« Reply #6 on: Thu, 15 February 2018, 15:09:02 »
Lots of people will tell you that the hotter the iron the better, but you don't have to go as high as 600-700F. 60/40 Sn-Pb lead melts at 370F and SAC305 melts at around 423F. So bump the temperature a bit above those figures and you should be fine. I personally use SAC305 for my keyboard builds and I use a cheap soldering iron with rough temperature control (only a dial). I turn it a bit past 400F and I've had no issues (probably in the 450-550F range). You should only be spending a few seconds with each joint, so you'll only melt the plastic or damage the pad if you hold your iron there for a prolonged period. I also desolder with this iron without issues, but it does take a bit more practice to get your desoldering technique down.
Too hot is bad, but arguably not as bad as too cold, and the reason is that you want localized heating and less overall heating. With a hotter iron, you don't have to hold it on the leg as long to heat it up, so less damage overall. Plastic melts regardless, might as well make it go fast. The problem with copper is, it is also a great thermal conductor. Regardless, I think MOST of the damage people do to switches is from desoldering with poor technique or poor equipment. The main problem with an iron too hot is if they also have poor technique and just end up burning flux and roasting things by heating the legs for far too long. I would hate to see what the heck someone is doing to damage a switch when INSTALLING them xD
Maybe it is because I actually looked up how to solder before I ever attempted it, but never once have I ever burned flux. When I see boards with burnt flux char, I honestly scratch my head in confusion how or why they would do that xD
« Last Edit: Thu, 15 February 2018, 15:15:05 by rich1051414 »
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