snopercod
Well Known Member
I recently had occasion to partially rewire my G205 Stick Grip due to broken wires (see this thread). When I went to purchase some rosin core solder on Amazon, I discovered that there are several available alloys with several different kinds of flux. I used to be an electronic technician in another life so I was embarrassed that I didn't know about solder any more (if I ever did); I just used what the tool crib gave me - Kester "44", I think it was.
The European Union really screwed us over with their RoHS, which banned lead in many products. I won't go into that disaster, but thankfully we can still buy the tried and true 60/40 and 63/37 solder on Amazon. The 63/37 is "Eutectic" solder and melts at the lowest possible temperature and solidifies without going through a "plastic" phase. This theoretically gives you a better joint, so I jumped the gun and ordered some made-in-china 63/37 before I did the research on fluxes. I have no idea which flux it contains.
Flux cores can be Rosin (RO), Resin (RE), Organic (OR), Inorganic (IN), and RA (Activated Rosin). They are further rated according to the residue activity (L=Low or none; M=Moderate; H=high). So for example, a Rosin Core, Moderate Activity flux would be classified as ROM0 or ROM1, depending on Halide concentration per J-STD-004. There are also different core sizes: 50, 58 and 66 = 1.1%, 2.2% and 3.3% flux. Yeah, I really don't want to know all this stuff either, I just want to know what we should be using on our planes.
In the G205 thread (linked above), I found several 26 GA wires in my stick grip hanging by a thread. When I went to make repairs, several more wires just broke off where the insulation starts. Could this have been due to using a too-agressive flux ten years ago when I wired up the connections? Improper stripping? Or maybe it was just the vibration after five years in service. I'll never know but I was careful to properly restrain these small wires this time around.
I think if I were doing it again, I would use Kester 24-6337-0027, Core Size 66, 63/37 Alloy
The European Union really screwed us over with their RoHS, which banned lead in many products. I won't go into that disaster, but thankfully we can still buy the tried and true 60/40 and 63/37 solder on Amazon. The 63/37 is "Eutectic" solder and melts at the lowest possible temperature and solidifies without going through a "plastic" phase. This theoretically gives you a better joint, so I jumped the gun and ordered some made-in-china 63/37 before I did the research on fluxes. I have no idea which flux it contains.
Flux cores can be Rosin (RO), Resin (RE), Organic (OR), Inorganic (IN), and RA (Activated Rosin). They are further rated according to the residue activity (L=Low or none; M=Moderate; H=high). So for example, a Rosin Core, Moderate Activity flux would be classified as ROM0 or ROM1, depending on Halide concentration per J-STD-004. There are also different core sizes: 50, 58 and 66 = 1.1%, 2.2% and 3.3% flux. Yeah, I really don't want to know all this stuff either, I just want to know what we should be using on our planes.
In the G205 thread (linked above), I found several 26 GA wires in my stick grip hanging by a thread. When I went to make repairs, several more wires just broke off where the insulation starts. Could this have been due to using a too-agressive flux ten years ago when I wired up the connections? Improper stripping? Or maybe it was just the vibration after five years in service. I'll never know but I was careful to properly restrain these small wires this time around.
I think if I were doing it again, I would use Kester 24-6337-0027, Core Size 66, 63/37 Alloy
So what are you guys using? What should we be using?Kester 44 Rosin Flux is an activated rosin formula for use in flux-cored solder wire. 44 has virtually dominated the field
of activated rosin core solders for well over five decades. An outstanding performance feature of this flux is the ?instant-
action? wetting behavior. The high mobility and fast-spreading action of this flux results in more reliable production line
soldering. Under IPC J-STD-004, 44 is classified as ROM1. Despite the increased activity and soldering performance, 44
passes both 85?C/85% RH and 40?C/90% RH SIR test methods.