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[OM] OT: need advice on soldering (Soldering difficult metals)

Subject: [OM] OT: need advice on soldering (Soldering difficult metals)
From: Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 18:07:10 -0500
At 11:34 PM +0000 1/25/03, olympus-digest wrote:
>Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 17:20:37 EST
>From: GMcGrath@xxxxxxx
>Subject: [OM] OT: need advice on soldering
>
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>I know we've got a few electronics experts and camera repair professionals 
>and amateurs on the list, so I hope someone can help me out with a problem.
>
>I'm trying to resolder a corroded battery contact on a Konica C35 that was 
>given to me, and can't get the solder to stick to the battery contact. It's a 
>very bright metal, stainless or chrome or something like that. I've cleaned 
>the surface using a wire brush on a Dremel tool, and have tried both 60/40 
>tin/lead solder and 96/4 tin/silver solder. I'm using a 30 watt soldering 
>iron and I think I'm letting the surfaces get hot enough before trying to 
>flow the solder.

What color is the corrosion?  Does the solder melt, but pull up into beads?  
Anyway, the following generally works:

The soldering iron tip must be clean and wetted with solder before attempting 
to solder the contact.  If the tip won't accept solder, clean with steel wool, 
heat up, dip in the acid flux, wipe with a paper towel, dip again, coat with 
60-40 radio solder, then flick the excess solder off.

The flux in radio solder isn't very aggressive, and it won't work on many 
common metals.  You seem to have have cleaned the metal well enough, and it 
still doesn't want to wet, so you will need to use a liquid acid flux, such as 
"tinners flux", which is used for soldering steel and tinplated steel.  I would 
dampen a Q-tip with the flux, rub the area to be soldered, then attempt to 
solder it.  Plumbers flux can be used at this point as well.  Do this to 
prepare a place wetted with solder, but do not attempt to attach the wire at 
this time.  After getting the solder to wet the bright metal, clean everything 
with acetone and water, dry it, then solder the wire with flux-cored 60-40 
radio solder and no acid.  Clean again with acetone.

Make sure the wire is tied down, so it can't work back and forth and break 
loose at the solder joint.

Joe Gwinn


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