[Elecraft] Soolder fillets

[Jeremiah McCarthy]

I was a certified NASA solderer, and no NASA soldering course I ever took required fillets...It was quite the opposite, minimal solder was required in the interest of saving lift-off weight...It was estimated that minimal solder in the Apollo program saved 450 pounds in entire launch vehicle...OT?...Yes...

It is curious to me that we are cautioned not to trim the relay leads in the K-2, but we MUST in the case of the KAT2...Once the leads are properly soldered, trimming the leads will have no effect on the relays themselves...It has been my experience in rework that trimmed leads make parts removal easier...My Hakko 808, which I dearly love, will NOT remove all the solder completely through to the other side of the board...Solder wick will, but the leads must be trimmed first, otherwise the protruding portion keeps the solder wick and the iron up off the joint...The heat must be applied to both the lead and the hole at the same time, and that is not possible with an untrimmed lead...I will continue to trim EVERYTHING...And de-flux it...Just my opinion...

Jerry, wa2dkg