What temperature for the solder iron for Solder Special Blend?

Other Miscellaneous
1

I have used leaded solder for many years and my iron is a Weller and the tips set the temperature.

Now I want to try Spark fun’s Special Blend solder. I have purchased a brand new Hakko FX-888D and a roll of the solder 0.02" Special Blend solder (TOL-10242). What should I set the temperature of the iron to be? Or is their a great process on how to determine the temperature the tip should be?

Will that temperature change for the Solder Special Blend (TOL-10243)?

I know that using leaded solder is very easy but I do want to transition to lead-free. Part of what sold me on taking this step was that in the description for the product it was stated that it is used at Sparkfun. I was surprised not to see a temperature listed. Any help would be great.

2

In production, we use temperatures between 700° and 750°. In the reviews for this product, others have found this range works very well.

3

I would suggest you use the temperature between 720 deg. Cel. to 750 deg. Cel. to solder.

4

For clarification, 700-750 degrees Fahrenheit (about 400 degress Celsius). If you were even able to set your iron to 750 degrees Celsius (1382 degrees Fahrenheit), it would be glowing.

5

Lead-free solder requires higher heat. Lead has a lower melting point which one of the reason it was used in the first place.

You can find more information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder

which discusses both lead and lead-free solder.

I hate lead-free solder and do not use it when I am not forced.

Edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldering_iron#Tips

6

Personally when I would use the SFE special blend solder I would set my Hakko to 350C when using a cone tip and doing 0.1" pitch standard male header through hole soldering and I felt like I had a lot of control, though, soldering ground connections took a bit longer due to the increased material needing heated up. Keeping things lower also prevents one from charring the cleanable flux in the core and allows for cleaner looking contacts after a scrub using 91% isopropyl alcohol.

Also, lower heat means less fire scaling on your iron tips which translates to less maintenance.

As for larger jobs, I would up the degrees by 50-100C and change to a chisel or hoof tip, depending.