Jerry's kids - Muscular Dystrophy.

Yeah, that was it. Brother-in-law had Polio. His picture was one of those featured in the filmstrip at the top.

Anyway, I also agree that higher temps impart thermal energy more rapidly and may have better results. Just don't dwell as long on a joint.

 

Jerry's kids - Muscular Dystrophy.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes when you are trying to solder to a heat sensitive device, using a *higher* iron temperature will give better results.

With an iron temperature of just enough to melt the solder, heat flows away faster than you can put it in and you end up raising the temperature of the whole system to the melting point of your solder.

With a higher iron temperature, you can get enough heat to the area you are trying to solder to so that you can complete your connection before the heat has a chance to flow away.

You're totally right, I have read that as well. My point here was that I read that to take care of your iron tip, the less the better, of course the less but still working. For me, that was about 300ºC, but since this user told he set 350ºC, I gave it a try, and it worked way better.

 

It all boils down to thermal mass, both of the soldering Iron Tip and what is being soldered. Small masses lose or gain heat quickly. I change tips based on what I am doing. Small tips for chip socket legs or other close small leads, medium tip for most other soldering, big tips for desoldering and soaking up solder with solder-wick. Temperature setting. It also depends on tip quality. I bought a bunch of cheap fine tips from Amazon and they were burning the ends off rapidly, sent them back for a refund. Bought not so cheap fine tips from another manufacturer, no problems. Type of solder and flux. In other words, there is no One Correct Answer. Lots of variables.

 

Gerry's kids

No Gerry R, as in the thread about what happens in wires.

 

In other words, there is no One Correct Answer. Lots of variables.

But if you had a choice would you use the flux he bought, for electronics? The one for general purpose soldering, that lists every other possible soft soldering job, but leaves out electronics?

 

No. I use Kester 186 w/ rosin and 985 w/o rosin liquid flux and MG chemicals 8341 no-clean paste. When I do use flux, which is not often. Kinda the standard stuff.

 

Still talking about my rosin, so... Now that I think about it, do you think it's better not to use any rosin at all, or use it?

I told you guys that I'm gonna buy as well an "electronics" flux, but just for the sake of curiosity, I've been soldering everything without flux (no SMD, but big stuff like USB ports and those kind of things). So, would it be better to use the one I got or not use any at all? Or you don't know?

 

Well, I tried again, and I'm surprised:
First of all, I usually solder with a Temp of about 250-300ºC, and when I read you soldered at 350ºC I was a little confused. I read that you have to solder with the minimum required temp, of course to work comfortably, but that's that.
.

Now, the interesting part. That battery was an AA battery, and it's the one I could more or less solder before, but with these bad joints, like mini joints that are just enough to solder a cable and that's it. Then I tried this method with the 18650 battery I told you was impossible, and it's way more difficult, but again, I tried at 300ºC. Doing the same now as I've done with the AA battery, this is the result on the 18650:
View attachment 187874
View attachment 187875

Same technique, way worse result. As I was expecting, some batteries are harder than others. Anyways, I've tried to scratch that, remove it by using lateral force... nothing, that bubble is really well stuck on there.

So the set temperature of the iron is what the tip will be (within the ability of the iron to hold it there) before it touches the work. The more thermal mass of the work, the faster it will lose heat to it and drop in temperature.

Depending on the iron, it will not recover quickly if at all. So, if you start at 350 on work that drops the temperature rapidly, you will end up much cooler. Since you are using supplementary flux, the issue of burning off the flux with a high temperature initially is not a real problem. The problem you do have to deal with is getting the area of the work that will be taking the solar sufficiently hot.

My Hakko iron, with a broad tip, can do an 18650 cell as well as a AA, but if your iron is not as capable, or the tip in it is too small (and so has low thermal mass) you are going to have to turn up the heat to make it work.

The key is the time which it is in contact with the work. If the temperature is right, you won’t over heat it because you won’t leave it there too long. Try turning up the iron, and just don’t leave it there any longer than you need.

Just enough flux, just enough solder, just enough heat, just enough time. They all work together.

 

Still talking about my rosin, so... Now that I think about it, do you think it's better not to use any rosin at all, or use it?

I told you guys that I'm gonna buy as well an "electronics" flux, but just for the sake of curiosity, I've been soldering everything without flux (no SMD, but big stuff like USB ports and those kind of things). So, would it be better to use the one I got or not use any at all? Or you don't know?

There are flux pens, Kester brand are excellent. They make application easy, and you can be sure they have proper flux in them since they are specifically for electronics.

I’d use those for most things. You don’t always need to add flus but because of the protective function (preventing the reoxidation after cleaning) that I mentioned, you will find it VERY helpful on many occasions. It will reduce the amount of solder and heat that you use, and make better joints.

 

Thank you Yaakov for your tips, I really appreciate them!
OK, I'm gonna buy one of those and share if I can tell the difference or not. About my soldering iron, I have a $50 with temperature regulation that goes up to 450ºC, so it's not a matter of not enough power, but a matter of personal choices about the temperature. Now, to solder these things I will definitely raise the temp up to get the work done.

 

Gerry's kids - - - I was thinking you meant "Jerry's kids",

No. He was referring to a member by that name who seems to be a troll.