[Elecraft] Organic Rosin Core Solder

[W3FPR - Don Wilhelm]

John,

I am so sorry to hear of your incident -
I don't know how successful you would be, it will depend on the extent of
the corrosion spread, but a scrub with a fine wire brush and alcohol mmight
take the remaining corrosive stuff away, but there still is a chance that
there will always be some residual, so I would follow the scrubbing with
de-soldering every joint and resoldering.  Maybe time to invest in a Hakko
de-soldering gun.  It certainly is a lot of work, and yes these extreme
measures could cause some damage, but it sounds like right now it is already
damaged and even though you might break something in the process, you have
little to lose and a chance to gain everything.

I would try approaching the Tech Support folks at Kester, and provide them
with any coding information that you can find on the solder and perhaps they
could suggest a proper solvent that will not harm the relays and inductors.
If the solder is to blame, and it was mis-marked as rosin core (organic or
not), I might be moved to suggest to them that they buy a new K2 - but the
'fine print' probably limits their liability to replacement of the solder
roll, but who knows what they will do if you ask the right party.

73,
Don W3FPR

> -----Original Message-----
>
> Just a friendly warning to those who may not know the exact
> origin of their
> solder.  I used a Kester solder that was labeled "organic rosin
> core" on my
> K2 (only 75% of the RF board) while I was waiting for a re-supply order to
> come in.
>
>
>
> Fast forward one week:
>
>
>
> Minus one sloppy joint, my K2 fired up and was putting out the expected
> power during part three of alignment.  Big whoop of satisfaction follows.
> Completed kit build with no issues.yet.
>
>
>
> Fast forward two weeks:
>
>
>
> Turned on the K2 to do some listening, upon hitting the tune button, I see
> the High Current warning.  After pulling apart the K2 again, I notice that
> 75% of the solder joints on the RF board seem to be suffering
> from some sort
> of corrosion.  Attempted to clean small portion with alcohol, very little
> luck..showing strange resistance values across the board.
>
>
>
> Three hours later:
>
>
>
> After two and a half hours of pulling my hair out, I decided to do another
> check of the solder to make SURE that I didn't make a mistake.  A bit of
> digging turned up the ORGANIC=WATER SOLUBLE.  The values I'm
> seeing and the
> corrosion of the RF board support this finding.
>
>
>
> The first attempt was a q-tip and water.  Second attempt was
> distilled water
> and a toothbrush to help the process.  Neither has proved helpful and I'm
> still showing strange resistance values from the collector to
> ground on Q6,
> 7 and 8, high current warning on keying.  Voltage checks show within specs
> for RF board during receive.
>
>
>
> So now I sit with a defunct K2, any suggestions for what I can
> try before I
> order K2-Part Deux would be appreciated.
>
>
>
> Lessons learned:  Throw away all unknown solder before you start.
>  Don't use
> organic core solder.
>
>
>
> John
>
> KD7ZYR
>
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