what kind of solder do you use??

[audiofil]

63/37 (0.7mm & 1mm) various brands.
As long as it's eutectic it's fine by me.

 

[Zorander]

A little off-topic: I'm looking to get some Cardas solders and don't know if I should go for the Quad Eutectic or the Tri Eutectic. AFAIK the former is a leaded version, while the other is non-leaded. Has anyone experience with both and can tell me?

 

[Roam]

Always go with leaded solders if possible as they have a much lower melting point and flow more easily. Lead-free solders are a lot harder to work with and have questionable long-term reliability; there's a reason the RoHS regs provide exemptions for medical, telecom, aerospace, and military applications, lead-free does not meet the reliability specs for those uses.

I use mostly Alpha Metals Cleanline 7000 62Sn/36Pb/2Ag solder, a no-clean solder which meets Bellcore standards for reliability. When building prototypes & proof of concept projects I use the standard 63/37 version of the above solder.

 

[Filburt]

Radioshack 0.015" Silver Bearing Solder. I like to use very fine solder, and RS is one of the few convenient suppliers of this size. I do most surface mount work on small stuff, so using the larger diametre or some of the other popular solders here ends up being a bit hamfisted, wasteful, and messy for the work I do.

 

[mb3k]

I use strictly Cardas Quad Eutectic solder because I bought a 100g spool and there's still plenty left. Great stuff because it flows like magic.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Cardas Quad Eutectic

 

[colonelkernel8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif A little off-topic: I'm looking to get some Cardas solders and don't know if I should go for the Quad Eutectic or the Tri Eutectic. AFAIK the former is a leaded version, while the other is non-leaded. Has anyone experience with both and can tell me?

The Quad Eutectic that contains lead will melt at a lower temperature (therefore quicker) and flow a little better, making it easier to make cleaner solder joints.

 

[Sovkiller]

I tried this one and is pretty good, an cheap for a 4% silver solder:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=370-038

 

[colonelkernel8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried this one and is pretty good, an cheap for a 4% silver solder: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=370-038

Wow, that looks pretty good. May have to try.

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threEchelon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cardas Eutectic, though I haven't tried any others. How do other solders compare to the Cardas stuff?

umm a hell of a lot cheaper, and probably no audible difference in a double-blind test

 

[TzeYang]

i'm using Kester 245. Though some might disagree, but i find it very useful due to it's excellent combination with my liquid rosin and no clean feature.

 

[Rescue Toaster]

I captured a T-1000 with a clever ruse involving liquid nitrogen. Now when I need solder I just chip off a piece. Of course, soon my equipment will reach a critical mass and start plotting against me, but for now I enjoy the music.

Edit: re-wrote this mostly came out funny the first time.

Welborne lab's own solder flows almost as well as Cardas (350 degrees F) at half the price, and is silver bearing. NOT for the 'sound' of silver solder, but for parts with thin silver plating like my favorite Russian teflon caps. It's nice for point-to-point wiring in tube amps. I would not use silver-bearing stuff on smd PCB work. Just Kester 44 for that stuff.

 

[fordgtlover]

Kester 63/37, specially imported. Otherwsie 60/40 domestic on cheap projects.

 

[Pars]

Kester "44" 63/37 most of the time, although lately I have been using a 1/2lb roll of Kester "44" 60/40 that is over 20 years old, and this seems to be working nicely for board mounted stuff. I also have some Wonder solder which I don't use much. Never tried the Cardas, although I understand it is quite good.

 

[Teh Interweb]

Cardas QE