In article ,
"Hal Rosser" wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've had good luck with the kester 62/36/2% silver stuff, which is
eutectic.

Many many years ago, I had some luck with a indium-bismuth solder paste
in syringes from Indium Corp. Haven't fiddled with any of their stuff
since then.

Radio Shack sells a bag of little peices of tape-form stuff. Never got
it to work well.

Favorites?

plain old 60-40 rosin-core electrical solder has worked well for me - got
mine at a hamfest on a half-pound roll.
the silver stuff (I believe) melts at higher temperatures - and higher
temperatures are not good for electronics.

Silver-bearing solder is for use with silver plated terminal strips
(such as Tektronix used to use); silver in the solder prevents the
silver on the terminals from being dissolved by the solder and ruined.

Isaac

Also, there are things like stainless steel, and aluminium that don't
like regular 60/40 solder-- however silver solder will solder to
stainless antenna rods (repair antenna whips, ect). and aluminium
is easy to solder to, but consider : 1) that aluminium oxide WON'T allow
solder to adhear to it, and that : 2) aluminium oxidizes almost
immedietly ! The way to solder to aluminium without special solders/
fluxes is to scrape the surface, and then immediatly apply hot iron and
solder. Then solder will adhear to it! As a side note, concerning
the oxidation of aluminium, consider that the silver powder in fireworks
is powdered aluminium! Have a friend , whose dad told of his experience
with it (powdered)-- was used to make aluminium based paint- he was told
by his boss to get rid of it-- threw it into an incinerator-- and,
KABKOOIE ! as info, Jim NN7K


Isaac Wingfield wrote:

Silver-bearing solder is for use with silver plated terminal strips
(such as Tektronix used to use); silver in the solder prevents the
silver on the terminals from being dissolved by the solder and ruined.

Isaac

"Jim - NN7K" wrote in message
om...
As a side note, concerning
the oxidation of aluminium, consider that the silver powder in fireworks
is powdered aluminium! Have a friend , whose dad told of his experience
with it (powdered)-- was used to make aluminium based paint- he was told
by his boss to get rid of it-- threw it into an incinerator-- and,
KABKOOIE ! as info, Jim NN7K


IIRC, 'Thermite' is made from Iron Oxide and Aluminium powder, and that
burns rather hot!

Dave

"Dave D" wrote in message
...

| IIRC, 'Thermite' is made from Iron Oxide and Aluminium powder, and that
| burns rather hot!

A similar product was used to paint the Hindenburg and it is now believed by
many (but not all) that it was this that destroyed it. The film of the
flames looks 'wrong' for a hydrogen fire. A sample of the skin, which had
been saved for many years, was subjected to a spark test and burned with
great enthusiasm.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster

N

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 01:20:08 +0000, NSM wrote:


"Dave D" wrote in message
...

| IIRC, 'Thermite' is made from Iron Oxide and Aluminium powder, and that
| burns rather hot!

A similar product was used to paint the Hindenburg and it is now believed by
many (but not all) that it was this that destroyed it. The film of the
flames looks 'wrong' for a hydrogen fire. A sample of the skin, which had
been saved for many years, was subjected to a spark test and burned with
great enthusiasm.

I guesss. Hydrogen/oxygen burns without a visible flame. The shell of
the Hindenburgh was obviously on fire. ...and it was painted with an
aluminum paint (Iron??), which was quite normal at the time.

--
Keith

"keith" wrote in message
news | I guesss. Hydrogen/oxygen burns without a visible flame. The shell of
| the Hindenburgh was obviously on fire. ...and it was painted with an
| aluminum paint (Iron??), which was quite normal at the time.

Apparently this was the first time this particular product was used - and
the last as the Zeppelin company did further tests on the paint and never
used it again.

N

It's inevitable that every time this topic comes up, someone confuses
the 2 or 3% silver-loaded tin-lead solder with the hard solders known as
"silver solder". They're entirely different things. The 2 or 3%
silver-loaded tin-lead solder is a soft solder, very similar in use and
properties to ordinary tin-lead solder. The "silver solders" used for
brazing stainless steel and other materials are hard solders, with a
much higher melting point and very different properties.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Jim - NN7K wrote:
Also, there are things like stainless steel, and aluminium that don't
like regular 60/40 solder-- however silver solder will solder to
stainless antenna rods (repair antenna whips, ect). . .