UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Poor solderability of old components, solutions?

Philips210 · 19th Jun 2019, 10:43 pm

Hi.

Like others, I've always used a small craft knife to clean tarnished component leads and found this to work generally well. I have also successfully used a fibre glass pen but don't like using it due to the annoying fibres that stick in your skin.
Many mains droppers (large ballast resistors) often show signs of rust on their tags and can be difficult to solder. After scraping clean the tags, I've found high melting point solder to work very well. It gives good adhesion to the tag probably due to silver content within the solder.

Regards,
Symon

19th Jun 2019, 10:43 pm	#27
Philips210 Nonode Join Date: May 2007 Location: Redruth, Cornwall, UK. Posts: 2,578	Re: Poor solderability of old components, solutions? Hi. Like others, I've always used a small craft knife to clean tarnished component leads and found this to work generally well. I have also successfully used a fibre glass pen but don't like using it due to the annoying fibres that stick in your skin. Many mains droppers (large ballast resistors) often show signs of rust on their tags and can be difficult to solder. After scraping clean the tags, I've found high melting point solder to work very well. It gives good adhesion to the tag probably due to silver content within the solder. Regards, Symon