Looking for Low-Melt Solder and Tacky Flux

[Watch Yo' Profanity!]

• I do a fair amount of PCB soldering and am in dire need of a "low-melt" solder or "low temperature" solder that, as its name implies, melts at very low temperatures and stays molten for several seconds in aiding with desoldering of components.
• Also, a nice and proper gooey tacky flux that flows out of the syringe nicely and works like it should! The KAK that I have comes out the syringe like a long piece of spaghetti and is terrible to clean afterwards, and doesn't work that great either!

Please can I be pointed in the right direction of where to purchase both of these, either online or in-store (I'm in the East Rand). The lack of these two vital items is making my (soldering) life a misery.

 

[P1000]

Maybe your flux is too cold? Delta5 has some of the things that you cannot easily find locally, but not all their Amtech is genuine, even though it works well enough.

HandcraftUHF-TF universal no-clean halogen-free enriched pine crystal tacky flux with QC-Aid UV-tracer (ROL0) – 30g syringe kit – Delta 5 Games | Computer and Game Console Repairs, Parts, Spares and Hardware

delta5.co.za

For proper low-melt, Digikey is probably your best bet, you can order through NuVision.

 

[Watch Yo' Profanity!]

Dang, at R700 and there's a chance it's not even genuine? Tough sell.

I'm hoping to avoid sites like DigiKey, Mouser, and the likes. Hoping to find a "local" seller with decent pricing. But I'll have a look at NuVision nonetheless. Thanks.

 

[Watch Yo' Profanity!]

👀

 

[souljazk]

Isn't 1 of flux's properties to lower the melting point of the solder?

Have you tried solder paste? It's essentially tiny solder balls suspended in flux.

 

[Watch Yo' Profanity!]

Isn't 1 of flux's properties to lower the melting point of the solder?

Have you tried solder paste? It's essentially tiny solder balls suspended in flux.

Not in the way actual low-melt solder would do when desoldering components off PCBs. And solder paste would be too messy as I require a controlled amount of solder on my soldering iron tip, whilst also using the flux on its own to wick off solder whereas flux paste will essentially only be for soldering components.

 

[ettiene]

Tried mantech electronics?

 

[P1000]

Tried mantech electronics?

Yeah, but it's almost impossible finding anything on their website.

DG2021-01 *DBK* - LOW MELTING POINT SOLDER STRIP 3x200mm

Mantech Electronics is an Electronic Component, Test and Measurement, Tool and Power Product Importer, Supplier and Distributor. Products are available from any one of our branches and distributors in JHB, DBN and CPT. We are committed to helping you succeed.!

www.mantech.co.za

 

[Watch Yo' Profanity!]

Yeah, but it's almost impossible finding anything on their website.

DG2021-01 *DBK* - LOW MELTING POINT SOLDER STRIP 3x200mm

Mantech Electronics is an Electronic Component, Test and Measurement, Tool and Power Product Importer, Supplier and Distributor. Products are available from any one of our branches and distributors in JHB, DBN and CPT. We are committed to helping you succeed.!

www.mantech.co.za

Savage! Definitely worth a shot. Thanks for the link! And I agree, their site is trash and hard to navigate...

Tried mantech electronics?

Funny enough, I was there in person about a year ago for other items and the person who helped me had no idea what I was talking about. I'll try again, especially with @P1000 linking the above!

 

[Watch Yo' Profanity!]

Yeah, but it's almost impossible finding anything on their website.

DG2021-01 *DBK* - LOW MELTING POINT SOLDER STRIP 3x200mm

Mantech Electronics is an Electronic Component, Test and Measurement, Tool and Power Product Importer, Supplier and Distributor. Products are available from any one of our branches and distributors in JHB, DBN and CPT. We are committed to helping you succeed.!

www.mantech.co.za

Bought it. Tried it. Works fantastically! Exactly what I needed. Only issue is it's chonky at around 4mm thiccc (it's almost like a trapezoid shape), so it's difficult to get a small amount at a time on my (small) soldering iron tips. I'll make it work though! Thanks again.

Still on the lookout for a good quality tacky flux (something like AMTECH's 559) as stated in my OP.

 

[goldfritter]

I don't know anything about solder or flux, but I was on Xmods' site earlier and saw this:

Tacky Solder Paste NC-559-ASM

A high performance Tacky Paste

xmods.co.za

 

[P1000]

I don't know anything about solder or flux, but I was on Xmods' site earlier and saw this:

Tacky Solder Paste NC-559-ASM

A high performance Tacky Paste

xmods.co.za

I'm almost certain that's not genuine, at least the price and the picture suggests so... It will, however, most likely work well enough for OP that he won't question it, unless he has used the genuine stuff before.

 

[P1000]

Only issue is it's chonky at around 4mm thiccc (it's almost like a trapezoid shape), so it's difficult to get a small amount at a time on my (small) soldering iron tips. I'll make it work though! Thanks again.

Yeah, that's how most low melts work - because they are very brittle. Remember to remove as much as possible of it and replace it with proper solder before soldering on the replacement part - it's not meant to be used as solder...