I freaking love my Tilswall Soldering 65W Station. It’s a transformer based soldering iron, and it weighs nearly 5lb’s. Another reason I like it is because it takes the traditional tips rather than the cartridge based ones. This allows for the use of solid copper tips.
https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Temperature-392°F-896°F-Transformer-Electronics/dp/B07XF3TK82
https://www.amazon.com/Bestgle-Soldering-Lead-Free-Welding-NEWACALOX/dp/B08PBK2MYL
Don’t you guys (in Europe)use expensive, silver based solders that are also shiny?
So how would I go about cleaning the Flux off?
iso in spray bottle or dropper and toothbrush/lint free cloth
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-MCC-W66-Lint-Free-Solvent-Wipes/dp/B00JFK0BAA
Silver based solder is more shiny than regular lead free, yeah. It’s also more expensive, but not by a huge amount. More shiny doesn’t mean as shiny as leaded solder though.
I have been having really good results with just wiping it up with shop towels or thicker paper towels. I keep one handy when doing big joints that het lots of flux and right when the solder solidifies and the flux is still very wet give it a quick wipe. It has the secondary effect of also letting me know it there are any burs or generally pokey bits i should smooth down down with the hot iron.
This gets the joint 99% clean so if you do go back at it with some 99% iso you don’t need to soak it or chip the huge chunks of flux off. There will be a thin almost not visible tacky feeling sheen of flux left on some joints that will clean up easily. I usually just leave it thought as it makes the kapton stick really well ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Acetone works really well. Acetone, and cue tips is what I use. Nail polish remover is basically the same thing.
Do you clean it as you go? Or do you go back and clean it?
I go back after everything is done.
Hello people, I’m rebuilding my old board from 2016 with new battery etc. I have got myself the malectrics.eu spot welder for my battery. However…
HobbyKing has closed down its EU warehouse so the shipping + customs etc would cost more than the Turnigy Nano-Tech 5000 mAh I was hoping to get.
I have a very hard time finding good information about alternative batteries that are easy to get hold of in EU. Have some of you verified any other batteries than the ones kweld/malectrics.eu recommend? I have a hard time trusting the ratings.
For example, I’m looking at the following battery but don’t want to waste cash on something that is too weak…
3s 5000mAh - 60C - Gens Ace XT90 Bashing
If you put two of those in parallel it would probably be fine. Can you order from China?
What your favorite lead free solder?
I can probably order from China but the shipping from HobbyKing was ridiculous now that the EU warehouse was closed. Do you know any other reliable vendors?
Eg. 3s Turnigy Nano-Tech 5000 mAh is ~$37 + $36 shipping + probably $20 import fees = ~$100
Buying two of the 3s 5000mAh - 60C - Gens Ace XT90 Bashing would cost me about $120 though so if I need two it wouldn’t really help cost wise 
Check what the shipping is from banggood.com for something like this: Xf power 11.1v 5000mah 100c 3s lipo battery t deans plug for rc drone Sale - Banggood.com
That’s a lot better, especially if I can do with a single battery, can I trust the 100 C rating? Or would you think I need two in parallel for that one as well?
I’ve been ordering from banggood for a long time, and though I can’t speak for this battery, personally, I can speak for banggood itself. They have never let me down with anything I’ve purchased from them. If it says 100c, I’d trust it to be 100c.
Here’s another: Uruav 11.1v 3500mah 120c 3s lipo battery xt60 plug for rc drone Sale - Banggood.com sold out-arrival notice
I usually try to order stuff that has a lot of reviews, the more the better. The 120c one might be better.
Keep in mind you’ll probably have to put an XT90 connector on the batteries you order.
Felder ISO-Core Clear, 1kg, Sn96.5, Ag3.0, Cu0,5. Got my roll for 40€, but the prices did triple for some reason. The same solder would be around 120€ by now.
Problably becaus tin and silver prices are going through the roof.
I have the maletrics and also a single gens ace, same one as you are describing. It seems to work with a single battery with 0.2mm nickel on a breakoff knife. I think two batteries would be better in any case, anyway I will try welding on an actual battery this weekend and let you know.
