Lead-Free Solder Bar for Soldering & Tinning Electronics

Lead-free soldering bar is used where the product being assembled is required to be lead-free or your assembly requires a high temperature solder. The original electronics solder alloy 63/37 contains 63% Tin, 37% Lead and has a melting point of just 361°F.  Lead-Free solders melt at 426-441°F, depending on the alloy.  

Lead-free solder bar melted into solder pots can be a faster, more automated method of soldering than hand-soldering with solder wire.  Solder pots that have a pump creating a wave are called wave solder machines, solder fountains or selective solder machines.  Static solder pots have no pump so you simply dip your part right into the surface of the solder.  

WHICH LEAD-FREE SOLDERING BAR SHOULD I USE ?

All lead-free solder alloys contain mostly Tin.  Lead-free electronic solders have between 96% and 99.3% Tin, with the balance either Silver, Copper or both.  Pure Tin bar is recommended if you just need to Tin wires or component leads.  Pure tin melts at 450°F and provides a protective coating on parts that enable them to be assembled with solder at a later time.  Pure Tin is used alone in Solder Tinning Pots or can be added as a "sweetener" to lead-free alloys to adjust the pot blend.

For attaching parts together you need to use an alloy blend as the joint strength (inter-metallic bond) is higher with Silver or Copper mixed into the alloy.  For the highest joint strength SAC305 lead-free alloy containing 96.5% Tin, 3.0% Silver and 0.5% Copper is your best choice.  The silver content in this alloy makes it more expensive.   If cost is most important to you then the 99.3% Tin, 0.7%Copper alloy should be your choice.  A great option for both strength and economy is Alpha SACX0307 lead-free soldering bar.  SACX contains a small amount of Silver (0.3%) yielding close performance to SAC305 but at a price closer to non-Silver bearing alloys. 

WAYS to REDUCE HIGH SOLDER COSTS in YOUR ASSEMBLY

Change to a Low-Silver or no-Silver lead-free alloy to reduce input costs.  If you are using SAC305 alloy containing 3% Silver, consider switching to SACX0307 or 99.3/0.7Cu alloys.

Reduce drossing (waste solder) on Wave Solder Machines to lower your solder usage.  Here are 3 ways to do this :   1)  Check your solder pot temperature with a thermometer or non-contact infrared thermometer - running too hot creates excessive dross and wastes $$$.  For soldering circuit boards your lead-free wave pot should be running at 510°-525°F (265°-274°C).  2)  Perform a major maintenance on your machine to clean the sump & pump - a partially clogged sump generates excess dross.  3)  Consider using a Dross Reducing Powder like our Super Deox which will reduce drossing (scrap solder) by 60-80%.  (Note - this only works on the pot surface - you still need to clean your sump).