rosin core solder

[dragonfire]

Do you still need to flux if you use rosin core solder ?, I was kinda thinking it would be self fluxing .

[Bret4207]

All depends on how clean it and the rest of the melt is. Fluxing won't hurt, but the rosin IS a flux, so try it and see. I have used rosin core solder to get more tin in the past. No issues, except the hissing, spiting and smoke. If you have access to a cheap supply I'd sure use it if I thought I needed it.

[dragonfire]

I have a few rolls i was planning on doing a nine to one with the solder and ww's,the ww's have already been put into ingot form ,i guess i could give it a run and see what happens.

[Harry O]

I have my wife watch for rolls of solder for sale at garage sales or estate sales. If she can get a mostly full one-pound roll for 50 cents or sometimes $1.00, I have told her to buy it. She has come back with quite a bit through the years.

Most of it is rosin core. What I do is wait until I have a lot and melt it down and cast it into 4 oz. (1/4 lb) ingots. The rosin is a mess that stinks and smokes a lot. I do it when the wife and kids are gone and I can air out the house afterward.

Usually it is 50-50 solder, 60-40 solder, or on rare occasions eutectic solder. It is usually about 55% to 60% tin when I get done, so that I have between 2.2 and 2.4 oz of tin per ingot. I figure what I need for tin and us that. On rare occasions, I have cut a 4 oz ingot into two when I need less.

[dragonfire]

My solder is 60/40 mix as well , want to just melt my ww ingots and add 1 pound of the solder and use the rosin as a flux ,then just ladel from the pot.

[KYCaster]

Adding one lb. of 60/40 to nine lb. of WW will result in ~5% Sn which is way more than necessary. Most casters find that adding 1% Sn is all they need to get better fill out. Sb content of WW is 3% at most and probably closer to 2.5. When Sn exceeds Sb, you're just wasting Sn.

One lb. of solder to thirty lb. of WW will make your solder last much longer and you'll see very little difference, casting or shooting.

Jerry

[dragonfire]

Thanks for the info Jerry, good stuff to know , with the cost of things nowadays ,you have to stretch things to the limit .