[Elecraft] Re: Elecraft digest, Vol 4 #205 - 42 msgs

[Dave Jewell]

In-Reply-To: <20030617080751.213273285EC@mailman.qth.net>
That's exactly my experience as well, Tom.  I soldered most of my K2 using 
fairly thick diameter solder (just some old stuff I had hanging around) 
but when I came to KSB2 board, I'd heard that the layout was a lot tighter 
than the main K2, so I bought myself some much smaller gauge solder and 
put a very fine tip on my Weller iron.  

It was a revelation.  I found that I was able to pretty much direct the 
solder right down into the PTH.  Once the hole is full, just remove the 
solder and you get a beautiful joint that looks almost as if it's been 
through a flow-soldering machine with no nasty blob sticking up above the 
surface of the board.  If you trim off all the component leads (let's not 
start talking about relay leads again, ok? <g>) you get a really smooth 
board.  

This technique works well for me because I'm very short-sighted.  With my 
glasses off, I can focus on the board when it's only a couple of inches 
from my nose.  As I said to Julian, G4ILO, the only danger for me is 
singed eyebrows!

The solder I use now is sold by Maplin in the UK - it's 0.7mm diameter 
which works out at 0.027" so it's just a little thicker than yours.  The 
stuff I was originally using was 1.5m thick !!! 

73, Dave GW0LUA

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Tom Hammond said:

> When soldering to PTH, it's not necessary to make solder fillets
> ON the pad. As long as you can 'flow' the solder down into the 
> PTH and be certain that the hole is filled (at least 90% full), 
> then there's no need for additional solder.

> This is most easily accomplished using fine diameter solder. 
> I use 0.020" diameter solder (Kester 285, if I recall), but 
> 0.025" diameter should work as well. Larger diameter solders, 
> even those at 0.030" and 0.035", can give you more solder than 
> you really need the very first time you touch the solder to the 
> tip of the iron. I didn't believe it until I tried it, and sure
> enough it did. I'm dedicated to 0.020" dia. solder when soldering
> PTH nowadays.