Jeff, and All,
One vender has recommended the following solder for relatively high
temperature and high current parts such as the decoupler coil leads:
Kester 44 rosin core
Sn95Ag05
.031 OD (Outside Diameter)
I have used the following for quite a while with good results:
Kester Sn 96.5 Ag 3.5
#66/331 water soluble flux
.031 OD
A solder with a smaller OD, perhaps 0.15" may be desireable for
delicate probe work. Neither solders work in all probe
applications, ei. they are probably not suitable for VT
thermocouple connections, and may have too high a melting point
for some varieties of glass tuning capacitors.
Solders without a flux core still require an application of a fluxing
agent (really an organic? acid to remove surface oxides); one still
needs to apply a fluxing agent to the joint, and it might as well be
in the solder. Acetone cleans most flux residues, but can damage
many plastics and epoxies. Ethyl alcohol works best on Fridays...
The above solders are not as 'glossy' as the regular Sn/Pb
varieties, and are fairly expensive. A one pound roll
should last several lifetimes, though... They are available from
many suppliers - Newark (800-463-9275, www.newark.com) might
be a good start, if you local electronics distributor cannot help.
And remember, The tricks you saw here are performed by trained
professionals... do *NOT* try this at home.
Cheers,
- Dennis
Dennis Edwards Currently Servicing 6.15GHZ of NMR
NMR Support Services edwards@chemistry.utah.edu
University of Utah TEL (801) 581-4208
Department of Chemistry FAX (801) 581-8433
315 S. 1400 E. RM Dock 40.45.717 N 111.50.940 W (GPS location)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 Altitude 4670 ft. (1420 meters)
USA Call KD7AMN