Garden Railway Forum

I had to buy another spool of resin-core solder - the first in many years.
I tried it and it will hardly melt with my 20W iron. The bloody EU has banned the use of lead and it is 99.3% tin and 0.3% copper. How is that supposed to melt? What a waste of money.
The old stuff was 60% tin and 40% lead.
Using lead containing solder all my life in a hobby sense, I have not had any problems. I haven't gone mad - and I have a Certificate to prove it. (I recently did a dementia test and was proclaimed 'normal'.)
So I will have to see if I can buy some real solder from China.

Here you go Greg this should help
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/35497614114 ... UKjhl4WgYw
Or this
https://www.amazon.com.au/lead-solder/s?k=lead+solder

I don't need a piece of paper to tell me I'm normal I just know that the rest of the world is mad and I'm the only sane one.

Thanks Graeme. At least it is still available.

gregh wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:10 am So I will have to see if I can buy some real solder from China.

You don't have to go to China.....

Aust. isn't in the EU and the chattering classes in Canberra haven't yet managed to ban the sale of lead/tin solder here.

You can walk into your nearest Jaycar and buy tin/lead electronics solder under their Duratech label, although they also waste shelf space on the other crap. It comes in various size packs, but the catalog no. for the 200g pack of 1.0mm size is NS3010. As it happens, it's cheaper than the lead free stuff as well.

I've got some lead free solder somewhere, but can't remember when I last used it, or more importantly why I bought it. I found it needed a much higher soldering iron tip temperature and is a lot more touchy about the cleanliness of the surface to be soldered.

Graeme

just be wary of the Chinese stuff ( as always!) I had exactly the same problem getting proper solder in UK and went for some rosin cored 60/40 Chinese stuff and it is completely useless, won't stick to anything without half a bucket of additional flux, however much its cleaned.

GTB wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 5:32 am You can walk into your nearest Jaycar and buy tin/lead electronics solder under their Duratech label, although they also waste shelf space on the other crap. It comes in various size packs, but the catalog no. for the 200g pack of 1.0mm size is NS3010. As it happens, it's cheaper than the lead free stuff as well.
Graeme

I bought the lead free crap at Jaycar - Duratech brand too - I obviously didn't read the label - they must have 2 types. I just assumed solder was solder ! Silly me.
Maybe I can use it for weight in a loco

gregh wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 6:22 am I bought the lead free crap at Jaycar - Duratech brand too - I obviously didn't read the label - they must have 2 types. I just assumed solder was solder ! Silly me.
Maybe I can use it for weight in a loco

The labels are slightly different, but as always the important info is only in the fine print.........

60/40 tin/lead. https://www.jaycar.com.au/1mm-duratech- ... m/p/NS3010

Lead free. https://www.jaycar.com.au/lead-free-sol ... l/p/NS3094

Lead free solder is more or less pure tin, which isn't as dense as lead, so not even particularly useful as ballast.

Graeme

gregh wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 6:22 am

GTB wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 5:32 am You can walk into your nearest Jaycar and buy tin/lead electronics solder under their Duratech label, although they also waste shelf space on the other crap. It comes in various size packs, but the catalog no. for the 200g pack of 1.0mm size is NS3010. As it happens, it's cheaper than the lead free stuff as well.
Graeme

I bought the lead free crap at Jaycar - Duratech brand too - I obviously didn't read the label - they must have 2 types. I just assumed solder was solder ! Silly me.
Maybe I can use it for weight in a loco

I had to search for lead solder in jaycar locally (did find a couple of rolls) they had tons of lead free.