Please help me with my T1

[Eric Champine]

Hi all.
I have been soldering these relays and it is not working!
First off I have good soldering skills and I have soldered many kits and I
have not had this problem to date.
I soldered the relays K1 through K8 with no problem but I have tried to
solder the rest and it is not working.
Relays K9 through K15 are the ones that have the SMD in the middle and I am
thinking that this may have something to do with my problem because they are
the only ones doing this. I place the relay and flip it over to solder. I
place the soldering iron tip on one side of the pin and touching the pad
too, then touch the other side of the pin and pad with the solder and I get
a small puff of smoke and the solder is melted but as I take away the
soldering iron tip, the solder comes too. The solder seems to want to stay
with the tip but not on the pad or the pin on the relay. What is wrong?
I have tries different temps and I have tried scratching-up the pins and
pads just in case there is some sort of coating preventing the solder from
attaching its self. That did not work. I am using Kester 60/40 .03 dia.
solder. Everything I have soldered so far soldered fine with the exception
of these relays. I am so frustrated. I hope some one else has had this
problem and it is not just me. I also thought about replacing the tip but
the tip looks like it is in good condition.
Please help me. Thanks to all.

73 de W2EEC

Eric
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

  Eric,

Try cutting off a foot or two from your solder roll.
No I am not crazy - what you describe is what happens when flux is
missing from the solder.
It occasionally happens that there will be a length of solder without
the flux.  Blame it on the solder manufacturing line.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 10/9/2010 4:42 PM, Eric Champine wrote:

> Hi all.
> I have been soldering these relays and it is not working!
> First off I have good soldering skills and I have soldered many kits and I
> have not had this problem to date.
> I soldered the relays K1 through K8 with no problem but I have tried to
> solder the rest and it is not working.
> Relays K9 through K15 are the ones that have the SMD in the middle and I am
> thinking that this may have something to do with my problem because they are
> the only ones doing this. I place the relay and flip it over to solder. I
> place the soldering iron tip on one side of the pin and touching the pad
> too, then touch the other side of the pin and pad with the solder and I get
> a small puff of smoke and the solder is melted but as I take away the
> soldering iron tip, the solder comes too. The solder seems to want to stay
> with the tip but not on the pad or the pin on the relay. What is wrong?
> I have tries different temps and I have tried scratching-up the pins and
> pads just in case there is some sort of coating preventing the solder from
> attaching its self. That did not work. I am using Kester 60/40 .03 dia.
> solder. Everything I have soldered so far soldered fine with the exception
> of these relays. I am so frustrated. I hope some one else has had this
> problem and it is not just me. I also thought about replacing the tip but
> the tip looks like it is in good condition.
> Please help me. Thanks to all.
>
>

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[Eric Champine]

Hey Don.
WOW.
3.5' of solder i removed and now it is working. I never noticed that there
was no or not enough flux. I did get that puff of smoke at first. I took off
a foot at a time and once I got to 3.5' I was soldering better. I was able
to solder other parts but for some reason these 6 relays I could not
solder.
Now it is done and I thank you. I would have never even thought that the
solder would be bad and it is Kester, A brand name that most of my friend
trust. Thanks. Now to finish the T1.

73 de W2EEC

Eric
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

  Eric,

Good news that you found the problem.  Yes, any manufacturer can have
problems at one time or another.
I once helped wire a house, one electrical fixture did not work.  We
removed the wire and found that one "conductor" had no copper inside for
a distance of about 10 feet.  It happens to the best.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 10/9/2010 6:42 PM, Eric Champine wrote:

> Hey Don.
> WOW.
> 3.5' of solder i removed and now it is working. I never noticed that there
> was no or not enough flux. I did get that puff of smoke at first. I took off
> a foot at a time and once I got to 3.5' I was soldering better. I was able
> to solder other parts but for some reason these 6 relays I could not
> solder.
> Now it is done and I thank you. I would have never even thought that the
> solder would be bad and it is Kester, A brand name that most of my friend
> trust. Thanks. Now to finish the T1.
>
> 73 de W2EEC
>
> Eric
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

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[Mike WA8BXN]

Eric,

I had the same problem! I just kept working at it and finally did get them
all soldered properly. I am not sure why there is the problem with this kit.
I too thought I might have an aging tip so after that I ordered a bunch on
new ones with different tip shapes for future use (I have a temp controlled
solder station).

73 - Mike WA8BXN
 
 
 
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[Mike WA8BXN]

 
Wow, what a solution! Now here is my question ... What is the probability
that we both had problems with our solder in the same place on the board?
Anyone else have difficulty with it?

73 - Mike WA8BXN
 
 
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[Eric Champine]

Hey Mike.
It is good to see that I am not crazy :-)
Taking off the 3.5' of solder did help a lot but it was not as easy to
solder as the other parts I installed. It may have something to do with the
process if installing the SMDs that change things a bit but it was defiantly
a bit more challenging to do. I have never ran in to that before. Thanks for
the info. I am almost done with the T1 now so I think if it is nice Sunday I
may go try it out. Have a good weekend.

73 de W2EEC

Eric



On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 7:16 PM, Mike WA8BXN <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Eric,
>
> I had the same problem! I just kept working at it and finally did get them
> all soldered properly. I am not sure why there is the problem with this
> kit.
> I too thought I might have an aging tip so after that I ordered a bunch on
> new ones with different tip shapes for future use (I have a temp controlled
> solder station).
>
> 73 - Mike WA8BXN
>
>
>
>

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[AC7AC]

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[daleputnam]

Don has described the problem quite well, I've found that manufacture error can cause the missing rosin, however,
I've found much more often for my bench, that when I wasn't careful with the closing of the end of the solder, that the rosin
would not be there when I needed it the next time.. especially if I left it lay for a while. (used a different size for a project, then came back to the first roll later) The seemed to happen especially when I pulled the solder apart, in a hurry to grab a piece and go do.
That is a bad thing, from the view of the remaining solder, stretched, the end is left open... and the rosin... "walks away".
The better way, of course, is to use cutters to cut the solder, or melt it, thus sealing the end from rosin loss.
  The manufacture process, may not be quite as exacting as it used to be either... because the automated process of board production doesn't rely on "noisy folks" if the solder isn't there when needed.
 Have a great day,

--... ...-- Dale - WC7S in Wy


 

> Relays K9 through K15 are the ones that have the SMD in the middle and I am
> thinking that this may have something to do with my problem because they are
> the only ones doing this. I place the relay and flip it over to solder. I
> place the soldering iron tip on one side of the pin and touching the pad
> too, then touch the other side of the pin and pad with the solder and I get
> a small puff of smoke and the solder is melted but as I take away the
> soldering iron tip, the solder comes too. The solder seems to want to stay
> with the tip but not on the pad or the pin on the relay. What is wrong?
> I have tries different temps and I have tried scratching-up the pins and
> pads just in case there is some sort of coating preventing the solder from
> attaching its self. That did not work. I am using Kester 60/40 .03 dia.
> solder

     
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