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How hot are you running your soldering iron to get the job done?

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Wayne S.
KF7RCM

Irun my 65w soldering iron at 320?c but up it to 400?c for the toroids to help burn off the coating.?

I have an industrial 120w iron that I use for the .6mm wire windings and the likes of bnc connectors etc.. I don't know what temp that goes to it just gets hot. Bloody hot.?

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Sam (or AI)?

2E1OCT?

Thanks. I had to turn mine up to 425c (indicated) which doesn't seem too out of line. I suspect it is running a little cooler than what it is displaying.?

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Wayne S.
KF7RCM

I scrape all my toroid wires as I don't trust my ability to burn off the enamel. I use a 1.5 mm chisel tip at 700 F (Hakko) for most work. For the BNC connector, I use a Weller 7300 100/150 W soldering gun. I also have an antique iron with a 3/4" tip that works well for very large wire joints or PL-259s, but not on my QMX!

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73, Dan? NM3A

300-350C and a wide oval tip on the ground planes and coils.?

I turn mine up to 11.

I have been reading this thread with keen interest, and I don't seen any mention of which solder is being used! In the past year I have built several kits. Most of them were done with Golden Sn99.3 Cu0.7 solder. This required my older Hakko FX-888D to be run at 700-750 F, and I actually damaged a trace on my QDX-M while soldering L12. I repaired it, but it was aggravating, and I decided that I was too old for such nonsense. [I can't imagine if I had an 11 on my soldering station like N9LFF ... ?;^).]

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I ended up taking a recommendation from a thread in this group and bought a roll of Kester 63/37 Alloy [probably made by Jim WB4ILP, in the "New builder question" thread: /g/QRPLabs/message/121719]. It had been some time since I last used leaded solder, so I tested using a small chisel tip at 550 F, then increased to 600 F. So far so good, although I will probably settle on 650 F for work on a QMX+ once I move on to transformers and filters. This is in line with the higher end of Damon's post of 300-350 C "on the ground planes and coils."

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It is interesting that the US militantly requires leaded solder for higher reliability.? Lower likelihood of tin whiskers forming.

On Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 05:35 PM, Joe Lokaj wrote:

(... about 60 years ago, taught by a mother who put in countless hours in a WWII factory assembling meters, which is a bit off topic, but I'm honoring what would have been her 100th birthday, today).

Joe, when I was around 12 I was having difficulty soldering stuff made from junk TV chassis.? My mother observed my frustration, and asked if she could help.? As it turns out, during WW2 she soldered wiring harnesses for B-29 bombers.? My dad's idea of soldering was use the biggest, and buy one bigger.? I think his smallest iron was 250 watts.? He even had one of the "large chunk 'o copper" on a wooden handle that you would heat over the kitchen stove.? There was enough metal mass there to keep the thing hot for fairly extended soldering jobs.

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And today, I'm still having frustration with newer and much smaller surface mount parts. Nerve damage and small tremors make things difficult, but I still have fun.? If only I could put up an outdoor wire of some sort my Q*X series of rigs would have better chances of being heard out there on 40 and 20.? I can make a few ft4/8 contacts each day, but prefer CW when the other guy has good ears and can hear my Qrp-Labs rigs.

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73! Mark K9TR