Cored-Wire Solder Selection Question . . .

Good day.

It has been some years since I worked with thru-hole; and was interested in what has been happening since I was asleep ;o)

Waaaay back in ancient times (the early 80s), I had a nifty little setup with Multicore's (I could swear that it was Xersin) Sn62. My Hexacon and I literally made jewelry on thru-hole boards: There was nothing like it. Fast, smooth production without the "pasty" phase: Have never found anything else like it.

As an example, I have a spool of SN63 X39B (Multicore) which I purchased some years later sitting on my desk right now; and was completely disappointed with the product. As I recall (bitterly) the product couldn't wet anything that wasn't absolutely immaculate.

Now I find myself wandering about the countryside looking for a comparable replacement for that old 5-core no-clean of a generation past. Crystal 400 seems to be the nearest thing in (what's left of) the Multicore line, sans two of the five cores (cheaper?); and Interflux offers a product called "IF14" which might be promising. That's about all I can find...

Anyway, here's what I want to achieve:

> Quick production (no "pasty" phase) > High joint surface quality > Good flux action > No discolored, corrosive, or substantive residue of any kind > Lead-free is not a concern ;o)

Any input/ideas are appreciated.

Thanks!

reply »