Is Expensive Low Melt Solder Worth The Cost? Let's Find Out... $7 GuageMaster vs. $40 ChipQuik!
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- čas přidán 16. 02. 2022
- #repair #righttorepair #microsoldering
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Very informative vid Phil, amazing comparison, love it. Keep it up mate.
Thank's for the brilliant review mate! 👍🏼
Another good one Phil! I am seeing a lot of comments on why people would NOT use LMS. One of the largest benefits of using LMS in on components or ICs that are sensitive to heat where it is not a good idea to hit it with hot air.
100% agree. It is the whole point for me.
Informative, non biased, brilliantly done by a fellow brummie hats off to you sir ❤
I been using it like 6 years ago. For removing connectors and parts with plástic like fpc connectors. Amazing. Alittle expensive but if you have a repair shop its a must have. I use the fast chip
Good one I learned a lot there thank you.
I've used gaugemaster for soldering together model railway rail ends and its pretty good stuff and bridges well.
Thanks for the comparison bud! Always been something I've wondered 👍👍
Cheers mate, yeah this is the "proper" low melt haha. I'll pop a stick in the mail for you ;)
Not using low melt solder just seems like you're not using a tool at your disposal. The stuff is amazing for a ton of different things. If I'm laying bricks and I have the option to use pre-mixed vs regular cement mix I'll use the stuff that makes my job easier. Even if it only saves you a little time it's worth it.
I don't think you need to prove anything to anyone about your skill at micro soldering. You're obviously very good at what you do.
I absolutely agree. My only objection is that it does take away some of the practical skill, and if you rely on low melt every day it would take the experience away that comes from doing jobs without it, and I like that challenge to be honest. Another problem I have is I'm cheap, I don't like spending money if I don't have to lol
@@TheCod3r You can make one piece of LM last for a long time. You really only need to use a tiny bead to lower the melting point a noticeable amount. What you have should last you a few months.
@@Pixx_- exactly. I buy 2 tubes of the sra low melt solder sticks. Lasts me about a year. For $60 and as part of business write offs, it saves me time for sure, well worth the money to speed the process up a bit. One repair job and both tubes are more than paid for usually.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing haha, why risk breaking or damaging other components through heat
Great video mate
I use chip quik. I had some tight transistors to remove. The soldering iron and vacuum sucked up the vias. I went to the most delicate method of removing through hole components I know of. That’s the iron and chip-quik. It transfers a lot of heat to the component and keeps it wet so it can be removed. This manufacturer used a via that was way too tight.
I use bismuth for de-soldering stuff. I paid around 6 pounds for 50 grams which is claimed to be 99.9% pure (from aliexpress). The metal came shaped as a rock so I used a hammer to crush it into smaller pieces, or just use the soldering iron as it will melt almost instantly. And it takes a long time until the solder hardens
+1 for the bismuth, I have a de-solder iron setup and a mixture of bismuth and solder (that I re use) this is my go to when working on multi layer boards that tend to suck the heat out of the iron.
Thanks mate I'll have to look at getting some in to try out :)
I'm using the Mechanic XW5 solder wire with 50% bismuth. A little more expensive, but at about 12€ for 40g it's still cheap compared to chipquick.
@@Leif_YT as far as I know it’s fake, tried it and many other reviews suggest it melts at over 200c
@@TheCod3rany updates?
i am fairly new to low melt solder in fact i havn't even gotten any yet hints why i watched the vid. I think the main reason some people are willing to pay top dollar for low melt solder is because i imagine the main reason for using low melt solder in the first place it because their equipment for one reason or another can't melt all the solder. in these situations it might be best to buy the best low melt solder to ensure it stands the best chance at allowing the user to fully melt the solder they couldn't twithought the low melt. if they buy the lower quality stuff their's a chance it won't be able to do the job they bought it for.
Thank you.
very helpful
thanks for the video,,hope more like this
Nice educational video!
