Solder wire - Low vs High Quality
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- čas přidán 24. 02. 2018
- - Cheap solder, it's Not 60/40 alloy, maybe 10/90 or other alloy for reduce cost
- Some good brands : Asahi, Electroloy, Lodestar, Mechanic, Kester, ...
Asahi : goo.gl/kzRtrs
Electroloy : goo.gl/NTNJLU
Lodestar : goo.gl/r8g2yt
Mechanic : goo.gl/dXzFDn
Kester : goo.gl/mxkirH
Music : Good Starts - Jingle Punks, Daily Beetle - Kevin MacLeod - Věda a technologie
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time a crafty little boy, about 10, wanted to start soldering in projects. One day, his mother got him a large, but kinda cheap soldering kit for birthday. He was super excited, and ran right up to his room to start tinkering with it. But what you know, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't do shit. Not even after watching countless videos and reading even more articles he figured out what the hell was going on. He was frustrated and dissapointed.
Only after about 3 years from then, after meeting another electronics geek he tried soldering with different tools. And what you know - it worked fine. He took about a 4 inch piece of that solder and tried it at home. It worked. In all that time he could have been working on great projects, had the manufacturer put about 20c of worth into the solder quality.
Yeah, I was pretty damn furious. But at least now I can solder.
And now I am in that boy's shoes!.
I've used plumbing solder for many years on electrical projects (huge 5mm diameter, no flux core, lead free for brazing/soldering water pipes). I did ok with that and my $5 30w (rated 60, but I checked and its 30w at the wall), but recently I was using some electrical solder, and man do I look like a professional!
loss of 3 years . damn. so much creativity lost.
good
When i was around 11 i took a 12 volt adapter and tried to make my own soldering iron. I attached thick copper wires to a thin pen spring. The spring glowed orange. Unfortunately i didnt have any solder, so i could only de-solder
"My solder is so good I can see myself in it" is such a flex.
"My solder is so good I can see myself in it" is such a flux.*
@@ducksonplays4190 was gonna say the same thing
@@mrjpz XD
@Random Viewer ya sure?
@Random Viewer ok then
me who has used a soldering iron like 2 times in my life: hmmm interesting
vruh
me who doesn't even know what a soldering iron is: hmmmmmmm
@@ApofKol me that uses soldering iron 4 times at a week 💀💀
@@ApofKol wait rly?
I feel ya brah
To everyone who doesnt know the issue here: If the solder crystalizes you end up with what we call a "cold" solder connection, which leads to cracking of the solder and eventually failure of the connection. Also hand soldering at 400 ° C is just not managable with IC's because the package tends to melt.
Hahahshshs
This is why IC holders were invented
@@richardzhang7954send link
Now i got it !!!! It is not my soldering iron problem it is solder wire. Thank you for this video
Back in 2015 I was trying to fix my ps3 controller. When I'm soldering the wire the solder did not stick to the components nor the soldering iron but it melts and turn into a ball it's so difficult soldering wire to circuit board. first i thinking it my soldering iron fault.. And it end up buying a new controller..
Don't forget the flux, because as good as any tin solder the result aren't perfect without flux
You need pure metal surfaces and some coating so all the indredients dont oxidize
Flux on soldering is like lubricant on sex :))
@@andreilucian10 just don't use it as sex lubricant
The cheap stuff looks like lead free without flux
Mmm, i wonder if some Cheap solder, actually IS lead free, sold as 60/40? wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.
shinevision sv looks like lead free, melts like lead free, must be lead free
Yep!
Exactly, looks like lead free, but need higher temperature than lead free. I think it's Sn10Pb90 for reduce cost
Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me, Thanks for the video! didn't know cheap solder could be fakes like this!
I was gonna comment "oh how bad could it be, i used cheaper solder before" bzut appearently, i have not used CHEAP solder before.
yea that stuff looked ... uhm.. like cheap bubblegum that crumbles in your mouth :D
Lol, yes, this video convinced me I'm not going cheap enough...
Haha, same. Apparantly the cheap stuff I usually buy is at least of so-so quality. This was horrible to watch. :'D
@off spec uhm
Its exactly what the title and the thumnail said tho
Aha! That's why my soldering was mirror-shiny 20 years ago and now everything I do looks like chickenshit.
with 60/40?
Yeah just make sure you're getting a trust worthy brand and you should be all set.
@@hraharahra I think its about the lower Lead value in the solder
This eloquently answers the question "it's just solder, how bad can it be ?"
