Today, soldering is not the most common method of connection, however, it is still used quite often. For this operation, flux is always used. It can be not only pure rosin, but also a solution based on it. It's about alcohol-rosin flux.
Description
It should be noted right away that the solution is completely neutral, does not cause metal corrosion. It can not be washed off after work.
Rosin itself was obtained from incisions of conifers, after which all volatile elements from the composition were evaporated. The remainder occupied approximately 3/4 of the total resin mass. Soldering rosin was always used only after such a preliminary operation.
Everything would be good enough, if not for one significant drawback. After placing the hot soldering iron in the resin flux, the working surface of the soldering iron was covered with dirt and it became more difficult to work due to reduced visibility.
The properties
Over time, it became clear that using liquid rosin as a flux is much more convenient. Due to the presence of natural acidic resinous substances, rosin acquired the following properties:
- perfectly removes the oxide layer from the metal;
- spreads well on the surface;
- Perfectly covers the whole place of soldering parts.
Ethyl or tartaric alcohol was used and still is used as a solvent to obtain such a composition. Thus, alcohol-rosin flux (GFR) is obtained. There are several other organic solvents in which rosin dissolves well - these are acetone, benzene, and gasoline.
However, today ethanol is most actively used for alcohol-rosin flux. By properties, ethyl alcohol is closest to isopropyl alcohol. However, the use of such a reagent is not widespread, since it is much more difficult to obtain, and this can only be done by chemical manipulations.
Using GFR
Alcohol-rosin flux has been used for a long time and is very active. It does not lose its relevance to this day, as it provides ease of use and acceptable soldering results.
The use of GFR can guarantee a sufficiently strong connection of a wide variety of materials, however it works best with copper products. Using alcohol-rosin soldering flux, you can work with radio circuits and other boards. Its main advantage in this case is its good flowability. This allows the flux to penetrate into the most inaccessible places. When working with this type of rosin and elements, low-melting solder is used - the melting temperature is up to 330 degrees Celsius.
Currently, you can easily purchase any solders for soldering. Alcohol-rosin flux (GFR) is one of these. Both domestic and foreign firms are engaged in production. You can buy such a flux already ready. If the cooking process has not been violated and the proportions have been met, then the composition will meet all expectations. However, you can cook it yourself.
How to make a do-it-yourself flux
Solder alcohol-rosin flux can be made by yourself. In fact, the process of preparing it takes only a few minutes.
First you need to take the resin and grind it thoroughly. The better this step is carried out, the faster then all substances will dissolve in the solvent. The result of such quick and modest manipulations can be obtained alcohol-rosin substance for soldering.
You can do this in another way. A piece of resin is wrapped in cloth. You can take cellophane for these purposes, but experienced home craftsmen warn that during the next manipulations it breaks very quickly. The rosin, wrapped in this way, is laid on the table and with the help of a hammer break it to a powder state. The most experienced soldering irons adapted to use a conventional manual meat grinder for these purposes.
Other do-it-yourself lovers use a rolling pin or a thick bottle instead of a hammer to roll out a piece of rosin.
All these methods have one and the same goal - it is necessary to grind the feedstock to a powder state.
Dilution in solution
After this, the resulting mass of powder should be poured into a bottle, bottle, vial or other small, similar container. Many people use containers of nail polish. It is very important to get the hang of pouring out dust so that it does not crumble, you need to carefully and accurately pour the powder. After that, you can add medical alcohol to the same bottle.
As for the proportion, the recommended ratio is 2: 3 (liquid to powder).
In the event that you want to obtain a flux with a higher viscosity, you can increase the amount of resin, and leave the same amount of alcohol. It is worth noting that every home master is quite capable, after a couple of times, independently selecting the ratios that are most suitable for his work, for those details with which he interacts.
Is alcohol replacement possible?
Some of the experienced masters say that alcohol can be saved if this is necessary and replaced with a cheap cologne. In fact, this recommendation is very controversial. The smell will, of course, be more pleasant, however, excess additives can spoil or degrade the quality of soldering.
Others talk about the use of vodka. It is also quite controversial here, since rosin is an organic compound, and therefore it is poorly soluble in water. Vodka is a mixture of alcohol and water. Dissolving the resin even in high-quality vodka will be quite difficult.