Very cool video.👍
Good comparison. Most techs don't know about "roses metal". It is used for jewelry making and is a low melt solder that comes in blobs not rods. It might be be even cheaper but not sure of the metallurgy recipe. 24.97 for 453grams on e-bay.
I just checked this gauge master. $34 to ship from UK. lol Cool video to see the difference
Very good, enjoyed, the results are not surprising but there's the proof.
Also a reduction in temperature is great for safe guarding against any damage too.
Agreed mate
Great video good sir
Thanks Phil
Your stuff make fix so nice... Legand phill boss🎉🎉🎉
Great comparison video Phil 👍really enjoyed watching. Shows price isn’t everything
Cheers mate, been asked about this so many times I lost count lol
Great vid
Haha I use the 20g ingot block and really love how it moves.
Great video and very useful information! Have seen that none of these products I can buy easily in Germany - or with very high shipping costs. Will go with the "Guagemaster GM01". Also cannot find anything comparable on Ali
Maybe look for Bismuth (Wismut) or Roses metal as mentioned by others, Chip quik is available at amazon and the stuff sold at rexin-loettechnik may work.
how would it compare to mixing in tin lead 60/40 or standard lead solder :)
On the "made in same factory" I had a relative that worked in a fish factory, they did a few thousand salmon packs for M+S which at the time was about £9.50, then changed labels to Tesco Value which was about £1.50, it was the same thing.
Same for many things, heard someone say in a frozen pizza factory the only difference was the budget pizzas used cheese sauce not grated cheese and a cheaper tomato. the bases and herbs etc were the same.
If the melting point is lowered by the addition of solder, I wonder how much room each alloy gives you for adding more before it starts melting higher. Especially on those pins with such little solder compared to the amount of low melt used, I imagine each alloy has potential to be reused a few times. I will now be saving all my used chip quik and shaping it into little blocks like that.
Wish you had put some links to the actual products used here, especially the block of LMS that you said you would keep a around ...
Roses Metal is my own choice and buy it by the half kilo as I also supply at £10 for 50 grams. Way cheaper than the branded type with more or less the same results. They all contain more or less the same base metals, Bismuth, tin and lead just in varying percentages. Roses Metal comes in pellet form and works down at 95C and I can't fault it for its price. I place the pellet on a small piece of fire resistant glass and just dip the iron in and use that way.
I bought a 2lb spool of SUPER cheap chinese 60/40 flux cored solder a few years back for something like $5 shipped. I didn't expect much but it turned out to work amazingly well and it does a great job to remove lead free solder. I've compared it against a roll of Kester 60/40 flux cored and I find the cheap stuff is more flexible allowing the joints to move a little. Not good for anywhere I want strength (like the edge pins on USB connectors) but for that I like to use 63/37. But anytime I have a joint that seems to take more heat than I'm happy with I'll use this stuff and without fail the OEM joint melts at a significantly lower temp than without.
Yeah to be honest I'm the same, I use some cheap ebay special for removals usually, so this low melt will likely last me forever lol
It would be real cool to see how it preforms while you wick the pads. I think that Low melt is best for wicking. But can you please do a vid about that? Great vid BTW
I certainly can mate yeah :)
Is there like an overview that shows me which product you´re using when? Can´t figure that out by voice as a non-native.
Hello, can you give me a hint or help?
I have a ps4 pro, with AAA games squares start to appear on the screen.
I reballed the GPU, changed the rams, changed the SIE, and it's still the same. Any clue what it could be? Could it be power issues?
The lms I buy is dirt cheap and works great!
How long does a 480c port remove take, without low melt?
I purchased the gauge master on your recommendation. I haven't used it yet,
tbh I've never used low melt, and the only experience I've had with it wasn't a good one, I was drying a board after a ultra sonic, and when I was drying, the previous repair attempt must have used low melt, so I managed to heat it up by mistake and smear it over the board 🙈
Not too long actually, probably about 90 seconds. I'll have to do another video comparing that, leaded solder and low melt solder lol
thanks bud, ive just order some Gaugemaster GM01 for a idea i had floating around in my mind for a while im going to use it for TIM on a cpu just to see what happends.