I only use Kester for my work, discovered it 6 months into my job and never looked back at another brand. I f-ing love it.
I know this is 3 years later but im confused on which kester solder would be best for wires around 12-18 guage?
There are other good brands, but you always safe with Kester.
I always knew it was the solder wire! Now I've just confirmed it!
How to get it not to stick on the green part??
@@inc2000glw use Flux. Even without it, it wouldn't stick to the pcb(you can always get it off with a fingernail)
It’s better to give small amount of tin to the solder then adding another tin on the place u want to solder.. it’s more effective to make the tin gone liquid
Yes me too
thats sounds like bad solder mask
I have not seen a more beautiful soldering video :)
Your soldering skills are on point, even with the cheap stuff you get a nice blob.
I have this vintage solder from Montgomery Ward "Wards Powr-Kraft" 30/70 tin/lead solder from the 1960's I presume. This stuff leaves a seriously beautiful, shiny, reflective finish on the solder joint. I don't use it, but did want to test it out when I found it in my grandfather's old toolbox. I have a lot of his tools now, have been working on restoring some of them, trying to at least keep them from rusting or rotting away.
A little off subject, obviously, but.. my favorite, though, is this "American" brand bamboo and brass bubble level manufactured in 1948. It was covered in grease and oil, the brass tarnished black. So I cleaned the brass with jewelry cleaner and sanded the bamboo down to remove the grease stains and soften some of the edges that had been chipped and gouged. Went 220, 300, 450, 600, and 800 grit paper, and then coated it with Minwax polyurethane finish. Now I just need to replace the hard vinyl seals around the viewing glass and some of the panes of glass as well to get it good enough. Not perfect, but I wanted to retain some of the wear on it, and I honestly don't have the skill to get it back to new, anyway.
Eh, I guess I just get sentimental.
Some pics of it via Google Drive: drive.google.com/open?id=1pVrpt7U-Vzl7h_tIR9kA17psU-KLtn7D
Awesome man! It`s nice to see someone restoring something like that.
Thank you..... I really appreciate it!!!
You have saved me a lot of searching!
based on the temps and appearance of the finished joint I would say the first solder was 10/88/2 (SN/PB/AG) this is a high temp solder alloy used to connect leads to components such as capacitors and resistors.
Lead free alloys will tend to have a higher melting point and will usually have a less shiny appearance (SAC is notorious for this). There are some Sn99 alloys that are almost as shiny as leaded solder, but they require precise formulas that a cheap knockoff brand won't bother with.
It is possible to get quality joints with lead free, but you do have to adjust your workflow to get there. Use solder from reputable brands like Kester or MG, boost the temperature, keep the tip well tinned, don't breathe in the flux vapor, and have some extra flux ready to go.
If you don't want to worry about tin whiskers, exposing your lungs to excess flux, or brittle joints, and you're not selling products under RoHS regulations, just go with leaded solder.
0:42 I remember the low quality solder they gave us back in school with the awfully treated soldering iron head. But atleast i've learn something fun and usefull in school with that class.
We were given three pieces of wire - all the same diameter. Two were galvanized steel, the other one a length of solder. The guy next to me soldered the *soldering* wire to the steel wire and then continued (or tried to) use the remaining steel wire as solder... I think he became an insurance guy later on in life ;-)
Thank you for the different type of examples set out in the video - Much appreciated!
Great! Thanks for this, answers all my questions and good quality solder suggestions too. Cheers 👍
Great video, really clear. I made the mistake if using my dad;s decent solder for years then buying the cheap stuff and thinking it was all the same. Huge difference in results so only buying decent kit now.
Thanks for sharing 😀👍
Seams as lead free solder, and BAD flux..
This my first day soldering, after a day to struggle to solder just two wires, i understand that the wire that they gave me with the welder was shit! Thank you !
Excellent demonstration .. i use Kester
Yep I use Kester as well. Really great stuff. Totally worth the price.
I just saw that first solder on ebay, over 3,000 sold...
tablatronix rip
tablatronix I got some, very similar results. Needs 390C. It was a surprise.
I use that cheapest solder for years now and I never had any problems with it. What do I care about the visuals?
L3 P3 i think the crystallization is the problem.
L3 P3 it just needs higher temps
loved watching!
Great video, beautiful perspective up.
A good quality solder will do better at lower temps.
I use Kester 60/40 44 and it solders beautifully at 275c for standard stuff. Great for delicate work on single sided boards when you don't want to lift a trace.
I only need to go higher when I'm working on a big ground plane.
I use Kester solder wires too, and i love them.
