My SRA no-clean #312 flux pen came up dry the other day. To finish my project of resoldering broken wires on a great grandchild’s two AA battery toy, I put some of Dad’s old tinners fluid in the pen and dabbed some on the solder points and wire ends. Much to my joy they cleaned up unusually bright, and soldered with unusual ease.
Curious, I later read about “tinners fluid” and discovered why. The acidic nature of it no doubt cleaned almost too well, and in the instance of electronics it presented a corrosion potential bar none, and could dissolve adjacent materials on any circuit board. No wonder the black plastic tip-holder on the pen partly disintegrated! Fortunately no soldering was necessary on a pcb, just a small speaker contact and a battery box contact. So I went back and applied an electronics cleaner and protectant.
Before reordering another alcohol based flux pen, that obviously doesn’t function as effectively on metal as acid flux but is necessary to not damage surrounding infrastructure, I thought I’d better ask here what flux the experts would recommend. I’m no soldering expert and have a frustrating tremor. I need solder to respond to heat cleanly, but often it immediately oxidizes before adhering to wire or board metal. It’s hard for me to hold the iron tip steady on point long enough. I’m constantly cleaning the iron tip in brass “wool” but it’s not long before the tip oxidizes over. Working quickly is hard due to the tremor not meshing with small targets.
The tinners fluid job went so much more smoothly I hardly believed it. Perhaps a deftly-placed heat sink helped. Regardless, I can’t be using acid fluid again on anything aside from copper pipes or something. Should I order another pen or are there other options? One thing I don’t like is the pen’s “felt” applicator tip wears to mush so delicate application becomes more and more difficult.
Joel
