Cheap FOCer 2 (Group Buy Batch 2)

Preheating that area of the board with ie a hair dryer works wonders, especially the top 2 pin jst connector. The copper pour around the connector makes them harder to solder.

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@benvelvet the TS100 is a great soldering iron, thatā€™s good to hear. The shiny-ness isnā€™t everything, but it can be a good indication of a quality solder joint. A rough finish joint is harder to inspect and verify itā€™s not a cold solder joint. You can get shiny joints with tin solder, youā€™ll just have to have your technique and temps perfectly dialed in. Leaded is way more forgiving. Itā€™s also more toxic, but as long as you wash your hands after touching it, and donā€™t put your fingers in your mouth it canā€™t enter your blood stream. Can also just wear some gloves. The burning flux when you melt solder is something to be more worried about in my opinion

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63/37 is king over 60/40. But Iā€™ve had way better luck using brandname solder vs generic stuff from China, some of the stuff Iā€™ve gotten is borderline unusable!

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The satin finish is common for a lead free joint. Leaded solder has a good indicator where it will be shiny when itā€™s properly heated and dull when itā€™s a cold joint.

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Yes, i ordered leaded solder from china once it was crap(probably lead free). I could not find a big diffrence between 63/37 and 60/40. The integrated flux is way more important (amount and type). Also for me 1mm diameter works best. I tried 0.8mm but thats already to small.

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The big difference between 63/37 and 60/40 is 63/37 is eutectic. Youā€™re a lot less likely to get a cold joints. And a slightly lower melting point is nice,

Thats interesting, sadly 63/37 is quite hard to find.

How can it have a lower melting point when there is less lead and more tin in it?

Edit: Got it, Tin has a lower melting point than lead, my bad.

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Ahhh damn thatā€™s to bad itā€™s slightly more expensive in Canada but easily available on Amazon. Worth the extra cost in my experience!

Anmerkung 2020-07-09 165914

This one seems interesting, it almost cost double maybe because of the added silver?

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Hmmm I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever seen a leaded solder with silver, not that Iā€™ve looked. Gotta wonder why/what for

@doomy hey didnā€™t you ship this from cz? I got a damn customs fee from our postal carrier that says itā€™s from a none EU country and they ainā€™t getting any money if I can avoid it cause they are scums ā€¦ Want to check before I pay.

EDIT: no idea where I got cz from lol says Swiss everywhere when I look again :stuck_out_tongue: Nwm will have to pay themā€¦ damn lol

Oh no, thats too bad. I ship from switzerland, but i declared a really low value (7ā‚¬ per focer). How can they still cash in on customs fees?

8$ in set fees for handling the package :confused: 3euro 25% tax. Sweden sucks :joy: worst part is that instead of getting the focers today it will take them another week or two to process it and send it outā€¦

Ohh well all I can do it wait even tho its hard :stuck_out_tongue:

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Iā€™m in Sweden too but my FOCers slipped through customs. Two packages, no handling fees or toll. :v:t2::stuck_out_tongue::v:t2:

Is anyone from EU still waiting for their FOCers? Iā€™m starting to worry that my got somehow lost by post office.

I know a guy who still waits for his focers @Prens

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I just got them on the mail!

Iā€™m from Poland and also still waiting for my FOCerā˜¹ļø

Some of the national post services seem to be very slow (2-3 weeks) so far they seem to be portugal, poland, danmark and all oversea countrys.

The packages always arrive very quick (3-5 days) in germany and the netherlands.

Spain, france, sweden and belgium take around 5-10 days.

I have 8 tested focers with imu left for sale if anyone is interested.

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I received them. I am from Romania.

The postman threw them over the gate, i thought iā€™ll have a nervous breakdown.

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