On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:23:28 -0700, Winston
wrote:



BTW, I could find liquid flux nearby, in time for the repair tomorrow,
so I got flux paste. I thought I'd put a little on with a toothpick
or matchstick?? If the hurrican means I don't work on the car
tomorrow, should I go 10 miles farther to buy liquid flux?

Flux paste will work fine as long as:
1) It matches the flux in your properly selected
solder. (R, RMA or RA rosin in both cases).

I hate to say this but none of my solder is marked R, RMA, or RA. The
labels says nothing except that they have rosin.

Radio Shack solder mostly. I've used up other things I had.

Also the Radio Shack flux paste doesn't have an R-rating. It says
nothing about what kind of flux it is.

But the repair today was postponed, so I have time to go farther away
and buy liquid flus. I have another errand to do nearby.

2) You daub it on generously with an acid brush,
covering the joint in question.

I can do that.

3) You clean the resulting joint carefully.

I can do that. It's still necessary with liquid, right?

The beauty of the liquid rosin flux is that it's
difficult to supply *too little* to the joint.

Does that also have to be R, RMA, or RA?


--Winston