De-Soldering Braid

[Fresh_Start]

I've used de-soldering braid with mixed results in the past. Now I know why:
http://youtu.be/zusJSKeXGHE


Never thought of putting flux on the braid. I always ended up tinning the braid but not consciously to create a "solder bridge". 


I haven't had a workshop for a couple of years and am getting ready to start a 5E3 VERY soon. Going over the PACE soldering tutorials and a few other odds and ends like this one, ive been reminded of basics and have picked up a few new tricks like this one.


I also never "got" the "solder bridge" concept before this recent review.


Cheers,
Chip

[Willabe]

That's real nice but it took him ~10 minutes to solder that 1 joint and that doesn't include how long it took him to tin the wire. That's in another video instruction clip.   

You can cut the time in 1/2 because of the talking but that's still ~5 minutes per solder joint.     

Interesting about the solder wick and solder bridge. I didn't know that. 

[Fresh_Start]

That's real nice but it took him ~10 minutes to solder that 1 joint and that doesn't include how long it took him to tin the wire. That's in another video instruction clip.   

You can cut the time in 1/2 because of the talking but that's still ~5 minutes per solder joint.     

Interesting about the solder wick and solder bridge. I didn't know that. 

Sorry I wasn't clear - tinning a hook like that is absurd.  It can't take that long. 

The only thing that interested me was how to use the de-soldering braid better.

Chip

[Willabe]

The only thing that interested me was how to use the de-soldering braid better.

Yeah, that's good to know. 

[PRR]

> I haven't had a worship for a couple of years

Jesus, Mohamed, Moses, Budda, and the FSM will hear you anywhere.

If you'd asked, they might tell you that--

1) air doesn't conduct heat well

2) solder is much better

3) solder does not stick to copper-oxide

To get good heat-flow to encourage good solder flow, you need flux to get a fully metal-to-metal path.

As for that instructor's work-pace.... he obviously doesn't get paid piece-work. I _do_ like how he does not rush. On a video for a GM belt pulley, he showed the wrench, put his hands in front of the camera, and presto the belt was off. Huh?? OK, I got it because he told the wrench size and there wasn't anything else to do with said wrench in the place his hands were. But not good instructional film, any more than picking-up and putting-back the flux several times before starting the job helps the student.

[pompeiisneaks]

I'm pretty sure this was the soldering technique for Avionics work which probably has mandatory levels of safety so they go to these lengths to ensure mid flight things don't just come undone.  If you think Guitar amps have a lot of vibration, try airplanes.  When I was in school at the U of U there was mechanics of materials class that talked about micro stress fractures in airline chassis'.  supposedly one of my buddies had taken the c lass and was a bit afraid to fly after ;).  Similar to how NASA does things or even MilSpec stuff can be a bit over the top, it's designed to last through a TON of abuse. 

On the other hand, I did find, like you, that I'm using solder wick wrong :)

~Phil

[HotBluePlates]

That's real nice but it took him ~10 minutes to solder that 1 joint and that doesn't include how long it took him to tin the wire. That's in another video instruction clip. 

You can cut the time in 1/2 because of the talking but that's still ~5 minutes per solder joint. 

There's multiple steps of cleaning & re-cleaning everything got tinned in advance and as PRR pointed out, a SLOW demonstration of what's going on. He even had to clean his iron off 3 times at the "clean your iron, then apply solder" step because he was waiting so long... And you wouldn't ordinarily tin something, then use wick to remove solder, you'd simply not put too much on.

Naturally, when you're actually doing this stuff, it's "dab & go" and with a lot of pre-tinned parts & wire, you won't be doing those extra steps. And as Pompeii says, the demonstration is high-reliability work where the possible consequence of a poor job is "plane falls out of the sky, everyone dead (perhaps bystanders on the ground, too)."


Anyway, the solder wick I typically use has flux in it, but obviously in a crystalline form. So the trick there is heating the wick with an iron to liquify that flux and wind up in a similar place as he does with the liquid flux. But the liquid is handy at other times.

[shooter]

"plane falls out of the sky, everyone dead

I got picked in the Navy for a NASA taught soldering school.
When you made a mistake, the instructor would say; "you just destroyed the rocket, killed the crew, Go back to your ship".  I made it to day 1 of the final week, then killed 'em.  That was still good enough to be the "shipboard" soldering guy, 36yrs later, they'd all die every build!