I've had good luck with the kester 62/36/2% silver stuff, which is
eutectic.

Many many years ago, I had some luck with a indium-bismuth solder paste
in syringes from Indium Corp. Haven't fiddled with any of their stuff
since then.

Radio Shack sells a bag of little peices of tape-form stuff. Never got
it to work well.

Favorites?

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've had good luck with the kester 62/36/2% silver stuff, which is
eutectic.

Many many years ago, I had some luck with a indium-bismuth solder paste
in syringes from Indium Corp. Haven't fiddled with any of their stuff
since then.

Radio Shack sells a bag of little peices of tape-form stuff. Never got
it to work well.

Favorites?

plain old 60-40 rosin-core electrical solder has worked well for me - got
mine at a hamfest on a half-pound roll.
the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures - and higher
temperatures are not good for electronics.
eutectic (if my memory serves) just means it's either solid or liquid - and
won't just 'soften' - like ice and water.
hth
Hal w4pmj

In article ,
"Hal Rosser" wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've had good luck with the kester 62/36/2% silver stuff, which is
eutectic.

Many many years ago, I had some luck with a indium-bismuth solder paste
in syringes from Indium Corp. Haven't fiddled with any of their stuff
since then.

Radio Shack sells a bag of little peices of tape-form stuff. Never got
it to work well.

Favorites?

plain old 60-40 rosin-core electrical solder has worked well for me - got
mine at a hamfest on a half-pound roll.
the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures - and higher
temperatures are not good for electronics.

Silver-bearing solder is for use with silver plated terminal strips
(such as Tektronix used to use); silver in the solder prevents the
silver on the terminals from being dissolved by the solder and ruined.

Isaac

I've had good luck with the kester 62/36/2% silver stuff,
which is eutectic.
alanh_27

plain old 60-40...worked well for me
Hal Rosser

If you say so. That wasn't the question.


the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures

No.
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache...+60-40-183-191


the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures

No.
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache...+60-40-183-191


eutectic (if my memory serves) just means it's either solid or liquid
--and won't just 'soften' -- like ice and water

Yup--and that's important for good results.

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 23:43:35 -0500 "Hal Rosser"
wrote:

eutectic (if my memory serves) just means it's either solid or liquid - and
won't just 'soften' - like ice and water.

The eutectic alloy is the one which has the right proportions to give
it the minimum melting point for a given set of constituent metals.
I've only seen the word applied to binary alloys, but I suppose it
could be applied to alloys of 3 or more metals, too. I'm not sure if
that's a proper use of the term, however.

A side effect of using the eutectic alloy is that there is a
distinctive melting point. When the alloy is non-eutectic, there are
separate solidus and liquidus points, between which the alloy is just
more or less "slushy."

There is no slushy region when a eutectic alloy melts. This sounds
like what Hal was describing above.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

The eutectic combination of tin and lead is 63% tin, 37% lead. 60/40 has
a slightly higher melting point, and unlike the eutectic alloy, has a
plastic stage between liquid and solid. Consequently, 63/37 is a better
choice for solder.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Hal Rosser wrote:

plain old 60-40 rosin-core electrical solder has worked well for me - got
mine at a hamfest on a half-pound roll.
the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures - and higher
temperatures are not good for electronics.
eutectic (if my memory serves) just means it's either solid or liquid - and
won't just 'soften' - like ice and water.
hth
Hal w4pmj

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 23:43:35 -0500, Hal Rosser wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've had good luck with the kester 62/36/2% silver stuff, which is
eutectic.

Many many years ago, I had some luck with a indium-bismuth solder paste
in syringes from Indium Corp. Haven't fiddled with any of their stuff
since then.

Radio Shack sells a bag of little peices of tape-form stuff. Never got
it to work well.

Favorites?

plain old 60-40 rosin-core electrical solder has worked well for me - got
mine at a hamfest on a half-pound roll.
the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures - and higher
temperatures are not good for electronics.
eutectic (if my memory serves) just means it's either solid or liquid - and
won't just 'soften' - like ice and water.
hth
Hal w4pmj


63/37 solder is eutectic.

In article ,
Roy Lewallen wrote:

The eutectic combination of tin and lead is 63% tin, 37% lead. 60/40 has
a slightly higher melting point, and unlike the eutectic alloy, has a
plastic stage between liquid and solid. Consequently, 63/37 is a better
choice for solder.

I understand that there's a tradeoff involved. The 63/37 eutectic has
a lower melting point and no plastic stage, and some people feel that
the latter reduces the risk of 'cold' solder joints somewhat. On the
other hand, I've read that the 60/40 alloy is somewhat superior in its
"wetting" property - it adheres and bonds to some base metals better
than the eutectic does, and might make superior joints as a result.

I tend to prefer the eutectic, or a eutectic modified with 2% silver.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Also, there are things like stainless steel, and aluminium that don't
like regular 60/40 solder-- however silver solder will solder to
stainless antenna rods (repair antenna whips, ect). and aluminium
is easy to solder to, but consider : 1) that aluminium oxide WON'T allow
solder to adhear to it, and that : 2) aluminium oxidizes almost
immedietly ! The way to solder to aluminium without special solders/
fluxes is to scrape the surface, and then immediatly apply hot iron and
solder. Then solder will adhear to it! As a side note, concerning
the oxidation of aluminium, consider that the silver powder in fireworks
is powdered aluminium! Have a friend , whose dad told of his experience
with it (powdered)-- was used to make aluminium based paint- he was told
by his boss to get rid of it-- threw it into an incinerator-- and,
KABKOOIE ! as info, Jim NN7K


Isaac Wingfield wrote:

Silver-bearing solder is for use with silver plated terminal strips
(such as Tektronix used to use); silver in the solder prevents the
silver on the terminals from being dissolved by the solder and ruined.

Isaac

"Jim - NN7K" wrote in message
om...
As a side note, concerning
the oxidation of aluminium, consider that the silver powder in fireworks
is powdered aluminium! Have a friend , whose dad told of his experience
with it (powdered)-- was used to make aluminium based paint- he was told
by his boss to get rid of it-- threw it into an incinerator-- and,
KABKOOIE ! as info, Jim NN7K


IIRC, 'Thermite' is made from Iron Oxide and Aluminium powder, and that
burns rather hot!

Dave