Bertech Notes on Solder Wire

BERTECH NOTES ON SOLDER WIRE

Wire solder is created by passing a large diameter solder ingot through dies which squeeze the solder down to a smaller diameter. This process is repeated through consecutively smaller diameter dies until the desired diameter is reached. Flux is inserted into the wire using special equipment that precisely places one or more lines of flux along the length of the wire.

Wire solder is sold mostly in one pound spools. The smaller the diameter of wire, the more feet it takes to make up one pound. Very fine wire below 0.022 inches is usually sold in 1/2 pound spools. Also, the smaller diameter is generally more expensive because it has to be drawn through more dies. The more lines of flux used the less chance of flux voids. These voids occur when the flux placing machine or something else in the process falters.

If any part of the wire is missing flux, the joint will not be soldered properly. Always use a diameter of wire which is equal to or slightly larger than the diameter of the joint or connection to be soldered. This will reduce the time it takes to fill the joint as well as the amount of solder that must be fed off the spool onto each joint.

Qualitek utilizes a state-of-the-art automatic wire extrusion and wire drawing machines to manufacture consistent flux-core wire solder. The flux-core manufacturing process involves constant monitoring of flux percentage of the core and diameter of wire solder to avoid flux voids and irregular wire. All our wire solder is made from high purity virgin metal and laboratory-controlled core flux chemistry.