Haha let us know how that goes mate
Low melt solder is something I use regularly for switch USB ports and hdmi ports on all consoles. It allowed me to remove an hdmi port in about 10-30 seconds. In my mind, the less time you need to blast a board / area with heat the better.
The only low melt solder I've really used is a brand called SRA. works very well
The second one he tries is the SRA, it’s right on the package…
@@tookitogo I commented before it came up. But was also just saying.
@@microgamingrepairs1981 Fair enough. :)
Think I'd give it a miss.
I think if you add in the time to mix in the low melt, you could have already removed it normally.
It would have been interesting if you had used the conventional method time as a benchmark.
I think you miss the point. It is about how long you heat up the board because sometimes there can be delicate components around or you don't want to stress too much board/pads.
where can I get Gaugemaster GM01 Low Melt Solder 70 Degrees in USA PLZ HELP
Aaand...
Subscribed!
I have it too but never used it The low melt sodder
I am a beginner at soldering, now I know about Kingbo flux I ordered some, I stupidly ordered La Co flux as it was quite cheap and it was a pain to clean even with IPA and even then it didn't clean proper and ended up with green like mould on the connectors I did. The funny thing being is I knew about 99% IPA and spent about £80 on a proper solder iron and air gun, and £200 on a desolder station and I knew about mixing new flux to desolder better but I never understood why I was struggling so much! The flux I used was nasty, like a earwax/snot hybrid.
Ah I've been there mate, you're not alone. Yeah La Co is a plumbers flux, but that was the first flux I bought too and it really was horrible, it ruined a few of my practice boards lol
I used Fry's Plummers flux when I first started as a novice, it actually worked fine, but yes apparently it corrodes the boards over time. (rookie mistake I guess)
I have kimbo, it's works well, but I don't tend to use it much. (bit smokey and because I don't use it that much, it goes hard in the syringe) I have to heat it up.
I use a quikchip flux daily, more expensive but tbh it seems to last forever, this might be because I'm more trusting of it, so I use less, honestly no idea, but I'll definitely buy it again.
Valid to keep the skills sharp. Of course, one could argue that learning to work with low melt is just another skill in the arsenal. Just in case you have a lazy day.
Haha that is very true
Use your soldering iron on the legs, no low melt but I use the regular 183melt wire spool I have on the legs beforehand but not necessary.... iron on the legs + hot air. You'll be surprised
as a beginner ,and started soldering as a hobby..cause of pandemic..i like the cheapest one..it does the job,it cheap as shit and looks cool too. maybe ill vote for expensive one but for a beginner like myself..the 4th one is hands down
I have never seen anyone use low-melt solder and hot air, I think it's for low temperature IC and with a solder iron as the pins stay molten for a long time.
i would like to know WHY you would use this over regular rosin core lead / tin solder m8 ?
It's for component removal, you wouldn't want to use it for normal soldering because it's too brittle. It just has a much lower melting temperature so it can make it easier and quicker to remove things like ports and chips
@@TheCod3r fair enough, but i just add regular solder to the older solder and use my Duratool desoldering station. or sucker if its a small job.
I cant believe how expensive that low melt stuff was. 🙄 crazy price..
love the vids and streams BTW 👍
Phil, were going to have to "av it out" if you're saying Saintsbury's beans taste like Heinz's beans. ;))
Haha never tried Sainsburys, I'm not posh enough for that, but Aldi beans do 🤣🤣🤣
If you are performing repair after repair and have a huge queue then I can definitely see why you'd use it. If it's the quickest and easiest method it's probably the most lucrative. If I was repairing one port on an xbox or something then I'd just take my time and wouldn't bother with the extra cost of low melt.
