Old paste solder?
Greetings,
I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? Thanks! |
Old paste solder?
"mc" wrote in message news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9... Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? How important are reliability and traceability (ISO 9000) in your lab? |
Old paste solder?
"Charles Schuler" wrote in message . .. "mc" wrote in message news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9... Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? How important are reliability and traceability (ISO 9000) in your lab? So can you tell me what happens to solder paste when it gets old? |
Old paste solder?
"mc" wrote in message news:jCrDh.16165$z6.9010@bigfe9... "Charles Schuler" wrote in message . .. "mc" wrote in message news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9... Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? How important are reliability and traceability (ISO 9000) in your lab? So can you tell me what happens to solder paste when it gets old? No, that would be your problem. |
Old paste solder?
I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I
understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? How important are reliability and traceability (ISO 9000) in your lab? So can you tell me what happens to solder paste when it gets old? No, that would be your problem. Precisely -- I asked the question because I wanted to know the answer. Can anyone tell me what happens, physically, to solder paste that gets old, and why it's no longer considered suitable for use? I know the specifications say not to use it. More generally, if I didn't know whether some solder paste was fresh, what changes should I look for? |
Old paste solder?
"mc" wrote in
news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9: Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? Thanks! IIRC,old solder paste tends to form little balls instead of reflowing properly. Then you have them getting into the worst places and shorting things. -- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net |
Old paste solder?
"mc" wrote in
news:p2sDh.16179$z6.1559@bigfe9: I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? How important are reliability and traceability (ISO 9000) in your lab? So can you tell me what happens to solder paste when it gets old? No, that would be your problem. Precisely -- I asked the question because I wanted to know the answer. Can anyone tell me what happens, physically, to solder paste that gets old, and why it's no longer considered suitable for use? I know the specifications say not to use it. More generally, if I didn't know whether some solder paste was fresh, what changes should I look for? perhaps the flux degrades,absorbs O2(oxidizes),loses it's fluxing ability?? It may not be readily apparent from a visual inspection. -- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net |
Old paste solder?
"Jim Yanik" wrote in message ... "mc" wrote in news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9: Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? Thanks! IIRC,old solder paste tends to form little balls instead of reflowing properly. Then you have them getting into the worst places and shorting things. Thanks! Just the information I was looking for. |
Old paste solder?
"Dr. Anton T. Squeegee" wrote in message ... Simply being told "How important is reliability and traceability?" doesn't cut it with me, any more than pointing to the expiration date on a tube of solder paste and saying "Never use this after this date!" They'd like to sell you new stuff before you use up the old stuff. Try it and see what happens. -- .. -- .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. -- |
Old paste solder?
mc wrote in message
news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9... Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? Thanks! Can you try accelerated aging tests. I remember there was a daily cycle of over-night freezing and (day ) low oven heating that closely resembled aging for paint, so 1 week accelerated, simulated about 1 year of normal conditions -- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/ |
Old paste solder?
"mc" wrote in message ... "Jim Yanik" wrote in message ... "mc" wrote in news:zqrDh.16146$z6.4928@bigfe9: Greetings, I've never done hot-air soldering but am helping set up a lab. I understand we need solder paste and its shelf life is short. But I just found some solder paste that has been out of refrigeration more than 7 years, and it still looks like paste. What quality has it lost? Stickiness? Thanks! IIRC,old solder paste tends to form little balls instead of reflowing properly. Then you have them getting into the worst places and shorting things. Thanks! Just the information I was looking for. Why not just contact the solder paste manufacturer's technical department and ask them ? Most makers of service materials are happy to answer questions on their products. FWIW, I seem to recall the same as Jim, but it seems pretty clear that none of us on here *really* know, so we could be giving you a completely bum steer. If you do find out from the manufacturers, post back, and tell us all, as it would seem that there is at least one more in this thread who *needs* to know, and probably a few of us who would *like* to know. Arfa |
Old paste solder?
