Control solder temperature / soldering technique

[antknee]

I have to solder leads on to pzt and I'm finding that the pzt heats up very quickly and then depolarises and essentially dies.

Three things,

First, is it worth getting solder that contains lead? I think solder that contains lead has a melting temperature of 180 degrees C and the lead free variety a minimum of 220 degrees C. I'm also vaguely aware there may be 'special' solders which have lower temperatures, what would they be?

Second, I have no idea at what temperature my soldering irons work, the first is rated at 20W the second 30W. Neither iron has a temperature control, so should I make my own or buy another? A dimmer switch from a diy store would be ok wouldn't it, what would you suggest?

Third, the soldering technique is important of course, the longer I leave the iron on the pzt the quicker it will heat up, is there anything you could recommend? (I've been soldering for just a few months so what is obvious to you may not be to me!)

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Norlin]

maybe something like this?
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

Or even conductive metallic paint?

 

[antknee]

What a terrific piece of kit that spot welder is! It is exactly what I need. I'm investigating.

I have some silver paint so I'm going to investigate that too. It would make life a lot easier if I could glue the wires with the paint rather than solder them.

Thanks.

 

[HarveyH42]

What's a 'PZT'? Some metals just don't take to soldering. The metal needs to be very clean, and free of oxidation. Good flux can help a great deal, in removing the oxidation layer, and keeping it off while you heat the metal. Sometimes you can use a heatsink, to protect a component briefly while you solder, but doesn't give you a huge margin. You don't want to draw away too much heat from the joint, so the part will still get hot.

 

[antknee]

I haven't thought of using flux as a cleaner. I'm more used to it being in the solder and fulfilling its function without notice. So in fact I don't actually know what it is supposed to do exactly and I will shortly go and look it up!

PZT is a ceramic which vibrates when you put a voltage across it, it is for example used in doorbells as part of the buzzer, or conversely if you compress pzt it then it will produce a voltage which could be used in say a pair of scales to say how much an object weighs.

Regards,

Antknee.