Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:12 pm
Just a couple of thoughts on your soldering, you can take or leave them.
Flux has a couple of functions .
Cleaning ,tinning .
I don't know what brand fluxes you use in [ spooʍ ǝɥʇ ɟo ʞɔǝu ɹnoʎ ] but I imagine they are similar in action to whats in Texas .
Cleaning ,is self explanatory ,heat up a pipe swipe it w/ flux, it cleans it ,as mentioned in previous post wet rag helps when pipe is hot .
Tinning,,, solder doesn't stick to copper, tin will,solder sticks to tin.
Plumbing flux is made to be self tinning ,I do not know about electronics flux.
If the face of the fitting is too flocked to take solder you are screwed .
Solder or flux doesn't stick to impurity's that well ,enough so that a dirty face of a fitting will keep solder from sucking in.
Your ftg/pipe are annealed now and do not have the hardness they came with.
For what its worth
"A lot of what is taken for engineering fact is nothing more than somebody`s opinion when you dig into it far enough."
Henry "Smokey" Yunick, 1923-2001