[Milsurplus] Soldering

[Dave Merrill]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Jeff. Some good stories there. Still
finding out more about connections and soldering after 65 years of doing it.

--... ...-- Dave N9ZC

On Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 11:01 AM Jeff Kruth via Milsurplus <
milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> I worked in the defense industry for 30 years then taught college for
> electrical engineering, with lab courses that involved soldering, which we
> taught. As I remember the details, mechanical integrity was important,
> Tektronix not discounted, followed by cleanliness (I taught in soldering
> "Cleanliness is next to godliness"). Solder has one primary duty, which I
> havent seen mentioned explicitly, only implied: It keeps Oxygen from
> attacking and corroding the joint. A crimped connection will work for a
> while, but after 10-20-50 years, no! Hence the ARC-5 stories (I have
> one...) and Glenn's KWM-2.  Ma Bell didn't want to solder subscriber
> numbers in, and so perfected the requirements for wire wrapping, also used
> in the early computer and microprocessor world to great effect. There, the
> tight wrap and the square post cutting into the wrap wire sufficed to keep
> Oxygen at bay. Yes, solder MAY improve conductivity, AND it MAY provide the
> necessary MINIMUM strength, but it real use was a conductive sealing agent,
> easily applied/removed.
> Our technicians at Westinghouse Defense had to pass a 40 hour, 1 work week
> soldering school with a STRINGENT teacher (no tardiness, door locked at 8
> AM!) before their job was secure! I still have the course books, as an
> engineer and a radio nut, I was interested. The group I led built widgets
> for our systems (a clever business ploy) and all of our work was microscope
> inspected (boy, joints sure look different under a B&L stereoscope!). I
> built many 8K memory cards for my S-100 buss system (using 2102's salvaged,
> Augat sockets of course), microscope soldered, 1000's of perfect
> connections! Looked like production reflow work!
> Just remembering...   Regards, Jeff Kruth
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