Perhaps I can offer a partial answer, Dave. The best "no clean" solder (meaning it does not need to be cleaned for a good, secure and stable joint for many, many years) is the same rosin flux solder we've used for many years.
Rosin is NOT corrosive except when heated. At normal temperatures (below the melting point of solder) it is inert. That's why there is no reason at all to remove excess rosin from joints or boards. Apparently some government agencies and their contractors like to see excess rosin flux removed and train their people to do so. I'm not sure why they do that, but in the environment in which Elecraft rigs are capable of being used this is completely unnecessary. Some of the new types of solder intended for machine soldering applications have a flux that remains corrosive at room temperature. It is designed for machine-soldering in which the board is machine washed after soldering. Failure to properly wash this flux off will result in corroded boards and joints, even though they appear perfectly clean. From what I saw on the reflector, this is exactly what happened to one builder who used that solder. The corroded joints started turning up some months after the rig was built. Bottom line, follow the Elecraft recommendations that you can find in any Elecraft assembly manual: 1) Use IC-grade, small-diameter (.031") solder (Kester #44 or equivalent). 2) DO NOT use acid-core solder, water-soluble flux solder, additional flux or solvents of any kind. Use of any of these will void your warranty. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
