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  • Author Author: baldengineer
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I need your ideas on how to test flux!

baldengineer

Bucket of Flux Paste

I have been thinking about an episode that compares different types of flux. Primarily I want to compare rosen, water-soluble, and no clean.

I need your help with at least two aspects.

First, what to cover. The two key areas I am thinking about are how effective are each and how difficult are they to clean? Are there any other areas we should explore?

Second, how to do the testing. My thought was to sand the finish off some scrap PCBs and expose them to moisture to generate some corrosion. Is there another way to simulate joints that require cleaning? Maybe an additional test needs to be soldering new components/PCBs for comparison?

Ultimately, I can solder parts to those PCBs and then compare the resulting solder joints with a microscope.

I'm open to the community's thoughts on what to test and how. So let me know what you think!

  • in reply to indeterminatus

    Regarding:

    If it makes any difference at all, what about health hazards? Are all fumes somewhat equally bad?

    It can take decades before health problems appear. Case in point is Parkinsons, where only in recent times has it been suspected that some industrial cleaning agent (as yet unidentified) is likely to cause it in later years. I'm sure just as many people use industrial cleaning agents than soldering fluxes, yet it took this long to identify a possible link to a disease. 

    Given symptoms could take decades, the only logical conclusion is to not breathe in the fumes for all fluxes. They should all be treated as hazardous to health. 

  • I would be interested in a fourth comparison: solder with flux core.

    If it makes any difference at all, what about health hazards? Are all fumes somewhat equally bad?

    Is one type of flux more "forgiving" towards beginner errors than another? (Say, accidentally applied too much flux)

    What would happen (over time) if flux residue is not properly cleaned? No idea how to simulate/show that, though, unfortunately.

  • in reply to Workshopshed

    Hi Andy,

    Someone suggested a fibreglass pen, but I'm wary of using those in case I stab a finger into one of the fibres, can't be good for humans! : ) So, I keep a scrap of sandpaper handy for any really heavily oxidised stuff. I wonder if such a thing is available in a pen or eraser type form.

    A problem with such connectors is that the mating surfaces might be oxidize too, so I have had to throw away a few such connectors because the contacts were unreliable. This could be a problem with some new-old-stock (NOS) connectors from ebay etc., but in my case they were new connectors bought from a proper distributor, but not used for a decade. Silver plated wire (e.g. Kynar wire) severely gets oxidized to the point of becoming completely black where I am (nowhere near an ocean : ) so I guess the same thing happened with the connectors. For such oxidized wire, I find sandpaper to be a great option.

  • Can you get hold of some really old boards? I find brass connectors are often hard to solder.

    Tips for oxidisation recommend salt and vinegar and of course air.

  • Not everyone has the luxury of soldering on a well-lit, clean bench.  How do the offerings compare e.g. on an incline?