Yeah, you may pay more for the solder, but a good solder will help you solder stuff bellow 300C, which means minimizing the risk of damaging components and drops the power consumption needed for soldering. It also looks better and doesn't piss you off with poor melting, not to mention, saving some time in the process.
Thank you for the warning. Nice video.
man, i love shots of close up soldering :D has that terminator 2 flair, which looks pretty damn rad
Well done! That first one made me sick LOL
It makes me want to vomit ngl
i never saw soldering from that much zoom ....amazing
awesome video
Good helpful video. Learned much from watching. Thanks for posting!
You make it look so easy!!!...great video
Solder with flux will make a huge difference, regardless of the brand so thats a key item to know too. Also a lot of people buy solder from the plumbing department at home depot to use on electronics lol. Completely different applications.
My vote goes to KESTER products, nice shiny welds all day long.
63/37 is 63/37. The only difference is how much flux is in there, which becomes completely irrelevant once you solder with external flux. Anybody who blames bad solder joints on the solder simply doesn't know what they are doing.
I’ve quality welds too :)
@@lepidoptera9337 sure why not, just like all tools are the same, just different colors :) i disagree that all solder is the same. Clearly some brands do it better. Do whatever works for you, but quality solder will always win.
Check out German Stannol. You can get pretty much any mix you want with the flux of your choice.
@@lepidoptera9337 The problem is that you don't _get_ that ratio with cheap brands
Parents or ANYONE what they get wrong is; "we are trying this for the first time, hence pick a cheap one as we will see how it is"
Thank you very much for the video and all the below information. It was very helpful,........!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s funny. Even though the first brand of solder says it’s 60/40, it’s texture appears the same as lead free solder. Then the second brand has the correct shiny texture. Good video :)
For those who didnt understand and said just make the iron soldering hotter and it will be same
The problem is not all component can handle such a heat like micro switch it will be broken if you soldering it for such high temperature
And oxidation of the ironing tip. and lifting pads. And the poor fluidy means you have to apply it for longer for it to flow. Meaning spreading the heat further. It's one effect multiplied by another effect. Exponential! BOOM
Is the best solder in your video Electroloy?
Didn't realise there was such a difference in quality of solder.
Where can I get some?
Some good brands : Asahi, Electroloy, Lodestar, Mechanic, Kester, ...
if in US, you can buy Kester on amazon, some other brands have only at local store
Multicore too.
There is a LOT of Asahi counterfeit.
Thanks. I have purchased some Mechanic solder.
Androkavo I was like
"That's kind of shilly"
Until you recommended other brands 😂
+Ian,
Kester and Multicore have been around forever, and are extremely high quality.
I have used Kester for over 30 years in the audio business without any issues.
A 1 pound spool of Kester 44 Rosin core 63/37, .031" should last a DIYer for years.
Why skimp on the bond that connects everything, and keeps the tip of expensive irons in tip top condition (pun intended).
I've preference for Kester. Worth every penny, hands down! I buy the 1 lb rolls, three different sizes.
i could watch this all day
and I thought I was bad at soldering .... it was the damn wire
same i need to get a better one
Best solder Eutectic 63/37
Clean tip prior to next soldering then wet
Do not remove tip while soldering, feed solder in
Do not touch tip on any thermoplastics, leaving melted plastics on the tip this will eat into the plating making tip wetting harder
Thank for sharing this to us dude
I found your video very helpfull. Thank you. I bout some 60/40 with RA last week. We shall see if I made a mistake or not.
the "low quality" solder looks like lead-free solder... hence the higher "melting temp".
Sn’s melting temp is 230 and pb’s is 320. Its probably low quality metal mixed it. With a lot of unwanted stuff
@@mookfaru835
Maybe I read you wrong... 61-63% Sn + Pb melting 183°, less than pure Sn. What he's trying to say that making lead-free solder is tricky and most cases lead-free melting temperature is much higher, making soldering process harder and stressful for PCB and components.
That is exactly what we see in the video. If it would be cheap but genuine 60/40 solder then it would be no problem at all.
I've been using the cheap one for a long time. No wonder every time I do the SMD soldering it just keeps failing like the one in the video.
no SMD in Video !
