I think that Kees has a good suggestion, but I have not tried anything like that. I think that keeping the needle cover tightly in place is important to maximizing the shelf life.
I have tried soaking the tip in a small quantity of 91% rubbing (isopropl) alcohol. I have revived a couple of needles that way and it might work for you. Generally it's not a big problem. I know the guy that supplies the paste so I get kind of cavalier and leave the syringe on the bench top for weeks at a time and generally have not had problems each time I use the paste. I don't suggest that, but that's my experience. Cash Olsen KD5SSJ Kits to build Scotty's Spectrum Analyzer http://www.zianet.com/erg Scotty's Spectrum Analyzer website http://www.cpu-net.com/host/wsprowls Sam Wetterlin's website http://www.wetterlin.org/sam/ Yahoo Builders Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectrumanalyzer/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Kees & Sandy To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 5:35 PM Subject: Re: [soft_radio] Re: Hot Air SMT Soldering method and AmateurLogic.TV Cash probably has a more complete answer, but I found that sticking the tip into a blob of silicone further prevents drying out while keeping it in the refrigerator. When it dries out in the tip, it's a gonner .....maybe you can soak it in something ? 73 Kees K5BCQ -- "i2phd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Cash, how long is the shelf life of a syringe of solder paste, especially after having used part of it ? For a production environment that would not be a problem, but for us radioamateurs with an occasional use of it, it is important to know on how many days or weeks we can count on it being still usable. Thanks. 73 Alberto I2PHD ------------------------------------ --- In [email protected], "KD5SSJ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I recently discovered a ham radio monthly video magazine, AmateurLogic.TV, which is pretty good and then discovered that I had been mentioned by name in one segment http://transmitter.amateurlogic.tv/video/amlogic16.wmv and a segment that prominently features my hot air soldering method and gives attribution http://transmitter.amateurlogic.tv/video/amlogic15.wmv starting at about 9:30 minutes and running 10 minutes or so. The segment demonstrates the building a Softrock 6.0 using hot air method and solder paste. At the end of the segment George, W5JDX, trys to demonstrate resoldering a part to a disk drive board and inadvertantly demonstrates the self alignment property of the SMT reflow soldering, although he thought it was a mistake and turns it into an example of better left alone. > > I can supply the solder paste www.zianet.com/erg/ShopSolderPaste.html and have about 300 satisfied customers that have started adopting this method. > > > Cash Olsen KD5SSJ > > Kits to build Scotty's Spectrum Analyzer http://www.zianet.com/erg > Scotty's Spectrum Analyzer website http://www.cpu-nt.com/host/wsprowls > Sam Wetterlin's website http://www.wetterlin.org/sam/ > Yahoo Builders Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spectrumanalyzer/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.14.11/1071 - Release Date: 10/15/2007 6:48 AM
