Do you use flux?

[pjd3]

I never used flux at home until my most recent job. I'm in the R&D department working with the engineers that develop defibrillators. The lab has a little phrase - "Flux is your friend". And while there seem to be a greater variety of tricky soldering situations to address compared to tube amps, I now more often might put a small skim of flux on well, anywhere to help transfer the heat faster, wick the solder more briskly. Too much can be messy but, just the right amount (very little) always seems to help more than hinder on most connectors and leads.

Best,

PJD3

[angelodp]

RG, yes the liquid stuff is very useful and of course most solder already has flux and can be used as such to loosen up stubborn joints.

A

[R.G.]

A nice trick with the liquid rosin flux and SMD parts is that it is a solution of rosin flux in alcohol. When you dab it on with a toothpick and spread it, it dries to being sticky. This holde the SMD parts in position ( in case you sneeze or something... ) until you can get a hot iron to the pad and part.

Probably not much use with point to point or tag strips, but with the tinier stuff it comes in handy. I find the only drawback is that I get sticky flux in my eyebrows, on my nose, all my finger tips...

Forgot - isopropyl alcohol also dissolves it for cleaning flux off, too.