Solder Paste
Friday, 06 March 2009 00:00 Last Updated on Monday, 13 June 2011 20:52
Solder paste is still available!The solder paste is commercial brand, Kester Easy Profile 256 solder paste loaded into a small syringe and the needle has been cut short. The manufacture states that the paste has a working time of 8 hours. An extremely small quantity of paste is required for each surface mount pad. Each syringe contains about 0.5 cc of paste which is enough to do many hobby projects. The syringe should be stored in a safe cool compartment of a refrigerator, in this case the shelf life can be more than 1 year.
The syringe comes with a 23Ga. needle that has been cut off to a very short stub. Some users find this needle a little bit to small and requires to much pressure on the plunger of the syringe. A larger needle, 21Ga., is now available for purchase.
A second reason for purchasing additional needle(s) is to replace the original needle should it become clogged and unusable. Simply replace it with the spare needle. This should greatly extend the life of your solder paste. I recommend that you buy one of more of the extra needles and keep them handy.
Please take a few minutes to look through my tutorial on Hot Air Reflow available on this website.
Many new SMT (surface mount technology) kits are available for the amateur radio (ham radio) hobby. In particular, the SMT components are popular among the QRP kits.
Because of Postal Rates I've had to raise the shipping and handling by an average of $0.50 per item, otherwise, the prices remain stable for now.
