as what others have said.
I'll point out that the good-quality desoldering braid will already be impregnated with flux (such as the Servisol Soldamop that I bought from Rapid Electronics, or the MG Chemicals Superwick that I bought from Digi-Key), but yes, buying the cheaper stuff from eBay/AliExpress and adding your own flux is probably more economical, so likely a better option for people just getting started and/or who are on a tight budget :)
From my experience, the cheap stuff works totally fine once you add flux - even the cheap flux from the same sources - so as far as I'm aware, the only reason to buy the more expensive stuff is for convenience, which is absolutely a valid reason, but it should be a conscience choice.
(And I guess it can be helpful to add more flux to the more-expensive braid if you want to get more use out of it - e.g. to use a section of braid that can still soak up more solder but no longer has any flux left after you attempted to use it elsewhere.)
@@AndrewGillard Yep. Totally agree. Some cheap stuff might claim to have flux but doesn''t or enough. That flux might expire over time too.