[Elecraft] Your solder may be no clean

[David F. Reed]

Jerry,

Thanks for the brief explanation of why the NASA solder specifications 
are what they are, and the explanation of eutectic.

If anyone wants to know more about it, 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutectic does a fair job, and includes a 
phase diagram and is a good reference.

Jeremiah McCarthy wrote:

>"Apparently some government agencies and their contractors like to see excess
>rosin flux removed and train their people to do so. I'm not sure why they do
>that, but in the environment in which Elecraft rigs are capable of being
>used this is completely unnecessary."
>
>        (a) all government work must be inspected and "sold" to QC...QC demands integrity and cosmetics.. 
>        (b) Under high magnification, flux that does not appear to the naked eye stands out and can hide flaws...
>        (c) a lot of government work requires conformal coating...The coating will not adhere to flux coated joints
>        (d)  cosmetically, it looks better and requires very little effort to do...
>
>There seems to be an opinion regarding solder that "eutectic" means the ability to go from a liquid state to a solid state without passing through a plastic state..."Eutectic" means that the ratio of the base metals of the alloy are formulated to give the lowest possible point of solidification, usually lower than the point of any of the base metals used, and has nothing to with the presence or absence of a plastic state...
>
>Jerry, wa2dkg
>
73 de W5SV, Dave