Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design Forum

SMT electronics assembly manufacturing forum.

SMTnet
»
Electronics Forum
»
very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross

Subscribe to Thread

Has anybody ever use this method to reclaim the solder from ... - Oct 10, 2008 by Pratyeka

Where did you get the gadget? at JC penney?...seriuosly, wit... - Oct 13, 2008 by George

For 15 years I have used a similar method, only I used two b... - Oct 13, 2008 by dwelch123

The guys at Honda on the east coast use a potatoe rub. They... - Oct 13, 2008 by WaveMasterLarry

I got this thing at a major grocery store called Loblaws. S... - Oct 14, 2008 by Pratyeka

I use this directly in the solder pot inside the wave machin... - Oct 14, 2008 by Pratyeka

The bread pans are stackable, same size at top but smaller a... - Oct 14, 2008 by dwelch123

use solder with tin phos additive and throw the spud and tea... - Oct 14, 2008 by BLT Circuit Services Ltd

Could you elaborate a bit? What is tin phos additive? ... - Oct 21, 2008 by Pratyeka

We're not sure the specifics that BLT Circuit Services Ltd r... - Oct 23, 2008 by davef

Hi Dave sorry not been back the Tin/P regenerator is cont... - Oct 23, 2008 by BLT Circuit Services Ltd

Thank you Dave and BLT, very informative replies. ... - Oct 30, 2008 by Pratyeka

Pratyeka

#56894

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 10 October, 2008

Has anybody ever use this method to reclaim the solder from dross. I tested this $10 gadget, it's used to press potato to make mash potato. The result is comparable to a $20k machine that basically does the same thing, i.e.: compress dross to squeeze out the molten solder. I just let the thing floating in the solder bath for 10 second to warm it up, open it and scoop some dross into it. Squeeze the dross while still in the solder bath. The solder escape through the bottom sieve. The oxide cake is easily shaken out of the container.

Attachments:

reply »

George

#56900

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 13 October, 2008

Where did you get the gadget? at JC penney?...seriuosly, with this economy it is worthy trying...How long have you been using it for?

Regards, George

reply »

dwelch123

#56901

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 13 October, 2008

For 15 years I have used a similar method, only I used two bread pans. You can fit alot more solder in them. In one pan I drilled holes very similar to the photo in one pan and used a reclaiming agent such as Kleenox to prep it a bit. Then used the other bread pan as a press. You end up with virtually all dross!!

reply »

WaveMasterLarry

#56902

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 13 October, 2008

The guys at Honda on the east coast use a potatoe rub. They rub the pot be for solder isadded. Clainm they can reduce drosses that way. Funny how spuds and solder are so close to each other on The Forum here. Prolly explain why they let potatoe float in there wave.....

http://www.smtnet.com//forums/index.cfm?fuseaction=view_thread&CFApp=1&Thread_ID=9994&#Message42725

reply »

Pratyeka

#56906

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 14 October, 2008

I got this thing at a major grocery store called Loblaws. So far I've used it only to test it, and compare it to our $20,000+ solder recovery machine. I just hope my boss doesn't find out about this.

reply »

Pratyeka

#56907

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 14 October, 2008

I use this directly in the solder pot inside the wave machine. It is small enough to float at the surface of the solder, yet by loading it it act as a sieve and retains the dross while most of the solder pass trough, allowing me to clean the whole pot in 1 or 2 shots.

How do you hold the 2 bread pans together?

reply »

dwelch123

#56912

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 14 October, 2008

The bread pans are stackable, same size at top but smaller at the bottom. I also do this inside the solder wave. Just press the other bread pan on top of the other. It helps to have some guns on you, some little stick boy might not squeeze enough, but one pass at this is all you need unless you go all week before you clean it.

reply »

BLT Circuit Services Ltd

#56923

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 14 October, 2008

use solder with tin phos additive and throw the spud and tea strainer away

reply »

Pratyeka

#57034

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 21 October, 2008

Could you elaborate a bit? What is tin phos additive?

reply »

davef

#57064

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 23 October, 2008

We're not sure the specifics that BLT Circuit Services Ltd referenced, but many companies use dross reducing agents in their wave solder pots.

Among dross reducing agent suppliers: * Fry [4100 Sixth Ave, Altoona, PA 16602; 814-946-1611 F814-944-8094] 230 Dross Remover * Multicore [220 Clearmont Dr, Elk Grove Vlg, IL 60007; 847-357-9731] Dross-X Solder Oxide Reducing Agent * Speedline / Electrovert [3879 S State Highway 5, Camdenton, MO 65020 573-346-3341 F573-346-5554 http://www.speedlinetech.com] 904P Kleenox "P" * Qualitek [315 Fairbank St, Addison, IL 60101; 630-628-8083 F630-628-6543 http://www.qualitek.com/sd1_tds.pdf ] Super Deox 1 * Suzhou Lihng Electronic Technology [No.394, Baodai E. Road, Wuzhong District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China; 0512-82126589/90 F0512-82126591 http://www.lihng.com/productinfo_en.asp?id=91] Lead-free Reducer * Hong Qiao Metals [www.hqmetal.com/english/ecpjj-tscp.htm] DC 9500 Dross Converter

We're concerned about the hazards to employee health through the various method used to wring solder out of dross. So, that makes a dross reducing agent that causes solder to leak out of dross attractive.

Solder formulators commonly add phosporous to bar solder as a dross reducing agent. Too much phosporous can cause grainy solder connections. We wonder about the balance ... how much is too much?

reply »

BLT Circuit Services Ltd

#57076

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 23 October, 2008

Hi Dave

sorry not been back the Tin/P regenerator is controlled amounts of Phos additive that metallurgically reduces the dross. We do not recommend chemical methods for dross reduction as many salts/chemicals used could be hygroscopic in nature and it is not good to have the potential to leave hygroscopic contaminates on the PCB. In answer to the too much scenario we had one customer use 25 x bar (1 bar per 100Kg) in a machine (275Kgs) full of Lead Free and had no detrimental affect to the joint, he also didn't produce any dross for a very long time either. Cheers Greg

reply »

Pratyeka

#57120

very cheap way to reclaim solder from dross | 30 October, 2008

Thank you Dave and BLT, very informative replies.

reply »