noob question about solder

[angelofhope]

I have found this solder wire lying around, it is 0.5mm Sn62PbAg2 http://www.radielfondam.com/, any idea if this is any good for recapping a motherboard?

TIA

[Spacedye69]

Re: noob question about solder

Looks good. It should flow well.

Note: Admins may want to edit the link and remove the last parenthesis!

[angelofhope]

Re: noob question about solder

Tried it on a very old board, just to see if I might be able to recap another board, seems like the biggest problem is getting the whole clean... is this really necessary? anyway, the solder was really easy to work with, although I can't test if it's well connected, because the board didn't work to start with and I just tried removing some caps and reinserting them again.
Still found it difficult enough, but it might be worth the risk if there's a possibility I might get my K7VTA3 working again.

[starfury1]

Re: noob question about solder

For clearing the pcb holes check the FAQ's on this site and practice on junk pcb first.
(stainless steel needle or dentist pick)

As to the solder well from what I gather above and the site
(which I can't read)

Sn = Tin
P b= lead
Ag = Silver

From periodic table Here

So
62% tin
2% silver
36% lead
if I read it right (think you may have missed the PB spec but not sure)

60/40 is what is normally used for Electronics although this has now changed thanks to RoHS

60/40 solder allows a small "plastic" state between liquid and solid states when cooling.
(63/37 offers min plastic state, not Ideal from memory so 60/40 was chosen)

So that should be ok to use

I am not into the use of more exotic types solders but if its not flux cored you will need to use electronics type flux with it.

my thoughts HTH

Cheers

as always I'll stand to be corrected if wrong

[999999999]

Re: noob question about solder

For the sake of completeness I resurrect this old thread.

63/37 is the preferred eutectic forumlation. Having 60/40 stay in a plastic state is more often a bad, not good thing, as it may result in cold solder joints when a part doesn't stay perfectly still.

There is no good reason to choose a tin/lead solder that also has silver in it. That will just require more heat to melt it. Yes you "could" use it, and have a fine result but if we're splitting hairs then having silver in it is worse than not for a typical repair scenario where there no way to precisely control the soldering temp. Even if you have a highly accurate soldering iron with regulated temp you are still maintaining far above the melting point of the solder, sometimes much higher when soldering caps onto power planes.

[willawake]

Re: noob question about solder

i use 60/40....cold joints who me?

[gonzo0815]

Re: noob question about solder

Silver containing solder is used and promoted for SMD devices, as silver containing solder does better wet the the parts.
Sure, for leaded soldering i think it is not necessary for trough hole components.
In case of lead free soldering, AFAIK Ag containing alloys have the lowest melting point compared to other lead free alloys.

[999999999]

Re: noob question about solder

Silver solder in general tends to have a more active flux, and optionally, a higher % of flux. These two factors can make the silver bearing solder flow (wet) as well or better, but by the same measure the stronger and/or higher % of flux could be selected in a non-silver (PbSn) solder and then it would flow/wet better (best). Unfortunately beyond a MSDS, many solder manufacturers aren't so eager to fully disclose the compositions of their flux beyond the main active ingredient and carrier.