A N I M E
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@@KokoroKatsura
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@@ryanpascual9598
SATOR
AREPO
TENET
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ROTAS
Very instructive , *Thank you* 👍👍👍👍
Nice video, very good demonstration! I was wondering if you could give me a tip on a good inexpensive soldering iron or station. Nothing too fancy just for a casual hobbyist.
wow.. that's kind of an eye opener
Try watch . 200 proof the earth is flat by eric dubay
@@degreesdegrees-jr4eg please stop
@@degreesdegrees-jr4eg wtf
Crazy thing is, GOOD solder isn't even excessively expensive. Not to mention it's quite a bit more efficient from my experience since you don't need to redo as much and sometimes the cheap stuffs surface tention just isn't good, resulting in mad connections and even flowing away from your intended target if you're using it on smaller projects.
It’s not excessively expensive, it’s just that a lot of the time you need to buy a full 1lb reel which obviously costs a bit
excellent.. that solved a problem I have had recently and didn't know what caused it..
진짜 알수 없는 알고리즘이 날 여기까지 불러냈네.. 재밌어
If you ever find yourself in a bind and you're out of solder, They have a really good solder at Home Depot... it's made by "Harris" Electrical solder 60/40. You won't be disappointed!
wow what a difference . good to keep in mind.. never go for that cheap stuff..
as a noob i'm doing research and found that it's easier more forgiven to use
Sn63Pb37 instead of 60/40... that's what i'm going to use when i start this new hobby keyboard modding / building. i see you have more vids .will subscribe thanks for the nice uploads ..greetings from The Netherlands.
Yea a good solder can make or break a connection
as someone kinda stuck not being able to buy some good solder, i just don't even give a second doubt about using the cheap ones i have
it is so damn frustrating not being able to easily (and securely) solder and spend hours trying to melt the goddamn solder. sometimes i fear my soldering iron would start melting.
@@necrobynerton7384 are you in EU or US ? if your in EU check out tme.eu i just looked and they still have sum Sn63Pb37 from a brand called broquetas looked on line seems like a legit brand broquetas.com
@@samdeur Thanks, ill check it, and yes im in the EU. Though i can't purchase stuff online (yet) ill have it bookmarked
I leave this under every video I watched, it helps the algorithm.
..
Thanks man, I got the recommendation because of you.
I can totally relate this is exactly what happened when I first solder
the solder wire at my school is something between these two
when you say "low quality" you REAL MEAN LOW QUALITY jeeesus
looks sooo nice!
good work , i will try it soon
I looked at the thumbnail and I tought it was an airplane and some dude looking out the window.
Same here!
Великолепно! Если бы уроков снимали больше.
I’ve got a roll of that cheap solder in my workshop for some quick through hole work, I’m sure it’s basically the same stuff, it works fine as long as I have my iron excessively hot and gives a solid hot joint.. and it caused a ton of issues and headaches trying more technical work with it.
You should also point out to people not to get fooled by low quality solders advertising “shiny chrome-like finish” as that is not a specific good indicator of quality solder, they tend to use a composition that allows that to happen even though it’s not that good.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would pre tin the tip of the soldering iron before doing everything because with a tinned tip the heat distributes better
so
satisfying
thank you so much :) now I know that not all 60/40 the same! Сan you recommend specific solder wire?
Alpha Fry
ПОС-60, assuming you live in Russia, is usually a solid bet. The only downside (of the one I have) is that the manufacturer was perhaps *too* generous with the flux core, which causes a bit of a flooding issue when you need a fair bit of solder.
@@EgorKaskader ПОС-61* :)
I don't know how I end up here..I'm not even a electronic and I don't even understand what this video is about, but it does look interesting! XD
Thanks for your video
And what's your Recommendation to used for soldering
Personally I use Kester brand solder. It's good quality and what it says on the label is what is in it.
damn i thought i had a crap soldering iron that didnt get hot enough to do good soldering. after watching this i went to toolstation and bought some branded silverline 60/40 solder and guess what. i not go proper solder joints. the crap solder that i got of ebay is faulty.
How about cheap solder + some added flux?
Thanks for putting this video out. I realized I bought some bad solder on Amazon and with it 100 ft of wire. When I was using it, you could just see the solder just hardening on the top of the wire and not even trying to soak in. This is after dipping it in my flux. I used my good solder I have and started with a fresh piece and it soaked right in. I am running at 420° F. which is more then enough to do the job. 368° is what I was taught to use in class and it should work. I like it a little hotter for wires myself and gets the job done quicker. I'd have to turn up my soldering gun to max to get this junk to soak in right. If it even goes high enough, not to mention melting my insulation in the process!
Thanks for showing us the difference between quality and crap solder!
This stuff is going back to Amazon!
Great Video! which microscope camera do you use?
