Solder

[throbscottle]

It's solder buying time again, and I thought I'd try to do a bit of research on the cheap solder you get on eBay, since that's where the last lot came from and I've been mostly very happy with it.

So, the solder I've been using is Jinhu 60/40 0.5mm, 2% flux. I bought it a few years ago and got 3x 50g spools because that way made it even cheaper. The only faults I've found with it are it's not great on dirty metal and it's actually 0.6mm, not 0.5. I think it might be slightly prone to bridging (since that's the only issue I have), but I actually can't remember what other solder is like in that respect anyway, so it's a moot point.
.
So I don't get why some people are saying how bad it is? I just looked over my last bit of soldering, all the joints are nice and shiny. So I don't know, maybe Jinhu changed their recipe?

Anyway, what do you think?

 

[Ian Rogers]

I use a similar solder ( or sodder in USA.. never get that ).. Again.. slightly dirty components won't solder at 350°C, so I'll lift it to 370 ( Ish ) and its fine..

I normally solder around the 340°C and it looks fine. BUT!!!! if it works well then carry on...

 

[throbscottle]

I think sodder is a way of saying sawder but with shorter vowel sounds, and sort of makes sense if you think about it (say "sol" instead of "soul" and you're getting there). Really of course we should spell it soulder...
But anyway, thanks for the input!

 

[Visitor]

It may be pronounced "sodder" in the US, but it's still spelled solder.

I bought some solder from Deal Extreme I think and it was horrible. It was inconsistent along its length. A short section would be fine, then you'd come to a section that would hardly melt...it was still in the plastic stage at normal soldering temperature. Very weird. Apparently the alloy was inconsistent, resulting in a variable melting temperature.

I'm sticking with Kester now.

 

[audioguru]

I always buy Name Brand solder, not ebay junk. ebay solder might use any kind of metals.

 

[throbscottle]

That's funny, AG, but I think it may be a little racist, too

Can you remember what the make of that solder was, Visitor?

I watched a couple demo videos of cheap solder on YouTube, there was one that would hardly melt even though it claimed to be 60/40. But I am naturally suspicious of anything I see on YouTube. Hence the question.

 

[Visitor]

I'll take a look for it. It's probably still around.

A little racist? Ya think? Pretty offensive to some readers of the forum I'm sure.

 

[audioguru]

Google is full of videos of what people have found inside cheap ebay junk. Doesn't most stuff on ebay come from the country where they eat a lot of rice?
Here is a video of some "flour" (rice flour?) found in an 18650 ebay battery cell:

 

[Mickster]

A little racist? Ya think? Pretty offensive to some readers of the forum I'm sure.

Pretty offensive to many readers of the forum, but it appears that these views are condoned by Mods & Admin, since they are allowed to appear repeatedly...
It's apparently pretty easy to denigrate others, when one is in a position of white privilege that only occurred due to an accident of birth.

 

[JimB]

How on earth is rice racist?

It's apparently pretty easy to denigrate others,

Yes, especially when they purvey materials which are not fit for purpose. ie the batteries and solder discussed earlier.
But then if the price appears to be too cheap ...
... you get what you pay for.

Pretty offensive to some readers of the forum I'm sure.

Pretty offensive to many readers of the forum,

Do you have proof of these assertions?
Or is it that you are joining in with the current trend of being offended on behalf of other people that you have never met or communicated with in any way?

JimB

 

[Mickster]

How on earth is rice racist?

I always buy Name Brand solder, not ebay junk. ebay solder might use any kind of metals and maybe has too much rice in it.

Other posts, which are intended to portray that everything coming from the far East is crap, and contains rice, can be found here:

Search results for query: rice

Vehicles from the far East are commonly referred to as "Rice burners".

It's a dog whistle term.

Pretty offensive to some readers of the forum I'm sure.

Pretty offensive to many readers of the forum

Do you have proof of these assertions?
Or is it that you are joining in with the current trend of being offended on behalf of other people that you have never met or communicated with in any way?

JimB

Why don't you bring back the 'Dislike' button and let the whole forum provide proof of whether this type of crap is acceptable?

 

[DerStrom8]

I agree that the crack about rice is indeed racist as it promotes the stereotype that everything made in certain countries is poor quality. While this is sometimes true, it should not be treated as the rule and is unfair to the honest companies in those countries and to certain demographics.

I have edited the initial comment as it was rude and entirely unnecessary.

