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[IC] geekhackers vending: kester 44

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mkawa:
a couple questions i would like people to answer:

1) are people more focused on efficacy or price? that is, should i buy a whole bunch of the stuff that's just past its shelf life and package it into more reasonable rolls, or should i buy brand new solder and divvy that into rolls? i and others have bought pound rolls made in 2009 off a certain ebay seller and they seem ok. the flux is less active than brand new 44 rosin core, but the price is less by a factor of 3. that said, i get around it by having a separate bulk bottle of rosin flux that i use liberally and was definitely within its shelf date when i bought it.

2) how much per package? the old school small rolls of solder used to be about 4oz at a time. and you can get through 4oz in a few months when you have active projects going. if not, you didn't spend a whole lot. i'm only going to package up one quantity for ease of fulfillment, so decide on a happy medium. no one (including me) wants a whole frickin pound of the stuff at a time, but 2oz is too little and 12oz too much.

3) diameter of the solder? i know a lot of people here like 0.020", and i like somewhere between 0.02" and 0.025", but 0.015" is even better for SMD work, and without a 1lb spool to drag along as you feed the solder (it will be rolled and then packaged in vials like they used to do it in the old days!), there's much less of a chance of snapping the solder. 0.03"+ is way too wide for our work, and ironically it's still easy to get rosin core 0.03+" because that stuff gets used for like, pipes, where rohs has no power. ;)

MOZ:
1. Price, I use separate flux anyway, so I would like to save money.

2. 3oz

3. I like 0.02"

JPG:
1. Price, if the difference was small, it would be different, but a factor of 3 is huge.

2. Hard to tell but I would say 4 oz so that we don't end up using it too fast.

3. Go for the most standard choice that is proven to work well for keyboards.

pixel5:
1. Price. Currently it can be had from $23 per pound on amazon.
2. I can't really say, I'm not into soldering yet as much as I will be soon...but I think the more I could buy the better, so I don't have to buy often.
3. I've only worked with thicker lines, so anything smaller than what I've been using would be awesome.

SpAmRaY:
Whatever works best for typical keyboard work!

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