Can old never used solder still be used?
Ragtop
Posts: 406
I just got back from an estate sale with a bag of solder rolls. I didn't look at it closely, but they are labeled don't use after 1990.
Wondering what to expect if I put them to a soldering iron.
Wondering what to expect if I put them to a soldering iron.
Comments
It's just what they do.
Seriously, what PJ sez is on the money. For casual consumer use it's probably fine. I have some rosin-core solder that's 20 years old. The rosin may age, but for the non-critical, non-industrial work I do, it's perfectly fine.
-- Gordon
Solderpaste is another example. Typically manufacturer shelf life of solderpaste is 6 months so if we have paste that hits 6 months at work, it can no longer be used in product we build. I gave away 6 jars of expired paste at last year's UPEW to some very appreciative recipients (solderpaste isn't cheap). However, I have used solderpaste that is 2 years old at home (I keep it in the fridge in the garage)and have not noticed any differences from a brand new jar when I use it for basic boards like my PowerTwig. When I was at HP back in the early 90s, an engineer conducted an experiment and used solderpaste that was 4 years old and only saw issues with fine pitch QFPs.
I just wanted to be on record as agreeing with my forum heroes. Anyone else wanna jump on the train?
Even if the rosin gets old, the most it's going to do is dry out a little, for the most part it will be preserved by the lead. It should still be fine when heat is applied. I still have a few spools of 60/40 ... actually 56/44 that are at least 25 years old... the fact that most of the label is not in English could explain a lot, but oh well. :-)
The bag also had these old irons if anybody collects that stuff.
Sure, dump it right in a local watershed... NOT! Dispose of solder & lead reponsibly. There are literally tons of lead wheel weights alongside most any road, but that don't make it right.
Hmmmm... Those big ol' soldering irons have me thinking the solder you bought may be for something like stained glass windows. Assuming the irons and solder were used together. That style of soldering iron for electronics work will greatly predate a solder roll that expired in 1990. As in they stopped using that style with the big ol' tip in about 1966.
Stained glass soldering lead is likely to be unsuitable for electronics, as it typically has no flux core. Without flux you'll need to add it to all your joints or the soldering will be tough going. Try chewing on some to see if it has a peculiar "woodsy" piquant, which might indicate rosin. Or not, depending if you've already had all your growth spurts.
-- Gordon
Are you suggesting that someone chew on lead?!!!
I think there is a reason I'm not as smart as I used to be, all those years of straightening out solder with my teeth prior to applying it to the joints....
Might be better to suggest just melting some with the iron and look for smoke or sniffing it out. But sniffing flux smoke is probably not so healthy either.
In the old westerns they used to always say, "Eat lead, marshal!" and then come out guns blazing. I figured they were simply suggesting to the local constabulary to check the rosin content in their solder. No?
-- Gordon