"Dr. Anton T. Squeegee" wrote in message ... In article p2sDh.16179$z6.1559@bigfe9, ess (known to some as mc) scribed... Simply being told "How important is reliability and traceability?" doesn't cut it with me, any more than pointing to the expiration date on a tube of solder paste and saying "Never use this after this date!" I want to know what, exactly, changes, and how it affects reliability (I don't give a flying poof-ball about traceability as long as the solder holds). I also want to know how these alleged changes will affect the stuff in terms of making simple repairs with (mostly) PLCC's and QFP's. I'm not doing mil-spec production here... just trying to do decent repairs. Well done you! There is so much bull**** around these days...ROHS..Health and Safety...WEE.. compliance this etc., the list goes on and on. The rules and regulations have gone mad in Europe, they are killing our industries. Stuff em all I say! Does it do the job? Yes? USE IT. If not DONT. |
Old paste solder?
"Supertech" wrote in message ... Well done you! There is so much bull**** around these days...ROHS..Health and Safety...WEE.. compliance this etc., the list goes on and on. The rules and regulations have gone mad in Europe, they are killing our industries. Stuff em all I say! Does it do the job? Yes? USE IT. If not DONT. Meanwhile the Chinese do whatever they like and stick a sticker on that says they did what YOU wanted. -- .. -- .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. -- |
Old paste solder?
Simply being told "How important is reliability and traceability?" doesn't cut it with me, any more than pointing to the expiration date on a tube of solder paste and saying "Never use this after this date!" I want to know what, exactly, changes, and how it affects reliability (I don't give a flying poof-ball about traceability as long as the solder holds). I also want to know how these alleged changes will affect the stuff in terms of making simple repairs with (mostly) PLCC's and QFP's. Well, then you go elsewhere to determine that (the manufacturer of the paste seems so dreadfully obvious). Or, you just try the stuff and see what results you obtain and see how many failures occur that haunt you later. Geez ... this is a repair group. "What, exactly, changes, reliability" ... you are expecting too much. |
Old paste solder?
I want to know what, exactly, changes, and how it affects
reliability (I don't give a flying poof-ball about traceability as long as the solder holds). I also want to know how these alleged changes will affect the stuff in terms of making simple repairs with (mostly) PLCC's and QFP's. Well, then you go elsewhere to determine that (the manufacturer of the paste seems so dreadfully obvious). Or, you just try the stuff and see what results you obtain and see how many failures occur that haunt you later. Geez ... this is a repair group. "What, exactly, changes, reliability" ... you are expecting too much. Pardon me for asking a question in a newsgroup, then! I got a remarkable cascade of "you shouldn't expect us to know" and only one helpful answer. I assumed the people in a repair newsgroup would have experience using paste solder and might be able to tell me about their experiences with it. Or if they didn't, they wouldn't reply. |
Old paste solder?
"mc" wrote in message .. . I want to know what, exactly, changes, and how it affects reliability (I don't give a flying poof-ball about traceability as long as the solder holds). I also want to know how these alleged changes will affect the stuff in terms of making simple repairs with (mostly) PLCC's and QFP's. Well, then you go elsewhere to determine that (the manufacturer of the paste seems so dreadfully obvious). Or, you just try the stuff and see what results you obtain and see how many failures occur that haunt you later. Geez ... this is a repair group. "What, exactly, changes, reliability" ... you are expecting too much. Pardon me for asking a question in a newsgroup, then! I got a remarkable cascade of "you shouldn't expect us to know" and only one helpful answer. I assumed the people in a repair newsgroup would have experience using paste solder and might be able to tell me about their experiences with it. Or if they didn't, they wouldn't reply. Now now, there's no need to get arsey. I think that you got a number of reasonable replies amongst them all, not the least of which being, from several of us, "ask the manufacturer". It's hardly rocket science is it ? Those of us who use the stuff in our everyday work don't let it get out of date, so we don't have any direct experience of what goes wrong with it. The guesses about the flux going bad or maybe the carrier, seem reasonable, but they are just that - guesses. Probably, nothing much happens. If you keep a packet of cornflakes past their 'sell by' or 'best by' date, without opening them, they will probably be ok a year later. If you have opened them, they won't be. Probably the same with the solder paste, but if you are going to be using it professionally, do you want to risk it ? Could cause you all sorts of problems down the line, so I say again, ask the manufacturer, then you will know for sure, and you can tell the rest of us. If you don't feel confident enough to talk to them by 'phone, I'm sure that they will have an e-mail that will reach their technical people ... Arfa |
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