Leon Fisk wrote:
On Wed, 21 Dec 2016 14:21:41 -0500
"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

snip
The Panavise have option solder reel holders, but I prefer to have
the roll sitting near where I'm working. It allows for a lower profile,
which is better on my wrists.

I used to save old plastic Solder Wick holders. Rewind them with
solder. Had my go-to 63/37 x .031, a Silver Solder alloy and a finer
60/40 x .020. That way I could write what they were on the container
and they were easy for me to handle. Had some really big stuff too,
that would stay rolled up on its own in short lengths...


I reused the spools for homemade wick. I had a couple hundred cords
from CATV converter wired remotes. I would pull out the center
conductors, then pull out the bare copper braid. I would flatten the
braid, and wind it into the spools. I had several quart bottles of
Kester 1544 flux, I used the wet wick method, which did less damage to
circuit boards.

I recently caught a large lot of wick on Ebay. Probably enough to
last the rest of my life.


I used maybe a pound a year, suspect you go through a whole lot
more...


At one time, I used up to a pound a month. That was when I built a
lot of stuff from scratch for my shop and custom items for schools. I
also built a lot of kits for people who decided they couldn't do it for
themselves. That was 40 years ago. I charged $15 to $20 an hour, but it
usually took me 1/3 of the estimated time suggested by the manuals.


Thanks for getting me to go look at what the sizes were. I found a new
roll of 63/37 x .031 that I forgot I had. That was my favorite and I
thought it was pretty much all gone


I prefer 63/37, in .o62", .031" and .015". My favorite brand in
Multicore, but I will use Alpha or Kester if I have to. Too many
problems with other types, because of their choice of flux.


--
Never **** off an Engineer!

They don't get mad.

They don't get even.

They go for over unity! ;-)