what solder can I use?

[kooz]

I would like to try some solder with my WWs, I have some 60/40 rosin core will this work ? What kind do you guys use and where do you get it ? thanks

[grumpy one]

I would like to try some solder with my WWs, I have some 60/40 rosin core will this work ? What kind do you guys use and where do you get it ? thanks

If you want to add tin, solder is often the cheapest way to do it, and 60/40 solder - I don't know if you mean 60% tin 40% lead, because some solder is the other way around - is very suitable. The rosin core, on the other hand, does no more than act as a very expensive flux. So don't be deterred by the rosin core, but don't pay any extra for it either. It is pretty light compared with the solder, so it doesn't add a whole lot to the weight.

Buying solder at retail prices is not a very appealing option. I bought a whole bunch of it long ago from a scrap merchant who just happened to have some, and sold it to me at his reselling price per pound, which was about a tenth of what the hardware store would have charged (because they only sold it in packs of a couple of feet of fine wire solder). I thought I was buying 50/50 solder (the merchant was pretty vague about it, as usual) but when I got around to runnng a cooling curve test it turned out to be eutectic (63 tin, 37 lead) which was rather pleasing. The best deal I've had recently on tin, last Monday, involved a few pounds of pewter items from a thrift shop. Pewter is usually 91% tin, and I got a couple of pounds for US$12. It would have been a lot less if I'd done a better job of guessing what was pewter and what wasn't - I now have a lifetime supply of old silver-plated engraved mugs that turn out to be electroplated nickel-silver.

[Shiloh]

You may want to try some of the lead-free solder. There is a 95/5 solder at most home improvement stores that is 95% tin and 5% antimony. Thats what I use for my tin supply.

Shiloh

[wiljen]

+1 for what shiloh said. Just be careful and get 95/5 lead free and not just lead free. Many of the lead-free solders contain zinc which is counter=productive so read labels carefully. Taracorp and Dutch boy both make a 95/5.

[kooz]

I went to home depot and found lead free solder, but the labels did not say what was in them.

[kawalekm]

I went to home depot and found lead free solder, but the labels did not say what was in them.

Hi Kooz
I typically see two kinds of lead-free solder at the Depot. One is labeled "Silver Solder" and that is not what you want. You want the one that says 95/5, which means it's 95% tin and 5% antimony. I've used rolls of 95/5, bars of 40/60, and another source I more recently came to favor is pewter.

Traditional pewter is at least 82% tin (by law to be called "Pewter"), and most modern pewter is now completely lead-free and 97% tin. I was at the flea market last weekend and got a pewter water pitcher for 50 cents. I weighed it at home and it was exactly 16oz. Perfect! That's enough tin to make about 20lb of Lyman #2 alloy from wheelweights, what my Lyman furnace will hold! I'll just melt weights till almost full, dump in the pitcher, and Lyman #2 is good to go.
Michael

[Tom W.]

No, silver solder isn't going to work. I used silver solder to braze carbide tips onto saws and collecied a bunch if scraps, so I took them home, fired up my pot and dropped them in. After all, doesn't Laser Cast use silver??? My pot didn't get hot enough to melt the wire.....

[Ghugly]

I've had luck stopping at radiator shops. I've gotten everything from scrap ends to floor sweeps (really, really filthy). One old guy will sell me a fairly steady supply of relatively clean scrap for a dollar a pound. I figure I'm out scrounging for lead at tire shops anyway, why not stop at the radiator shops as well? The solder they use is 60/40. Works just fine for me.