- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
Offline - From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 900
Re: Detached slug solder...
Without any doubt, use a blowtorch. You want a fairly small one, and the kind sometimes sold for cooks to use would be ideal.
- SoucekFan
- Speed Champion
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- From: United States
- Registered: 27-12-2015
- Posts: 480
Re: Detached slug solder...
thetypewriterman wrote:
The correct material is 'tinmans solder', which is 40% tin, 60% lead. However, ordinary electronic solder, which is 60% tin, 40% lead will work just as well in practice.
Which type of core should one choose?
- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 900
Re: Detached slug solder...
You should be using a flux paste. The main brand here in the UK is 'Fluxite' The resin core in electronic solder does no harm, but when you are soldering steel it won't be good enough on its' own.
- OlivWriter
- Platen Punisher
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- Posts: 90
Re: Detached slug solder...
You should be using a flux paste. The main brand here in the UK is 'Fluxite' The resin core in electronic solder does no harm, but when you are soldering steel it won't be good enough on its' own.
What is this paste used for ? And is it essential ?
And wouldn't tin for small solders be enough ?
- •
Thread Starter- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 900
Re: Detached slug solder...
The flux paste chemically cleans the metal before you can add a layer of solder. Indeed it is essential. Without it, you are unlikely to get the solder to stick to the metal, especially as you are soldering steel.
- skywatcher
- Moderator
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- From: The Prairies of Alberta
- Registered: 14-3-2013
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Re: Detached slug solder...
Hi Olivier
The word 'Flux' when used in physics means 'Flow'. The root word is the Latin word 'Fluxus' from which comes 'Magnetic Flux' and 'Luminous Flux'. In our mechanical application of soldering, flux paste allows the melted solder to flow into the gap between the type bar and the type slug creating a strong bond between the two components.
Flux paste for lead alloy soldering comes in 2 forms, active and passive, or acid and rosin. For soldering a steel type slug onto a steel type bar, active or acid flux is required. The acid in the flux chemically removes oxidation from the surfaces to be joined allowing the solder to make a strong mechanical bond between the metals to be joined.
Passive or rosin flux is used in electrical and electronics as the acid in an active flux would eventually eat through the copper of the wires after the repairs have been done causing the repair to fail. Passive flux paste is therefore required for electrical and electronics as it will not rot the wiring. Hope this gives you the basic idea. All the best,
Sky
We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
- OlivWriter
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 23-2-2024
- Posts: 90
Re: Detached slug solder...
Thank you for your answers, but can we do without flux paste if I only solder with tin ?
Because I read on the internet that the tin is already enriched with a little flux paste...
And is this flux paste toxic ?
THANKS
- •
Thread Starter- OlivWriter
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 23-2-2024
- Posts: 90
Re: Detached slug solder...
And a little more question :
Should we rather have a tin ratio of 99.3% and 0.7 copper or 97% tin and 3% copper ?
And is copper suitable ?
THANKS
- •
Thread Starter- thetypewriterman
- Key Master
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- From: Leiston, England
- Registered: 29-5-2013
- Posts: 900
Re: Detached slug solder...
As explained previously, you need tin/lead solder and flux paste. Use anything else and you are on your own.
- robmck
- Speed Champion
Online! - From: Seattle, WA
- Registered: 31-1-2022
- Posts: 342
Re: Detached slug solder...
Thanks, Tom.
The only thing I've ever soldered is electronics with good old rosin-core solder, so I'm new to having the flux separate.
For typebars/slugs, is the process that you put paste on both the bar and the slug separately before you put them together? (Then heat it all up and add solder once the flux is bubbling).
For cleaning off old solder beforehand, would a solder wick work just like in electronics?
Thanks!
