Interesting. I have not experianced this. I use a nylon paint brush that i spray with Iso Alcohol then a microfiber cloth.
Fair enough. I read that you should clean it anyway but i will change that too because you are more knowledgeable than me.
Not sure about this.
So of course it is not necessary let’s say on an MR60 but a lot of the extra flux accumulates below where the ridge is and on the wire and when you come to put the shrink wrap it gets a bit glue-y and becomes slippery that cause the shrink wrap to move. But this is my experience and this just might be the proprieties of the
LA-CO flux.
I must buy some proper flux…
Keep it up with the suggestions and opinions, i myself is learning heaps.
Thanks🙏
OK, I guess it makes sense to clean it up with alcohol in that case. Note though that if you get a lot of flux residue after soldering wires or connectors, that indicates you have used excess of flux, which you would ideally avoid in the first place. Most soldering tasks are perfectly doable without any extra flux at all (other than what’s in the solder wire). Flux helps a lot when soldering a wire to nickel, especially if you need to do it quickly, but a tiny drop of flux goes a long way. No need to put loads of it.
It may very well be just me doing it wrong or being over-sensitive on the outcome. There’s definitely nothing wrong with cleaning.
Awesome tutorial. Just to dredge up the T-splice insulation conundrum… self amalgamating tape or better still the self healing silicone version is the bombproof solution. Someone else may have said it but I have a short attention span so …
Also as has been pointed out it’s the rosin flux that’s an irritant to the lungs not the toxicity of lead that we need to worry about as diyers. I find lead solder to flow better at a lower iron temperature than the rohs lead free varieties.
I find you need a lot of alcohol to clean things. May need to do multiple rounds. Also, when it gets all brown and hard I find it just about impossible to remove.
Some one mentioned solder wick, which is great for cleaning up pads and bridges, but another great addition to the tool kit is a desolder gun, great for removing solder from THM via mounted components, pin headers for example. It’s just a spring loaded piston, when positioned correctly, sucks molten solder directly out of the vias on a pcb…
Also, I love my TS100 so much I’d consider marrying it, wonderful tool
Oh cool, must have missed it.
Great thread btw, solid advice and it should probably be stickied. I have a lot of soldering experience now, but when I started off with RC quadcopters, I was horrendous, and the amount of failed projects and lost time due to crappy soldering was painful, and that was on things I’m not standing on and entrusting my life to. Good soldering skills are essential in this hobby, and anyone considering DIY ing a skateboard should probably read this thread first as a matter of course.
Electronics grade liquid silicone (black), apply 2-3 coats. It’s intended for this exact type of joint. Removable with an exacto blade but very durable.
(This is not the same stuff as what I’m talking about using for sealing joints though. @klaus79856 is closer. I can find a link for what I use in a few. Similar stuff)
Burning a Polyurethane compound can produce large amounts of Hydrogen Cyanide, a very poisonous acid. I’m not sure I can recommend burning PU based Conformal coating without major ventilation precautions being taken.
Normal soldering does not reach burning temperatures, it’s designed for this, and I don’t see anything about that on the MSDS. I’ve personally done it multiple times and while anecdotal evidence is typically meaningless, if it makes anyone feel better, I’m just fine.
i’ve used these extensively for “field” installation and repair… for in the shop, original construction, I personally prefer traditional solder and heatshrink.
