Solder Alloys Test - Lead and Lead Free Solder 

Lead

60/40 lead

lead. lead free is garbage.

Lead is far superior in my opinion lead free flows like crap

Depends on the device I'm fixing or building. If the board is lead free I use lead free, if not then not. I made a series of pcbs for a customer with lead free stuff, SN95Ag4Cu1. I must say it flowed like magic and made very strong joints. Shiny also. Really liked it. Disadvantage is the high price and desoldering without lifting pads is near impossible.

Many flux!

lmao

Yes, typically means that chip or component must be lifted and wick used to remove it. I've found that adding some lead free high bismuth percentage and lots of flux helps when removing component, it's easier to wick off then because it is very liquid. But it must be removed completely because bismuth becomes fragile when it solidifies. Leaded solder unfortunately isn't available to private people legally anymore in European Union, but for folks doing soldering for work or living outside EU, I suggest to use leaded to solder components back. Much easier to solder, and easier to remove, and resists cracking a lot better.

Agree, added to description

60/40 typically melts at 190 celcius, 63/37 melts around 183 celcius. You are not wrong in choosing lower temperature one, but it is usually little bit more expensive, and otherwise the solders are very similar. It doesn't really matter much which one to use, as 200 degree preheat is enough to melt both completely. I use a method where I add some bismuth solder when I plan to wick solder off of old joint before starting the removal. This bismuth solder melts in under 140 celcius degrees and makes for very fluid liquid to wick up, but then I must be careful to remove it all before resoldering to that same spot. I'm in bad position myself as I'm a hobbyist and I live in EU country, and some smart people in EU decided to ban leaded solder from private use. I fortunately have some old stocks. But governments themselves in the EU are two faced entities because military and government agencies and medical still keep using leaded solder as if there's no tomorrow, and then tell to citizens that it's so bad, toxic, environmentally horrible, that no hobbyist can buy or use it. As if citizens were children or something, but oh well. Leaded is simply superior to unleaded simply because of its malleability. It doesn't crack, it can stretch over 35 percent typically before cracking. Most unleaded cracks after 20 percent stretch and low temperature makes it even more fragile. Unleaded is also horrible to solder in my opinion, it doesn't flow nor stick very good at all. I've noticed that it's very prone to something similar to burn through, as we call it in welding. In other words it doesn't form a cap over a hole easily, but sticks to the sides and leaves hole in the middle.

Never knew metal can grow the whiskers and even cause a short circuit. Thanks for the info.

Yeah, I was also of the same impression, or perhaps to do with what you are used to. I don't understand the difficulty here. I wonder if it's something to do with people originally trained on Leaded switching to Lead-free, whereas I was trained straight on using Lead-free, so there's perhaps a slight difference in what I do. But I very rarely have the bridging issues on SOICs that they were having.

Oh, later you took it angled... Thanks for awesome vid!

Leaded solder forms smooth, shiny joints compared to lead-free solder. And leaded solder with 2-3% silver content will produce even better result. Please look for solder with composition Sn62/Pb36/Ag02

given the short distances and relative large contact area, the electrical resistance is not a factor. *theoretically, anything that contains silver has a lower electric resistance.

elevated heat is detrimental to the components, not the solder itself. the flux burns off faster at higher temperatures, but you still have more than enough time for the fluxes to do their job.

but isn't Tin-Silver less shiny than Tin-Copper ?

As you could see, is that led free solder have holes and such in it, he had to do it over and over till it finally was good, and that led free solder would stick to each other when he was soldering the chip to the board, and that you can a lower temperature to solder, that is better for your components and the electrical bill. And THAT is the reason that almost all the people who solder for there living and as a hobby use led solder and not led free solder.

DarkShadowsX5 don't forgot the lead is good conductor for electric The solder maybe good

Mechanic MCN-UV80

Androkavo Thank You very much - looks like a cheap nad veery good gel flux - isn't it?

I feel price is normal, not cheap, be careful with fake product

Androkavo How to determine original?

I not sure, maybe Article Number at bottom aluminum box case Also you should buy at store have best votes and price over 4$

Soldering video i used Andonstar ADSM201 and other by DSLR camera

What!!! I am not trying to spam here, but I am ADSM201's seller, I work for company Andonstar and to be honest, I sell ADSM201 for 2 years but I could never film such beautiful video. (well I am not an expert for filming or soldering) I was thinking you were using some other device which produced by our competitors. that's why I asked you what do you use to record. and now I am so proud of my company and our product! Thanks you dear. thanks for your video, you did really good job, you really know how to use it

Don't doubt, it's true :) i.imgur.com/CsOt7nC.jpg

are you using John Hansknecht's polarizer films or something similar?

How do you record the videos? Through USB or a HDMI capture card?