how do u use solid rosin flux?

[ChaosLegionnaire]

i recently bought a block of solid rosin flux from aliexpress. i intend to use it for reflowing cold solder joints and cracked solder joints. but im not sure how im supposed to be using it? do i just break off bits and pieces of it with a knife and put the bits of solid rosin on the bad joint im soldering then bring on the iron?

i tried asking google and they pointed me to a headphone forum and eevblog? and they said to just dip the soldering iron tip into the solid block. a small piece of flux will be attached to the soldering iron tip end and im supposed to use that to reflow the bad joint. they also said dipping the iron tip into the flux can also clean the tip before u tin it.

any comments on this? and whats the right way to use this block of solid rosin flux. thanks.

[diif]

Is there a reason you chose solid flux instead of a more easy to apply paste ?

[eccerr0r]

Strange, so it's hard as a brick? You can add a bit of isopropanol to soften/liquefy the rosin. Though dipping the iron into the flux works too, I'd rather try to keep it clean so getting a small softened piece is what I'd try to do.

I need to get some good rosin flux, most of the flux I have (that's not a core of solder wire) doesn't seem to work too well...

[televizora]

Here we call the rosin flux - colophony.
It's intended to be hard. Just dip the tip. If you need more, melt some from the box with the tip of your iron and pour it where you need it.
Don't use it for SMD. Not suitable, can rip the pads of small SMD IC's. Use SMD flux paste instead. And if you don't want hard flux, just don't buy it. There are pastes and liquid fluxes of all kinds available. You can also break it in small pieces and just put a piece where you need it and melt it with the tip of the iron. But it's not convenient to do so. Stick to melting and pouring it from the box.

Originally Posted by eccerr0r

Strange, so it's hard as a brick?

Yes. It is hard. It's a rosin. Also the cheapest flux available and works in most cases very well. I have an experience of using it.

[Christian0734]

A good method is to let the block dissolve in a little ysoproprilic alcohol