I thought I would share my recent find of some excellent value no-clean solder wick on ebay.
I have had various brands of solder wick over the years and they ranged from 'OK' to darn right rubbish. I decided to put some effort into finding a decent branded product in the UK that did not break the bank. I stumbled upon a seller on ebay selling Multicore branded 1.5mm solder wick at a very attractive start price of £10. Why was that a good price ? well he is selling the Multicore USA NC-AA No-Clean Econo Spool of 30 metres length ! They are marked up with the RS no. 361-1243 and normally cost around £30 + VAT. They are still shrink wrapped in their plastic bags and have the coding 37664 and 37665 on them. No idea when they were manufactured but it still works fine. RS have discontinued this line which may explain the availability at a good price ?
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/desoldering-wicks-braids/3611243/RS have recommended the Chemtronics product as a replacement.... not cheap though !
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/desoldering-wicks-braids/3141025/?origin=PSF_438915|alt
The most important news is that I love this wick. Very nice quality and works superbly on very fine pitch pads. I loved it so much I bought two more reels of it ! That should last me a very long time
I have no connection with the product or the seller but thought I should share. The seller sadly sells via auction and not on a BIN price. I have bought two reels at £10 and one cost me £12. The seller had a load of reels for sale at varying start prices so has plenty of stock.
Current auction is here with a £12 start price. The seller seems to run multiple auctions of the same product. One buyer paid the start price of £16 when I won an auction running at the same time, as the only bidder, at £10 !
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-metres-Multicore-NC-AA-de-solder-braid-wick-Unused-sealed-RS-no-361-1243-/371587764360?hash=item56845b5088:g:tlYAAOSwrklVbL79Even at full retail price I would likely buy this stuff...... it does what it says on the tin, and does it very well indeed
That's is good old Multicore USA quality for you though.
Fraser