I've been asked by a friend to make such a recommendation, to go along with his new Weller WES51. I've told him:
- 60/40 tin/lead
- rosin-core
- good name brand, such as Kester
What's a good size to recommend for general purpose use?
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asked Dec 31, 2012 at 4:50
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\$\begingroup\$ Generally there's little to be gained by buying larger solder than the finest you can readily source. However, also avoid the fallacy of thinking that you need an iron tip & solder finer than tiny components - such small scale work is generally done by utilizing surface tension and wetting properties, not by demanding tiny tools. \$\endgroup\$– Chris StrattonCommented Dec 31, 2012 at 15:49
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3 Answers
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Here's your standard size list.
For general-purpose electronic tinkering/prototyping, I recommend 26-28 awg sized no-clean rosin cored tin/lead solder (63%/37%).
In Kester terminology it's this one:
SN6324550.015
63/37, 245 FLUX, 50 CORE, .015 DIA, 1 LB
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\$\begingroup\$ What size is that in standard units? \$\endgroup\$– starblueCommented Dec 31, 2012 at 13:47
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\$\begingroup\$ ".015 DIA" = 0.015" outer diameter \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 31, 2012 at 19:28
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\$\begingroup\$ I suppose " means inches, so that would be 0.38mm in standard units. It would be nice if you could at least give these in parentheses, for the 95% who don't live in the US of A. \$\endgroup\$– starblueCommented Jan 1, 2013 at 17:26
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\$\begingroup\$ @starblue -- right! Sorry. You're interpretation/conversion is correct. I thought you wanted to go from the manufacturer's abbreviation to something more "standard" in units. If you follow the link at the top of my answer, you can see the full official details (including all the dimensions in proper units). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 1, 2013 at 22:01
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For small components, pretty much any of the standard sizes will work. In general, you should size the solder with the components. The smaller the components, the smaller the radius of solder (especially if doing SMD use very thin solder). For cases where you're soldering to large amounts of metal, it's best to use larger solder and more powerful soldering iron or it will take too long.
A general recommendation is Kester 0.010" solder for SMD, and Kester 0.025" for through hole.
answered Dec 31, 2012 at 5:02
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\$\begingroup\$ What's a good number to recommend? I'm not familiar enough with solder to know the standard sizes. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 31, 2012 at 5:15
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1\$\begingroup\$ Ha! Funny, I split the difference without even seeing this... ;-) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 31, 2012 at 5:22
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2\$\begingroup\$ By the way, more important than the solder is soldering technique. Make sure that the solder isn't heated too long to let the flux vaporize. If it stops "flowing" and doesn't look wet anymore, clean the tip and use more solder with more flux. This is the #1 mistake I see when people solder (they put solder on the tip and the flux vaporizes, then they try to apply it). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 31, 2012 at 5:22
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\$\begingroup\$ @DrFriedParts: Yeah, it's really close but that's usually what I've seen being used. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 31, 2012 at 5:24
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I use 0.5mm diameter for normal stuff and 0.35mm for SMD work.
Though 1mm would also be OK for through hole, and you would need much less length for the same amount of solder.
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1\$\begingroup\$ I prefer 0.5 mm for through-hole work since I have much greater control over the amount of solder I place into the joint and where exactly I place it. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 31, 2012 at 16:17