Please recommend a good quality flux and solder

[ercapoccia]

For through-hole components i use Topnik Rf800 and amtech 599-v2-tf for smd. Multicore leaded 63/37 for everything, it is excellent and it is not too expensive.

[Unixon]

The main reason for flux for me is if I want minimal heat build up on a part, to re-flow a joint but Mainly for removing bridged connections on high density SMD parts after being in the oven.

If you have a real sensitive part or consider swapping it in the short run you can use low melting temperature alloy (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusible_alloy ), or mix yourself an allow for a specific temperature. A 50/50 mix by weight of Rose's metal with 60/40 leaded gives you an allow that melts at ~150C, which is pretty nice thing to have. This is very useful if you want to desolder a component without heating everything around it to a high temperature: you either solder it initially with low temperature solder or you put low temperature solder on the component to dissolve high temperature solder that is already there.

[lfldp]

1) While I have several cheap tin/lead leaded solder and lead free solder I am looking for some good quality replacements.


2) More importantly, I am looking for a better flux that the ones I currently use.




My current flux options





The bottled Flux
The flux in the bottle is very good but it leaves a very stick mess behind it. Obviously this can be cleaned with alcohol but it makes the process longer an messy and not very practical when doing a lot of joints. I would prefer a flux that I could use that is easier and leaves not residue.

The Pen flux
The pen flux is the other end of the scale as it leaves little residue but does not do such a good job.


I guess I am looking for something in between of great quality!




So please feel free to recommend some decent leaded solder, Lead free solder, Flux.



Cheers 

hi
the best flux for lead free which i use from long time is SYNTECH-LF-TF genuine from amtech company , is goog for smd solder also reballing and is almost heavy-odour less because is syntetic  , amtech have also lf-4300 for lead-free/leadded solder and NC-560 for lead free , but from my opinion and experiments i can say i cannot solder correctly all lead-free balls on large bga this water washable flux almost evaporate untill every ball flow to pad position , as about NC-560-LF i cannot completly solder lead-free balls

SYNTECH-LF-TF - works very good with lead-free solder and did not evaporate untill bga balls flow to its position , heavy odour-less nice smell  because is syntetic
this flux is also manufactured by CHIPQUIK company and is only usefull for lead-free solder

LF-4300 water washable flux also almost odourless but it is usefull from my opinion only for leadded solder with lead-free it too fast evaporate

NC-560-LF - no good for bga maybe for smd ive never place any balls on cpu correctly - it is irritant when inhalle !!!

from my opinion for lead free solder you need flux which will keept you temperature more longer than usuall flux for sn60/40 leadded , it should be dedicated for lead-free solder only like syntech-lf-tf

[jmelson]

I have used MG Chemicals "Rosin Flux" Catalog # 835-100ml, which works very well, but leaves a sticky mess.  If I want it to be cleanable, I use SRA No. 80 Water soluble refill for flux pen, which works quite well, and can be washed off in seconds with running water.

Jon

[lfldp]

hello i have question maybe someone knows...

which from chinese flux is suitable for lead-free alloys ? because as i see there is no rule in china market about leadded alloy or lead free as in case of valid flux

i did tryin several chinese flux like rma-218 amtech nc-559-tpf(uv) rma223 also rma223uv and uv559 and i can say only rma-218 and uv559 hitting lead-free alloys the nc-559-tpf(uv) completly doesnt works on lead-free

the uv559 mechanic flux is more better than rma-218 for lead-free but this is not exactly what i need eg. previously using original amtech flux type syntech-lf and this flux is keeping more longer temperature on lead-free alloys than chinese uv559 do anyone knows lead-free chinese flux comparable to amtech syntech-lf ? been tryin also original amtech nc-560-lf but this flux dont keept so long enough temperature like syntech anyways chinese uv559 in this case is more better than original nc-560-lf

[lfldp]

future candidates for my tests and experiments with lead-free are:
mechanic flux MECHANIC F913 F933 Mild Rosin also improved version of uv559 flux called CMOV-559TC-HE - this is not nc-559-tpf(uv) coz this version is made from completly different materials and like i wrote before is completly uselless for lead-free

[wraper]

When you buy fake Chinese "Amtech" flux, nobody can tell how it will perform because there are many different fake fluxes sold under a single amtech model. So may be from OK-ish to unusable garbage. Even effing Kingbo is almost impossible to buy not couterfeit, even though even real Kingbo is deceitful by pretending to be Japanese.

[lfldp]

ehh i have allways same flux buying it from same officiall mechanic shop in china but they released two new models thats why im asked which one could be good for lead-free , anyways is much more better choice than buying syntech-lf directly from usa + paying twice time more for its price also for shipping and waiting over 50 days till it arrive to my country
after covid attack any of original amtech isnt available anymore in my country

[wraper]

ehh i have allways same flux buying it from same officiall mechanic shop in china but they released two new models thats why im asked which one could be good for lead-free , anyways is much more better choice than buying syntech-lf directly from usa + paying twice time more for its price also for shipping and waiting over 50 days till it arrive to my country
after covid attack any of original amtech isnt available anymore in my country

Try this flux from Alpha https://www.tme.eu/pl/en/details/topnik-gel-bga/fluxes/alpha/om-338/ and don't bother with Chinese junk. A very good flux, the only downside is that its fumes are a bit nasty, therefore good ventilation recommended. IMHO Amtech fluxes are not that special or exceptionally good to begin with.

[lfldp]

ehh i have allways same flux buying it from same officiall mechanic shop in china but they released two new models thats why im asked which one could be good for lead-free , anyways is much more better choice than buying syntech-lf directly from usa + paying twice time more for its price also for shipping and waiting over 50 days till it arrive to my country
after covid attack any of original amtech isnt available anymore in my country

Try this flux from Alpha https://www.tme.eu/pl/en/details/topnik-gel-bga/fluxes/alpha/om-338/ and don't bother with Chinese junk. A very good flux, the only downside is that its fumes are a bit nasty, therefore good ventilation recommended. IMHO Amtech fluxes are not that special or exceptionally good to begin with.

ok but this flux is good for lead-free ? i mean does it keept temperature long enough on lead-free solder ? btw. about fumes i completly dont care i have chinese fume extractor and it does it job well

[wraper]

ehh i have allways same flux buying it from same officiall mechanic shop in china but they released two new models thats why im asked which one could be good for lead-free , anyways is much more better choice than buying syntech-lf directly from usa + paying twice time more for its price also for shipping and waiting over 50 days till it arrive to my country
after covid attack any of original amtech isnt available anymore in my country

Try this flux from Alpha https://www.tme.eu/pl/en/details/topnik-gel-bga/fluxes/alpha/om-338/ and don't bother with Chinese junk. A very good flux, the only downside is that its fumes are a bit nasty, therefore good ventilation recommended. IMHO Amtech fluxes are not that special or exceptionally good to begin with.

ok but this flux is good for lead-free ? i mean does it keept temperature long enough on lead-free solder ? btw. about fumes i completly dont care i have chinese fume extractor and it does it job well

Yes. This flux has especially long working time.