Flux Pen - anyone use them?

[tracer03]

Have been thinking about getting and using a flux pen to help my soldering - it's improving from when I first started, but I'm still getting a few 'blobs' now and again...I had to switch from NTE Kester 63/37 to MG Chemicals 60/40 (the only store in town ran out), and it's not as 'forgiving' as the NTE for a novice like me.

Just interested to know if anyone's using them, and so on.  

[Travis]

Not the pen, but I use a little dab of flux (and sandpaper) to help joints on the back of pots, etc

The pen seems like a nice idea, I’m sure it works great. If the solder is not sticking to your metal, sometimes scuffing it up with some sandpaper does more than the flux

[tracer03]

Travis wrote

If the solder is not sticking to your metal, sometimes scuffing it up with some sandpaper does more than the flux

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a try. I picked up a pen today, and plan on testing it out tonight.

[Silver Blues]

If you're going to use MG solder then I would recommend trying the #4860, it's a no-clean 63/37 that I think you may enjoy. I used to use this really nice 3% silver solder that was so awesome but it's become nearly impossible to find anymore so I started to use this and it's almost as good. I just find the eutectic composition solders to have much better working properties.

[tracer03]

Silver Blues wrote

If you're going to use MG solder then I would recommend trying the #4860, it's a no-clean 63/37 that I think you may enjoy. I used to use this really nice 3% silver solder that was so awesome but it's become nearly impossible to find anymore so I started to use this and it's almost as good. I just find the eutectic composition solders to have much better working properties.

I picked up the MG because my local store (there's only one in all of Mpls-St. Paul that sells decent electronic supplies - Micro Center) was out of my preferred brand - NTE (part #83-6337-0027). That solder just seemed to work brilliantly.

The MG I have is 60/40 (#4894), and I'm starting to regret I didn't get the 63/37 when I was there. Didn't get a chance to try it with the flux pen last night, but if I'm still having issues, I may just bite the bullet and order a roll of the NTE Kester from Amazon after Xmas.

[tracer03]

So, tried out the flux pen on a quick build today - Earthquaker Bellows - and it definitely helped. I started with the resistors, 'dotted' the stripboard with the pen before I added components, and it seemed that the solder went exactly where I wanted/needed it to go with no blobs/pooling.

Where it was really noticeable was after the board was finished (components and wire) -- knifing the strips was a breeze, and the circuit fired up right off the bat.

Best $7 spent so far!