electrically conductive glue?
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georges80
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yeah - it's called solder...
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8331.html is a 2 part epoxy that is very conductive (silver bearing) - but at >$20 you really should learn to use a soldering iron...
cheers,
george.
Yeah - it's called solder...
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8331.html is a 2 part epoxy that is very conductive (silver bearing) - but at >$20 you really should learn to use a soldering iron...
cheers,
george.
I agree, soldering is the best way to go. Soldering would be much cheaper in the long run than that epoxy.
Great! I'll buy it!
I have the soldering iron (that with the tin spin) but I find very difficult to use it for little contacts (think of Rebel LED) and difficult to make a steady connection with some flat materials, for example with the poles of a battery..
I have the soldering iron (that with the tin spin) but I find very difficult to use it for little contacts (think of Rebel LED) and difficult to make a steady connection with some flat materials, for example with the poles of a battery..
That might just be the iron or your technique.
A small conical or screwdriver tip may be what you need for the tiny contacts. Soldering to battery contacts if they are not tabbed can be difficult. Make sure the terminal is very clean -- an alcohol swab (don't touch it after cleaning) and a quick wipe with a flux pen then heating it with a well-tinned tip before applying solder should help. Be careful not to overheat the battery.
You can get various iron tips & flux pens from the usual suspects, but I find that Circuit Specialists has good prices and selection.
A small conical or screwdriver tip may be what you need for the tiny contacts. Soldering to battery contacts if they are not tabbed can be difficult. Make sure the terminal is very clean -- an alcohol swab (don't touch it after cleaning) and a quick wipe with a flux pen then heating it with a well-tinned tip before applying solder should help. Be careful not to overheat the battery.
You can get various iron tips & flux pens from the usual suspects, but I find that Circuit Specialists has good prices and selection.
Another problem I have with the soldering iron is that it requires me to have an hand busy with the solder, the other hand busy with the iron, and a third hand for the battery and a fourth hand for the spin to be soldered to the battery pole.
Does Circuit Specialists sell a third and a fourth hand too?
Another problem I have with the soldering iron is that it requires me to have an hand busy with the solder, the other hand busy with the iron, and a third hand for the battery and a fourth hand for the spin to be soldered to the battery pole.
Does Circuit Specialists sell a third and a fourth hand too?
i'm not sure where you can get them but there are 'helping hand' thingies for these purposes.
some of them also includes a magnifying lense or loupe.to give you an idea on what it looks like, click this.
there's also some threads here about soldering which you can use as a guide, if you need one.
65535
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'm with everyone else sure the glue conducts, but compared to solder it's a better resistor.
If you have to find someone to do the soldering for you and ship it, or buy pre mounted on PCB rebels.
If you have to find someone to do the soldering for you and ship it, or buy pre mounted on PCB rebels.
Actually, I think I got mine at Radio Shack a few years ago. You can also pick up one of these http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7205 and it can be pretty useful.
i'm not sure where you can get them but there are 'helping hand' thingies for these purposes.
to give you an idea on what it looks like, click this.
there's also some threads here about soldering which you can use as a guide, if you need one.
i'm not sure where you can get them but there are 'helping hand' thingies for these purposes.
to give you an idea on what it looks like, click this.
there's also some threads here about soldering which you can use as a guide, if you need one.
Ahah beautiful! I think I'll buy it too. Thanksss!
Thanks to you too but I prefer that of legtu for my applications (little objects)...
Do you also know how better? is it trascurable for LED application? for example if the result changes from 170 lumen to 169.9 lumen it's trascurable for me...
What's the best channel to search for someone to do the soldering for me (for money of course)?
sounds like You just learn the basics of soldering
(You could also use Your mouth to hold the solder package, when both hands are occupied)
That of using mouth is an interesting suggestion too. I think I'll try it. Thanks
Can I ask you why are you so against the electrical conductive glue?
it will have too much resistance (1) and might be unstable (2)
1: even if the led wont be dimmer than when soldered, the resistance at the glue point will heat it up and the glue will get loose
2: if any wire gets loose, it might make a short and damage else the led, the circuit, the ...
soldering solves these problems
PS: isnt soldering much easier than glue?
You have to mix the parts, glue the contacts, fix them for the time the glue cures, ...
1: even if the led wont be dimmer than when soldered, the resistance at the glue point will heat it up and the glue will get loose
2: if any wire gets loose, it might make a short and damage else the led, the circuit, the ...
soldering solves these problems
PS: isnt soldering much easier than glue?
You have to mix the parts, glue the contacts, fix them for the time the glue cures, ...
Do you think it or saw it?
soldering solves these problems
As I wrote I'm not currently happy with soldering. Most of the times the soldered thing detaches....
