soldering flux

[tonydiy]

Hi-I wonder if anyone can help.

This may not be the correct forum but I couldn't see one that was more appropriate.

My hobby apart from general DIY is radio and telivision repairs, general dabbling in computers and electronics and model making.

All for my own amazment I might add and anyway there's nothing else to do when your retired is there..

My query is, can anyone advise me of a suitable soldering flux for soldering electronicts, that can be obtained somewhere in the wirral area.

For the best part of forty years I have been using FLUXITE but when I tried to obtain some locally I was met with such replies as "never heard of it", "what do you want flux for its already in the solder" etc etc.

I am afraid I am a bit old fashioned but I still prefer to use flux when making joints particularly in view of the number of "dry joints" I have come across when carrying out repairs over the years.

However when I tried to order some on line I was qouted £4.00 for the flux plus £10.00 for the postage and this was for a small 100 grm tin.

As I was so reluctant to be caught by this obvious rip off I decide to check the forum to see if anyone can help me find a local supplier somewhere in Wirral

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Tony

 

[Trazor]

Try Screwfix.....

http://www.screwfix.com/

Should be a branch quite close to you.

 

[TicklyT]

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Chronos_Catalogue_Soldering___Brazing_Accessories_271.html sell Fluxite and other fluxes

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=Soldering Flux&source=15&SD=Y may be more appropriate for electronics.[/url]

 

[tonydiy]

hi trazor, thanks for you message.

I tried Screwfix but they only sell plumbing flux and I don't think that will do.

Anyway their web site opened up a couple of other leads which I am following up.

Thanks for your help and interest,
Cheers and regards

tony

 

[tonydiy]

Hi tickleT,thanks for the message.

Maplin don't appear to sell the paste only flux dispenser pens which are not quite what I wanted.

However Ime following your other link to Chronos, I think they stock it so I have emailed them for some information and prices.

Thanks again for your help and interest,

Cheers and regards,

Tony

 

[neds]

How about this flux pen...

eBay link

A mate of mine used it with great success when repairing his gaming console.

 

[mattylad]

Why not get a flux dispenser pen and then open it up & drain into suitable container?

You could try & find a local electronic manufacturing co & se if you can get some off of them?

 

[joe-90]

The reason you can't buy it is that Multicore solder is extremely effective - and no-one is getting dry joints.

 

[gcol]

If you want a seperate flux on the cheap, I'd give this a whirl for the price Tony.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Welding-immer...3785026QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
My tin of fluxite ain't for sale. Mind you, I liberated it from the last company I worked for.

 

[tonydiy]

Hi trazor, TickleT, neds, mattylad, joe90 and gcal.

I just thought I would let you know my problem has now been solved.

I obtained a 450grm tin of Fluxite for £11.85 incl potage which means I am paying just £2.64 per100grms.

This is a big difference from the £14.00 incl postage per 100grm tin which I had been quoted and which I referred to in my first post.

I obtained the Fluxite from “Chronos” from the link provided by TickleT (thank you TT).

Regarding the posts I haven’t replied to yet, here goes.

Hi neds and mattyglad, nice to meet you.

I tried some flux dispenser pens a couple of years ago and they were very good if you didn’t carry out a lot of soldering.
However, the cost was quite high. For instance, the pen advertised on Ebay (thank you neds) was £4.30 incl postage but it only contained 10ml of flux.

An empty 100grm Fluxite tin holds approximately 110mls (I tried it).

This means that the equivalent cost of liquid flux compared to the equivalent cost of paste flux would be £4.30 X 11 = £47.30 per 100grms (I hope my arithmetic is correct).Even if you don’t need as much liquid flux (which I can’t comment on) it’s still very dear if you do a lot of soldering

However, as I said it was very good and convenient if only required in small quantities.

Hi joe90 nice to meet you.

The reason you can't buy it is that Multicore solder is extremely effective - and no-one is getting dry joints.

The fact is, you can obtain it. It is readily available and you can buy as much of it as you want. So a lot of people must use it or they wouldn’t make it.

However, you will recall from my 1st post that my enquiry was posted because I had been quoted £14.00 for a 100grm tin (please see above) and I wished to know if anyone could advise me of a local supplier in order to cut out the exorbitant cost of postage. In the event, I didn’t obtain a local supplier but TickleT linked me to a firm which supplied it at a more reasonable price.

With regard to multicore solder I agree with you entirely. It is very effective and I use it exclusively but, in addition, I do like to use a “third party flux”. That way I know my joints are not going to be dry and eventually fail.

In respect of “no one getting dry joints”, I certainly don’t because I use an external flux paste.
However, I would be greatly interested to know where you got this statistic and I would also genuinely like to uncover the source of your information and of course the basis of its substantiation. And, if correct, this might indicate that no one gets dry joints because they all use an external flux paste too, particularly in view of the fact that such a lot of it is sold (please see my opening para.)

Hi gcal nice to meet you.

That was an interesting link you provided.
I haven’t seen this product before and it didn’t show up when I searched Ebay. It’s called Fluxite but it’s made in Hong Kong so it can’t be the same product.
However as I said it is interesting and I have sent for some. Thank you for the link.

In conclusion I would like to thank all the people who took the trouble and interest to reply to my enquiry which produced the result I was looking for.

Cheers and regards,

Tony.

 

[aptsys]

Thanks for posting that link, I've just received my tin for the bargain price of £11.85. I was getting worried I'd not be able to find any after finishing the small tin I'd been using for the last 10 years!

 

[tonydiy]

Thanks for posting that link, I've just received my tin for the bargain price of £11.85. I was getting worried I'd not be able to find any after finishing the small tin I'd been using for the last 10 years!

Hi aptsys nice to meet you.

Thanks for the feed back, I am glad to have been able to help,although I must say that the credit goes to TicklyT for first supplying the link (thanks again TT).

Cheers and regards

Tony

PS There must be at least 2 of us using Flux

PPS I am not sure that the "quote" application is working properly I have been having trouble with it. Perhaps someone could let me know if there is a fault on it.