The first one is a lead-free wire. The frosty looking of the final result is not a sign of a bad solder joint, it's the standard looking of that type of alloy. About the test on PTH components, the result of the first wire at higher temperature is definitely better than the other one. This is because those pins are lead-free plated and soldering them with a 60/40 alloy at low temperature makes impossible to get a good wetting of the pin.
Yeah, but for some reason it's labelled 60/40. I'm kinda confused.
The comments are full of confusion over the issues, which are two different things. European Union solder which has no lead in it and is mostly tin, has been developed to reduce the chance of lead getting into the environment, by having it leech out of landfills into water from electro trash. The main problem is not that it is cheap,.. it IS MORE expensive, and has been carefully engineered to overcome it's basic flaw, which is it's failure to make a nice amorphic intermetallic "eutectic" material that doesn't form crystals or have grain boundaries. 60 % tin/ 40 % lead (old Style electrical solder) works best when used properly for the electronic circuits it was developed for. The old style plumbing solder which is 60 % lead and 40% tin (and is very dangerous for plumbing and electronics because the lead easily corrodes and leeches out of the joints) was cheaper, and luckily is mostly no longer available. Since I learned to solder back in about 1960 , i am very familiar with the difficulties of trying to solder with old style plumbing solder ! Never do that. The new European Union solder, although environmentally safe , is difficult to use and even when done expertly does not work as well, as old style 60 % tin/ 40 % lead. There are many different formulas for lead free solder, but no one seems to have found one that works as well as conventional 60/40. Rosin flux always helps to de-oxidize the soldering process, and helps the solder to flow. Do not use "acid core flux" or zinc chloride fluxes for electronic work.
@@sangletan7076 perhaps in this case it is "counterfeit", simply mislabeled in order to sell it.
@@sangletan7076 That's why he calls it counterfeit.
3:35 Helen Hunt! Samuel Jackson! MAAATT DAYMNNN.
definitely gonna buy some of this stuff
Agree with this video. I'm only ahobbyist, so solder lasts me forever. Kester, MG Chemicals are the only kind I use. A 1/2lb roll of each costs about $10-$12. Gives great results.
Looks like MG is over $30 a 1/2lb roll now, while Kester is almost $40 for 1lb.
looks like some sort of zink/tin alloy. not lead.
Yeah it's lead free
Or silver solder
Here I always thought the problem was my cheap soldering iron...
i'm so glad I found this.
I like the neuralink image dude!
I was blowing on my screen to cool the solder liquid to solidify faster, then I realised I wasn't soldering. Lol
Upen Shenoy 😂😂😂
Blowing on a solder joint to cool it off is big NO NO. It affects the reliability of the bond and might cause cracks later on.
Mikael Karlsson wow, never knew that. A new lesson learnt, a habit to curb. Thanks
Upen Shenoy.. 😂😂😂😂😂lol
why would you need to blow on it when it doesn't even take seconds to solidify again
can we talk about how perfectly the metal moulds itself without spilling
Most satisfying and dissatisfying video ever 😛❤️
now i know where is the problem i thought there something wrong with my soldering iron no its soldering wire thanks bro
Actually, gloss/matte surface is caused by type of a flux, not by solder. Same solder with a different flux will have different finish, look at Asahi catalogs for example. So it's not a sign of a good or bad solder wire. And matte always preferable as it is easier to spot defects in soldering, glossy gives much glare and harder to inspect. Although glossy looks sexier. :)
Alex Awwesome The solder in the beginning of the video is crystallizing.
Wich causes "cold solder joints" that will eventually cause the electronics to fail.
I actually had some of the solder tha was showed in the beginning of the video and it makes almost no difference adding other flux.
No, I can assure you that the quality of the flux that you add will never change the appearance of your solder, but it is the quality and the composition of your tin (with silver or copper) that will make the difference + / - Lead say as much as if you buy good solder wire you will not even need to add flux to solder! and the solder will be shining like a mirror!
In this case, the matte surface is caused by chaotic crystal growth. This encourages brittleness, but that isn't the end of the world, but that is what the 'matte' finish represents, brittle crystal growth.
@@Chroniquesdemaker I
The cheap stuff solders exactly like high tin solder, ie needs more temp and has matt white crystalline structure, so you can bet it's not 60/40. You should try 99% tin, it's impossible no matter who makes it.
Or it's 90/10 lead/tin, because tin isn't cheap
납땜이 아주그냥 수준급이여 (초보)
You are good.