MikeLip
Flashlight Enthusiast
The best conductive epoxy is loaded with silver. I did some experiments on it some time ago for Westinghouse. It is actually quite a good conductor up to a point. At high currents the epoxy does something weird - it goes open circuit. I never figured out why, I just know it happens. We went to welding for our high temperature and ruggedized connections. It has to get hot to do that though. But using it on an emitter that is going to run warm and then putting a good bit of current through a smallish conductor is a recipe for heating.
Solder is brittle and is not intended to carry a load. If your joints are breaking it is because of one of several reasons;
1) You are not getting wetting. Wetting is when the solder bonds to the substrate (with or copper) you are soldering to.
2) The joints are subject to vibration tending to pull them apart. No solder joint will last long under those conditions.
3) The solder joint has not been cleaned of flux. Flux will tend to damage the connection after awhile.
Of the three, 1 and 2 are most likely and are typical amateur solderer problems. 3 takes a while and is most notable on conductors like stranded wire. The wire will break right where it enters the stripped back insulation.
Clean surfaces, a good iron, good solder (lead/tin is still the easiest to work with) either fluxed or using a good flux are essential. Flux remover chemicals are available, but good old denatured alcohol from Home Depot will work along with cotton swabs.
Practice until your joints are nice and shiny, smoothly filling the joint between conductors with solder, and make a good bond with no gaps, pits, or inclusions. there are lots of web sites showing you how to solder and what a good joint looks like.
Don't buy a junker $5 iron either.
This site has some reasonable information. Even their "good" joints are pretty amateurish, but they will do the job;
http://www.bestinc.org/docs/Survival_Guide/education_resources/sasoldering.html
NASA used to have good videos, but I'm not finding them. No doubt a more thorough search would find them.
I was taught to solder many years ago to military weapons specifications and still keep those standards at my current job as an engineer - I find there is no such thing as too good a joint!.
Solder is brittle and is not intended to carry a load. If your joints are breaking it is because of one of several reasons;
1) You are not getting wetting. Wetting is when the solder bonds to the substrate (with or copper) you are soldering to.
2) The joints are subject to vibration tending to pull them apart. No solder joint will last long under those conditions.
3) The solder joint has not been cleaned of flux. Flux will tend to damage the connection after awhile.
Of the three, 1 and 2 are most likely and are typical amateur solderer problems. 3 takes a while and is most notable on conductors like stranded wire. The wire will break right where it enters the stripped back insulation.
Clean surfaces, a good iron, good solder (lead/tin is still the easiest to work with) either fluxed or using a good flux are essential. Flux remover chemicals are available, but good old denatured alcohol from Home Depot will work along with cotton swabs.
Practice until your joints are nice and shiny, smoothly filling the joint between conductors with solder, and make a good bond with no gaps, pits, or inclusions. there are lots of web sites showing you how to solder and what a good joint looks like.
Don't buy a junker $5 iron either.
This site has some reasonable information. Even their "good" joints are pretty amateurish, but they will do the job;
http://www.bestinc.org/docs/Survival_Guide/education_resources/sasoldering.html
NASA used to have good videos, but I'm not finding them. No doubt a more thorough search would find them.
I was taught to solder many years ago to military weapons specifications and still keep those standards at my current job as an engineer - I find there is no such thing as too good a joint!
.Ganp
Enlightened
Thank you very much MikeLip and Ganp! very useful informations/videos!
You made me remember the main cause of the weakness of my soldering. Often the dye or the material of the things next to the part that I'm soldering mixes up with the iron that becomes dirty.
The "Clip 4" of the NASA videos shows the main material that makes my iron dirty and weak to attach to materials. Do you see that part of the PCB around the soldered contacts that becomes brown because it's fused by the heat? it is that thing! :huh:
You made me remember the main cause of the weakness of my soldering. Often the dye or the material of the things next to the part that I'm soldering mixes up with the iron that becomes dirty.
The "Clip 4" of the NASA videos shows the main material that makes my iron dirty and weak to attach to materials. Do you see that part of the PCB around the soldered contacts that becomes brown because it's fused by the heat? it is that thing! :huh:
georges80
Flashlight Enthusiast
The 'brown' stuff is the left over flux. It is not brown because it is fused by heat... God knows what solder/flux that 'expert' was using to solder - looks like rosin core or something disgusting like that. I would have hoped for a NASA video it would have been a LOT more informative.
Anyhow, the choice of solder/flux is CRITICAL to good solder jobs (as of course is good technique AND non-contaminated items to be soldered). Where no clean up is possible, I use a Kester No-Clean flux cored solder. I use a 0.031" diameter #245 flux based Kester solder ->
http://www.kester.com/en-us/products/prodcat_detail.aspx?pid=45
Works very well for a no-clean solder.
cheers,
george.
