[jl123]

Cardas solder is light on the flux. Kester 44 is very easy to work with but leaves a mess with the massive amount of flux in it. You can reflow it and and still get nice results. The cardas needs extra flux if you need to retouch a joint. If you get it right the first time it leaves a very shiny finish and very little flux residue.

I've switched over to cardas for good. If I need to do any rework I just add a little rosin flux that's very easy to clean. I can pretty much whipe it off. The flux in kester 44 is drys very hard and almost has to be chipped away. If you have the right solvents you can get it off.

I finally got around to getting all that crap off my ppa. If you've seen a ppa from the bottom you know what a pain it must be. I still have my kester solder around. I use it for other stuff outside headfi and I love it.

I got the kester solder from hmcelectronics a while back. I also use BELDEN 83004(SPC/TFE insulated 24g 7x32 stranded) hookup wire. It can be a pain stripping it if you don't have an automatic stripper for it. A T-stripper should work just as well for around $15. A roll of 100' runs close to $20 at newark. I recommend buying one color to save money. The blue is very nice looking IMO.

 

[ashpool]

I agree with Todd about Cardas solder; it's much easier than most solders to work with and the joints it makes are usually very good. The Kester silver solder is also pretty easy to work with, but it's very thin (at least, the kind I have is) and thus hard to use for larger joints.

Sometimes you can find high-quality wire through surplus stores. When I first started doing DIY, I did most of my work with some mil spec silver-plated copper wire that a friend had bought from Weird Stuff. The specification was m16878/5-bfe. The strands are quite thin, so sometimes things would get messy when trimming stripped wire.

I like to use Kimber TCSS, a 19ga teflon-insulated stranded wire. The guys from Wavestream Kinetics gave me some of this wire when I asked for recommendations; they use it to build some of their incredible sounding (and expensive) gear, so there's probably nothing *wrong* with it...

The strands are of varying sizes and larger than most wires, so the wire is stiffer than most stranded wires. It's not always possible to use this wire though; 19ga is a little too big for some projects. I have first-hand knowledge that it will fit into a Millett Hybrid PCB, however

. TCSS is also one of the cheaper "name-brand" wires you can use ($0.85/ft).

I'm in the middle of a project (rebuilding a Grado PH-1 phono stage) where TCSS is just too big, so I'm trying out Kimber SF23, which is a solid, flat 23ga teflon-coated wire. So far, it's been surprisingly easy to work with, due to its small gauge. It is, however, kind of pricey ($1.90/ft).

You can buy the Cardas solder and the two Kimber wires from Percy Audio.

 

[jl123]

The only thing I hate about cardas is it's too damn thick. No point in making it that thick when you can always just double it up. I used very thin kester 44 before the cardas and I found that perfect. Most diy stuff on professional boards is going to be pretty small anyways....

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterpan188 Ok, I kinda wanna try the both the Cardas and Kester, since my friend wanna do the same too. So I probably will get 1 of each, but where to get them? I know that Take five and Apex Jr sell the Cardas, anywhere else? What about Kester 44?

Peter,
PM me with your address and I'll send you a sample of the Cardas solder.
Todd R

 

[00940]

buying belden 1585 cat5 cable will give you eight colors of teflon isolated, solid 24ga ofc. Very nice and quite cheap.

 

[fierce_freak]

i was planning on picking up some more cat5...would the higher bandwidth of cat6 have any effect on audio?

 

[threepointone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 00940 buying belden 1585 cat5 cable will give you eight colors of teflon isolated, solid 24ga ofc. Very nice and quite cheap.

so pretty much all I'd have to do is take out the outer insulation and I get 8 strands of teflon insulated 24ga wire? and they work just as well as regular teflon wire? I have to try some of this!

 

[peterpan188]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashpool You can buy the Cardas solder and the two Kimber wires from Percy Audio.

I tried Percy onces, and it takes wayyy too long for them to ship. My last order took 2 months! Does anyone have experience with Handmade? They have a pretty good selection and decent price. how's their shipping time?

Cheers,
Peter

 

[dhp]

peterpan, try ordering from Todd R, who actually posted in this thread. He'll probably ship quickly

anyways, I've always been curious about cardas solder, but afraid if the low flux content might not be to my liking. Using kester 60/40 right now

 

[00940]

threepointone : indeed. Be careful picking your cat5, not all are using teflon for each strand. I have to apologize though. The newest batches of Belden 1585a are now using what seems a mix of teflon and polyolefin. The 1585LC and 1585B are using only Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (teflon).

fierce_freak : as I suggest taking the cable apart to get the individual wires to use as hook-up wires, I guess not.

 

[peterpan188]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieInAFire peterpan, try ordering from Todd R, who actually posted in this thread. He'll probably ship quickly anyways, I've always been curious about cardas solder, but afraid if the low flux content might not be to my liking. Using kester 60/40 right now

I am certain that I will get my solder from Todd R. But unfortunate enough, he doesn't have hook up wire for sale. That's why I need another place, like Handmade.

 

[Pars]

Handmade ships quickly and are good to deal with.

 

[fierce_freak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 00940 fierce_freak : as I suggest taking the cable apart to get the individual wires to use as hook-up wires, I guess not.

I (probably incorrectly) thought cat5 and cat6 had the same number of individual wires, just that some property of the cable allowed higher bandwidth. I'll check into it

 

[twc5964]

Welborne Labs has good wire and their own solder including the Cardas solder. I've used both brands and the WL solder is lower in price and works fine for me.Check out their site if interested ?

http://www.welbornelabs.com/parts.htm

 

[Xakepa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jl123 Cardas solder is light on the flux. Kester 44 is very easy to work with but leaves a mess with the massive amount of flux in it. You can reflow it and and still get nice results. The cardas needs extra flux if you need to retouch a joint. If you get it right the first time it leaves a very shiny finish and very little flux residue. I've switched over to cardas for good. If I need to do any rework I just add a little rosin flux that's very easy to clean. I can pretty much whipe it off. The flux in kester 44 is drys very hard and almost has to be chipped away. If you have the right solvents you can get it off. I finally got around to getting all that crap off my ppa. If you've seen a ppa from the bottom you know what a pain it must be. I still have my kester solder around. I use it for other stuff outside headfi and I love it. I got the kester solder from hmcelectronics a while back. I also use BELDEN 83004(SPC/TFE insulated 24g 7x32 stranded) hookup wire. It can be a pain stripping it if you don't have an automatic stripper for it. A T-stripper should work just as well for around $15. A roll of 100' runs close to $20 at newark. I recommend buying one color to save money. The blue is very nice looking IMO.

That's strange, I usually don't get much residue with Kester 44; mine is 0.015" (very thin). Maybe your iron is not hot enough - I'm using 700F Weller tip, I disposed my 600F tips after damaging couple of BrownDogs. 700F melts joints instantly, it takes less than a second for SMD soldering/desoldering.

I clean Kester residue with toothbrush and ethanol, (any bottom dollar vodka will work), and it works perfect.