I've only soldered a few things in my life so far and I used cheap Wal-Mart iron and solder, now I know why it was such a pain in the ass to melt most the time
For homebrew stuff, use lead/tin 60/40 - it won't poison you - that's lead salts. Wear gloves, goggles and a mask if you are that bothered.
*tin/lead (when you say 60/40 40 is the lead)
Agreed!! To be exact, 63/37 eutectic alloy gets the lowest melting point as well as shinny appearance and hence easy to operate.
I just have a computer fan running of a 9volt battery
@@nometechnologysanddesigns5385 Nice to know
Thank you for the great exemple. Unfortunatly as a biginner and hobyist I'm kind of stuck with cheap chinesse solder at the moment. That's because here quality solder is really expensive a lot of store greatly inflate the prices (from 5 to 10€ for 50g of 60/40 solder) and ordering online has not been really conlusive. Postage service added to the price of a good solder on internet imported from a neighboring country isn't cheap either. When I watch videos here on youtube and people tell the price they pay good solder I don't think they realise how lucky they are (for exemple 15 to 20€ for a 100g roll while I'll pay 25 to 35€)
So I've paid myself one of these expensive good solder I only use on serious project (for exemple the 70's turntable I've found in a dumpster that only needed recap and changing some crusty wires), and I use the cheap chinesse one for everything else (playing around prototyping, doing cheap ebay project to train myself, etc).
But honestly I'd prefere anytime using better solder.
blackdevil72 Try to look on online second hand ads (from other people) Ive bought 2kg of quality german solder from one guy for 25€ ;)
I'll try to look at this because honestly the local electronic store or the hardware store inflate the price so much its insane. For exemple I've seen a simple munual desoldering pump sold 10€. I asked if it was a mistake on the label and it wasn't. Worst I've found the exect same pump on ebay sold 2€ with postage fees included and I'm sure at that price the seller was still making a good profit.
my local hardware store only sells lead free solder :(
And mine only sells leaded which I already have enough for a lifetime... Can we swap stores?
Juhan - why would you need lead-free solder?
High quality is always the best!
Actually, you can get shiny results by letting it cool down slower. ie: low temp and heat the metals instead of sticking solder on the end. It is one thing to add a bit to the tip to tin, and another to melt it on there and scrape it onto the contact thinking that's a good weld when it isn't. The solder should flow onto the surfaces. If you are having an issue with it not ending up shiny, then it is cooling too fast. This can happen if the temperatures you are using are too high and also if you pull the iron away too quickly. For some, they react better when they can have a bit of ambiet heat as you slowly pull the tip out and leave it in the area after out of the solder. I can get quite shiny results with lead-free solder because of practice and noticing what worked and what didn't. Originally, it didn't look great.
And as others say, you can have a great connection without the surface being shiny. Again, the insides will cool slower than the outsides so it is pretty difficult to create a bad solder joint... The first few looked like cold solder joints - ie: you were heating the solder on the tip, not heating the pads and then applying the solder to the pads. Or you were heating it just enough, but they were wicking thee heat away faster than your soldering iron could provide it for that ratio of metal.
its true.... had the same exact experience with chinese solder from amazon.
Hi, I want to prevent than shiny effect of a soldering joint is not a solid gage of quality.
Manufacturers know this, and the " shiny effect of joint" is known like a " marketing reason".
You can have a very good quality soldering without any shiny effect.
But we are all agree than shiny soldering joint is finaly a better visual.
For those wondering what are the best solder quality brand, you need to know than each country is able to build a good quality solder. Malaisie, France, USA, Japan, just don't buy solder coming from China, wich purpose is to sell at the maximum, despite of the quality.
I managed this shiny state when I didnt burn it too long. If you heat it too long, you will get that not shiny shit.
If you are dealing with lead free solder then you will get a matte/non-shiny finish if the quality of solder is good. A more shiny finish usually means a higher tin content, which in turn means a high chance of facing tin whiskers down the life of the product.
There are fantastic solders coming out of china. And yes, dull solder joints with LEAD is just awful. They guarantee poor contact and is definitely a visual way with lead solder.
Of course, lead free is anyone's guess.
You sound like my wife
Yes, because most products have their electronics exposed/visible, so having shiny joints is purely for aesthetic reasons, and hence, it is a marketing thing.
Jesus Christ.
I watched your cheap solder attempts and it looks very much like what I'm going through with my new solder... I thought it might be the new station I bought too but now I'm thinking it's the solder... I'll have to look for better now.
I just use some of my dads radioshack solder, seems to be pretty decent, I've never seen solder do what the cheap ones do