[HCARC] Solder Question

[Kerry Sandstrom]

Gary,

I bet you thought you asked a simple question?  Not a chance!  Are the N 
connectors new and for lead-free solder or are they old and for tin-lead 
solder?

In the old days solder was usually tin and lead.  The ratio of tin to 
lead was normally about 60/40 tin to lead.  The lowest melting point 
tin-lead solder is 63/37.  63/37 solder melts at 361 deg F, 60/40 at 371 
deg F and as the lead content gets higher, so does the melting point.  
New, lead-free solder is tin-copper.  It has higher melting point than 
the old tin-lead.

There are several other types of solder such as tin-bismuth and silver 
solder.  They have special properties, for instance bismuth solder has a 
very low melting point and silver-solder is used for soldering to to 
metal contacts deposited on ceramic standoffs.  If you want to see 
silver solder look inside an old Tektronix oscilloscope.

It is difficult if not impossible to use tin-lead solder to solder new 
components designed to use lead-free solder and vice versa.  I'm not 
sure how one solders a tinned center conductor to a lead-free center pin 
and vice versa.  That is probably one advantage of going the crimp 
connector root.  By the way numerous transistors, diodes, resistors, 
capacitors, cables, connectors, etc are now made lead-free and are 
terrible to work with if you are using tin-lead solder.  You can't tin 
the leads and solder won't stick to the leads of the components.  I 
think the lead-free stuff is marked ROHS or something like that.

Have fun,

Kerry