I noticed that my roll of standard 60/40 solder was getting a bit low so I decided to give some eutectic alloy solder a try to see if it really is as good as people say.

So, I bought myself a 500g reel of super high quality Japanese solder:



62% Tin, 36% Lead and 2% Silver.

It's a solid at 179°C (354°F) and a liquid at 182°C (359°F) which means that as soon as you remove the iron, it sets almost instantly. The flux core is a non-corrosive, no clean type so it doesn't matter if you clean the flux off or not.

What really impressed me was that I could reduce my soldering temperature to 280°C (536°F) and solder just as well as I could with the old 60/40 solder at 320°C (608°F)!

I'm glad it turned out to be so good as a 500g reel will probably last me the rest of my life!

nice find and report Unseen, where did you get yours from?

(20-Sep-2017, 08:42 AM)Oscar Wrote: nice find and report Unseen, where did you get yours from?

Thanks! I bought it from the local electronics distributor here in Sweden called Elfa.

It was kind of expensive - just over £70! Then again, 500g of solder will last a very, very long time so it's not as if I'll have to buy it again any time soon.

Thanks Unseen! I managed to find the international shop for the same solder in 0.8mm 500g for anyone interested:
https://www.distrelec.biz/en/solder-wire...&simi=97.6

Also available in 0.5 mm:
https://www.distrelec.biz/en/solder-wire...&simi=97.6

Came across Joshua B's video on solder the other day, will also give this stuff a shot.
Sounds like a big improvement without any downside.
Got to admit I'm not dissatisfied by 60/40 solder in any way, but reducing the "risk" of having cold solder joints is always nice to have.
Any idea why there is silver in it?

(21-Sep-2017, 07:09 AM)Fint Wrote: Any idea why there is silver in it?

The primary reason for the silver is to protect SMD components like capacitors. The metal ends of the tiny surface mount ceramic capacitors are actually silver and standard 60/40 solder tends to dissolve silver. Adding a little silver to the solder stops this from happening.