Yeah maybe, I just don't see the point in using it personally because it doesn't take more than a minute longer to not use it. I guess if you're doing 20 ports a day you're saving yourself a couple of hours a week though
@@TheCod3r When time is money it makes sense. I agree with your conclusion though, the ingot for £5 is a no brainer if you need low melt.
New sub. Awesome channel.
Thanks man, much appreciated
I have a new drinking game watch this video and do a shot everytime you say molton 😂
Haha you might get a little drunk 🥴 🤣
Is it profitable only fixing consoles? Id assume no client would want to pay much to fix something they can buy used cheap.
It can be, it depends how much you charge. My average repair comes in at around £60 which is still viable even for PS3 backwards compatible and original xbox one consoles, though not for 360s
Hi it is piety you can not test the one that northridgefix sells. He swear it is magic. 😉
Cheap eBay special is not that cheap, it works out at around £31.50 for 4.5ft ( can't remember the exact price you said and can't be bothered to rewind the video lmfoa )
Nice educational video btw.
Yeah when you look at it like that it definitely isn't cheap. It's just that given the price per stick people would deem it the best buy on ebay (most likely) because most people only need it once
@@TheCod3r if you look at it that way you have a very good point.
I agree on using low melt solder, as another tool in your bag of tools. Even if you remove components with "practical skill" youre undoubtably going to take longer, introducing more heat into the board that you now know is unnecessary since low melt exists. One may even argue that the practical skill is in your tools, and knowledge of them. It's not like the technique youre using is much different, just faster. Also, from experience, I can tell you that a single stick of "preferred low melt" lasts a long time once you get used to using it. So, its not that expensive when you learn how much you need, as well as using it in caveat removals. hell, what you bought there can last years when used appropriately. 99% of the time your normal methods/tools will remain unchanged. Low melt really is only really helpful in SOME difficult component removals, but in those instances it can save you a world of pain.
I agree, but people tend to start relying on it and forget completely how to use traditional methods, which is when they can mess up. If I do end up using it (I probably will just because I have it here) I'll likely use it on a rare occasion where I need to protect an area from heat
@@TheCod3r Thats all i use it for, too really. i mostly use regular solder mixed with unleaded in most cases.
I'd definitely prefer saving 25 quid than 20 seconds lol, the ingot looks awkward but its a no brainer, if it keeps your costs down then its a winner.
Brilliant and thank you so much for sharing. I have always used the cheap ones on ebay about £3. They work very well. Be careful though some of the ebay ones in my experience can damage soldering tips and I do not know the reasons but it happened. May be of cheap alloy they used in it. I tend to stick to the ones that I know works.
Interesting, I don't think I've seen the £3 ones, kinda wish I did now lol
@@TheCod3r I think the amazon one you tested is much better than the one I have been using. The cheap one I used is just sold as low melt solder(SN62 179°C 0.7mm) . I used it when desoldering manually most of the time like example on biois chips. Most of the time I do not use and I just used leaded solder for ports. Next time I will buy the amazon one as only slightly more expensive by £1.75
Great video, i've never used low melt solder before and would consider the budget version you tried,
What would have been good to see in the comparison if you included your normal solder for time comparison and cleaning the pads in prep like you was going to install a new port.
Yeah I was thinking of doing both those things to be honest. I could always make another video though :)
@@TheCod3r I have heard that low melt solder can be a pain to wick away and remove to prep the surface for a new port, and a real pain to remove from fine pitch chips. Any chance you could demonstrate that in a later video?
Hi mate again I have a request if you can take a look at my video and give me a hint about this south bridge, thank you in advance
Can u fix phone for ur next video
I don't really work on phones these days to be honest
I get them off alot quicker with solder paste
It makes a bit of mess sometimes though with paste, at least for me anyway
*Gauge
Can you suck the solder off and see how many times you can reuse it
You could but it would get sucked into the wick or solder sucker and probably be unusable
Let Go 🤓💯
15 squids each ,bargain m8 :)