Bill,
I have not had any problems myself, but some boards "suck away" the heat
from the soldering iron tip more so than others - and that is true
whether the boards are RoHS or not.
I routinely use about 750 deg F for soldering and bump it up to 800 deg
if the board traces are large or there is a large ground plane.
Leaded solder usually works fine with the RoHS boards too. Just be
certain to heat the pads adequately - watch for the point when the
solder flows out onto the pad. If the solder pads are not adequately
heated there will be a poor solder connection just waiting until some
crucial moment to fail. Murphy strikes at the worst possible moments.
Many, boards that I "repair" are solved by reflowing the solder with a
hot soldering iron. There seems to be a tendency among some builders to
not heat the solder pads. Whether that stems from old experiences of
lifting solder pads on poor boards or fear of damaging components, I
just don't know, but when using a temperature controlled soldering iron
and applying heat until the solder flows, those fears should be put to
rest. Elecraft uses thru-plated holes on the boards and components will
stand soldering temperatures for short times (usually 6 to 10 seconds),
so there should not be a fear of damaging components with soldering heat
applied for 2 to 3 seconds. On a normal size solder pad, if the solder
does not flow in 3 seconds, the iron is not hot enough and if it flows
in less than 2 seconds the iron is too hot.
My other 'rule' is to use a solder thin enough so you can control the
amount of solder applied easily (.015 to .020 inch diameter) and a
mildly activated flux so the flux does not create a mess (Kester 285 is
my opinion of good solder and flux).
73,
Don W3FPR
Bill Miner wrote:
> Hello Elecrafters,
>
> I just completed assembly of a W1 Power Meter kit. It seems to work well
> with good accuracy.
>
> For some reason I had a bit of trouble making good solder connections. This
> is the first RoHS board that has given me trouble. It seemed like it took
> extra amounts of time and heat to make good solder joints. Is there some
> special solder flux that should be used when using normal lead solder on an
> RoHS board?
>
> The W8FGU case is very nice. Fit and finish were perfect and the
> installation instructions on his web site are very clear. I have some
> experience working with plastics and probably could have made my own case.
> However, considering time and the cost of materials a DIY case would probably
> cost more and might not turn out as nice. Many thanks to Dave for providing
> this service.
>
> 73,
> Bill - K6WLM
> K2
> KX1
>
>
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