"jasee" wrote in message
...

"Anthony R. Gold" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 16:13:16 +0100, "jasee" wrote:

I need a small amount (about a cubic inch, I would guess) of this for a
solder pot. Does anyone know where I would get this (in the uk, I
suppose)

It doesn't matter to me whether it's lead based or not as it's only
being
used for tinning wires.

Apparently normal fluxed solder isn't suitable.

http://uk.farnell.com/multicomp/gmc0...50g/dp/1259065


Thanks but looks to be about four times as much as I need


Litz wire can be very difficult to solder to. I certainly wouldn't recommend
trying to use lead-free solder, unless you have to - and contrary to what
you say, it *does* matter if the tinned wires are to be used in any
equipment that is going to be offered for sale in the EU. In this case, it
is a legal requirement that you observe the RoHS directive, which mandates
that you may not use leaded solder, or components containing lead, or having
lead-solder tinned leadouts for any part of the product. If the wires are
only going to be used for something you're doing for yourself or a small
group of you - a ham radio project or some such, at your local radio club
for instance - then you need not conform to the requirements of RoHS.

If the Litz wire is modern stuff, then the insulating material should burn
off in the solder pot, but you may need to hold the wire in the molten
solder for a few seconds to ensure that you are down to bare metal. You
*can* use normal flux-cored solder, if you have a temperature controlled
iron that you can turn up the temperature nice and high on, with a nice big
chisel tip. You can pinch the iron up in a vice at an angle so that the flat
part of the tip faces up and is horizontal. You can then apply the wire in
one hand, and the solder in the other, and form a pool of molten fluxed
solder on the tip, which you can hold the wire in, before slowly drawing it
out. No slower really, than using a solder pot.

Arfa