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From: whit3rd on 4 Jul 2010 14:09
On Jul 4, 7:28 am, Smitty Two <prestwh...(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
> In article
> <none-0307101819110...(a)dialup-4.231.175.251.dial1.losangeles1.level3.net
>
>
>
> >,
>  n...(a)given.now (Joe) wrote:

> > The big Aha! came when I realized that all during that soldering attempt,
> > there was absolutely no odor of rosin flux.

> > Is there a definite life for unused solder?

No, but there IS faulty and inconsistent solder product in
the market... major brands (Kester, Multicore) are fine.

> I'm the militant s.e.r. liquid flux advocate. If you're going to solder
> at all, especially to make repairs, you *need* liquid flux, period.

I'll second that. A 2 oz. bottle of liquid flux, with an artist's
small
brush, always sits between my soldering iron and the magnifier
(so I can see bad joints, hit 'em with the flux, and reheat).

Rosin flux does develop clumps (probably just the alcohol
evaporating); the water-soluble type is just as good in its
own way (but you HAVE to rinse clean afterward).
From: Ecnerwal on 4 Jul 2010 16:30
In article
<none-0307101819110001(a)dialup-4.231.175.251.dial1.losangeles1.level3.net
>,
none(a)given.now (Joe) wrote:

> A couple of days ago I did a small repair to an electronic timer. It just
> need a bit of solder to reconnect a wire.
>
> I had a devil of a time with that small repair, the solder just didn't
> want to flow over the wire and onto the pad on the PCB.
....
> Is there a definite life for unused solder?

I've got a roll or two of Multicore that's easily 3 decades old, and
still works fine. Now, when doing repairs, you are often up against a
filthy joint and the crufty remains of the flux last used, plus any dirt
or corrosion it's attracted since it was made - and there just might be
a layer of varnish or the like applied to the thing post-assembly to
additionally complicate life, and none of those will help a bit.

If you can't make it clean mechanically (the preferable option, IMHO),
additional flux might help.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
From: Archon on 4 Jul 2010 20:11
On 7/3/2010 9:19 PM, Joe wrote:
> A couple of days ago I did a small repair to an electronic timer. It just
> need a bit of solder to reconnect a wire.
>
> I had a devil of a time with that small repair, the solder just didn't
> want to flow over the wire and onto the pad on the PCB.
>
> A little while later, it occurred to me that maybe the problem was that I
> had used some old solder - about a foot or so are remaining on probably a
> 5 or 10 foot spool.
>
> The big Aha! came when I realized that all during that soldering attempt,
> there was absolutely no odor of rosin flux.
>
> Questions:
>
> Are there any obvious ways to tell if old solder has lost its flux, other
> than trying it out on say, soldering some scrap wire?
>
> What happened to the rosin core of that solder? It doesn't look like the
> end was left open.
>
> Is there a definite life for unused solder?
>
> --- Joe
Don't you know "old solders never die.............etc etc" :-)
JC
From: Meat Plow on 5 Jul 2010 09:57
On Sun, 04 Jul 2010 07:28:40 -0700, Smitty Two ǝʇoɹʍ:

> In article
> <none-0307101819110001(a)dialup-4.231.175.251.dial1.losangeles1.level3.net
>>,
> none(a)given.now (Joe) wrote:
>
>> A couple of days ago I did a small repair to an electronic timer. It
>> just need a bit of solder to reconnect a wire.
>>
>> I had a devil of a time with that small repair, the solder just didn't
>> want to flow over the wire and onto the pad on the PCB.
>>
>> A little while later, it occurred to me that maybe the problem was that
>> I had used some old solder - about a foot or so are remaining on
>> probably a 5 or 10 foot spool.
>>
>> The big Aha! came when I realized that all during that soldering
>> attempt, there was absolutely no odor of rosin flux.
>>
>> Questions:
>>
>> Are there any obvious ways to tell if old solder has lost its flux,
>> other than trying it out on say, soldering some scrap wire?
>>
>> What happened to the rosin core of that solder? It doesn't look like
>> the end was left open.
>>
>> Is there a definite life for unused solder?
>>
>> --- Joe
>
> I'm the militant s.e.r. liquid flux advocate. If you're going to solder
> at all, especially to make repairs, you *need* liquid flux, period. One
> of these days I'll make a video for youtube demonstrating how flux
> facilitates soldering. I don't care if you think you've been soldering
> fine without it for 50 years, if you don't use it, you have no idea what
> you're missing.

Never used anything but rosin core flux except to solder copper pipe.
Maybe you could 'explain' what it is I might have been missing over the
last 30 years?
From: William Sommerwerck on 5 Jul 2010 10:11
>> I'm the militant s.e.r. liquid flux advocate. If you're going to solder
>> at all, especially to make repairs, you *need* liquid flux, period.
>> One of these days I'll make a video for youtube demonstrating
>> how flux facilitates soldering. I don't care if you think you've been
>> soldering fine without it for 50 years, if you don't use it, you have
>> no idea what you're missing.

> Never used anything but rosin core flux except to solder copper
> pipe. Maybe you could "explain" what it is I might have been
> missing over the last 30 years?

I've never had trouble "wetting" an old joint with a bit of new rosin-core
solder.


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