My Very Expensive Solder has arrived.
What makes it so expensive?
@HopelessDemigod I see @vk6flab has already been helpful, but will add that the price has been made relatively expensive by the retailer’s brand premium, the product’s brand premium, the quality of the product, its weight, the cost of shipping that weight, and—I'll stop beating about the bush—its silver content.
@HopelessDemigod @vk6flab TL;DR bought 1lb of Kester 24-7150-0018 from Mouser
@HopelessDemigod @vk6flab yeah, I know, but it's _luxury_ toxic waste. Sigh.
I wanted to go lead-free, but felt snookered: I’ve already used leaded solder, I need to fix those joints, and the board has an almost belligerent lack of thermal relief. If I mixed leaded and non-leaded solders in these holes, I fear I'd end up with some weird amalgam I'd never get out.
@vk2tty @HopelessDemigod @vk6flab I use classic 63% lead solder with the highest flux percentage I can find for everything. I ignore whatever might be there already. Never had a problem.
If I need to solder steel or stainless steel or nickel I use Ruby flux and my regular solder. No problem. People are stunned to see me solder copper wires to stainless steel dinner forks, nickel plated US quarters, US nickels. Easy peasy.
@HopelessDemigod @vk2tty @vk6flab It's stainless steelware so it's okay. ;-)
I've done it to break down the preconception that it's impossible to solder to steel, stainless, or nickel. A copper wire soldered to to a fork gets the message through.
I learned this long ago when "body work" on a car didn't involve the use of Bondo. You pulled out the dents and then filled with LEAD, not Bondo. How do you get lead to amalgamate with steel?
@HopelessDemigod @vk2tty @vk6flab I'm ignoring the dangers of lead, of course. But this is how it was done when I was a kid. A blowtorch, bars of lead, and the right acid flux. You can solder to steel. What???
I chuckle when I see hams going through all kinds of commotions to connect with stainless antenna parts. Just solder it, man. What?
@HopelessDemigod @vk2tty @vk6flab Oh, and Frankenstein is kind of what I do, as long as it's solid and reliable, and does what it's supposed to do for a long time.
Speaking of long time, if you want to solder to stainless or ordinary steel, you can use hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid, pool acid) and it will work fine but won't last. the trapped chlorine atoms will react and the joint will fail in about a year. Use phosphoric acid instead.
@HopelessDemigod @vk2tty @vk6flab I should add that soldering copper wire to REAL silverware would be extremely easy. ;-) Stainless steel, not so easy, but still very do-able if you know how.
@shuttersparks @vk2tty @vk6flab
I’m more concerned your soldering copper wires to silverware. What king of Frankenstein inducing experiments are you up to?