 

[Mickster]

Do you have proof of these assertions?

3 members, and a Mod, on this thread alone, have indicated that the opinion put forth is not acceptable.
We are only on post #13 now. Of these, OP has 3 posts, Visitor and myself have 2 each.
6 posts are related to what is, or is not acceptable.

 

[Musicmanager]

3 members, and a Mod, on this thread alone, have indicated that the opinion put forth is not acceptable.
We are only on post #13 now. Of these, OP has 3 posts, Visitor and myself have 2 each.
6 posts are related to what is, or is not acceptable.

Mickster, you need some practice with your statistical analysis because your current results are flawed !

I buy quite a lot of stuff from Ebay, including some batteries that contained an unexpected white powdery substance which may or may not have been rice flour. Whilst Ag's suggestion that everything from Ebay is of Asian origin and therefore fake rubbish is not right, it is true that there is a plethora of fake goods available through Ebay of Worldwide origin, including the western world.

As JimB said .. ..

Yes, especially when they purvey materials which are not fit for purpose. ie the batteries and solder discussed earlier.
But then if the price appears to be too cheap ...
... you get what you pay for.

I agree that the crack about rice is indeed racist as it promotes the stereotype that everything made in certain countries is poor quality. While this is sometimes true, it should not be treated as the rule and is unfair to the honest companies in those countries and to certain demographics.

I have edited the initial comment as it was rude and entirely unnecessary.

There is nothing racist about calling a Chinese fella a rice eater mainly because they are and I don't see how you make the connection between eating rice and the poor quality of goods from 'certain countries' .. .. .. .. .. surely, there is better evidence for that ? Oh wait, there's a video above !!

Far be it from me to defend AG, I think many of his comments are PITA material, especially if you want to talk about a circuit that was designed and manufactured more than a week ago; and his opinion of Ebay is wholly flawed but at this moment in time in this thread he's one of the few adults present.

MM

 

[Ian Rogers]

Whooh…… WTF has this to do with sodder!!!!!

Micky... I do not condone it, I flag it... Me and AG have had many words....

Lets not trash a decent thread about solder... Lots of Ideas and "don't do's" could come up... The only thing mentioned was Fleabay… and we all know the crap sold on that site...

We'll end the witch hunt here...

 

[Ian Rogers]

For what its worth... I have had two bad experiences with ebay.. One was a hacked account from Ireland... and one was an ass from Canada passing his old crappy one and "never used"... Happens EVERYWHERE...

 

[throbscottle]

The trouble with all this side-tracking is that Visitor has forgotten to see if he/she can remember what brand or non-brand that horrible solder was.

And I only mildly rebuked AG because I value his technical opinions and didn't want to appear antagonistic. It was the kind of thing most Britons were saying only 40 years ago, shame so much of the rest of the world (and sadly, still many in the UK) doesn't seem to have caught up.

So come on folks, does anyone have any experiences with cheap solder, to contribute?

 

[audioguru]

I did not say that ALL cheap crap from over there is bad, I said ebay solder MIGHT be bad with a certain common impurity that is used over there.
I said that I NEVER buy crap from over there but I did not say why. I don't because of the hassle of returning defective stuff and replacing it.
I posted a video showing what I said. There are many videos like that.
A similar problem with baby formula from over there was discovered to have poisonous melamine in it.
Toys from over there have paint with deadly lead in it.
The Sars virus and the Covid-19 virus ..... never mind.

People over there buy cars from over here. Can you imagine what will happen when cars they make come over here??

Do people over there buy quality solder from over here? I always bought Ersin solder from the UK because it works perfectly and it has a nice aroma. I can't find it anymore in Canada.

 

[gophert]

The last batch I bought off eBay spattered and shot micro beads of solder and resin all over my beautiful Chinese-made board. Of all the things I buy, a $14.00 roll of solder every few years and it is not going to make or break my budget. Last roll I bought was MG Chemicals brand from Digikey. I only picked the MG brand because they've been reselling small containers of chemicals and PCB processing equipment for years, AND, they were the only recognizable brand that was offering 4-oz rolls. The 8-oz rolls and larger don't let me hold solder and PCB in the same hand so, MG it was.

PS audioguru, what do you think was in the solder to cause caused the spattering?

 

[Musicmanager]

https://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d01681/solder-wire-sn60-pb40-0-7mm-100g/dp/SD01535

I've been using this for quite some time now without any issues I've noticed.

MM