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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Trying to solder leads to Aurora Host






rhd

rhd

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There's a secret to soldering directly onto a host wall. It works best when you're dealing with a host that has some sort of internal removable pill.

It doesn't matter if it's copper or aluminum. You need to have some pliers on hand. Take the pill, and set it on your stove's burner. Flip the heat up to high. Once the entire pill is host enough, you'll be able to dissolve solder onto it. It works really well if you have an internal "edge" where you can let a bit of solder pool.

Basically (and you have to do this realtively quickly), melt some solder onto your heated pill, then with pliers, move the pill to another burner that is OFF, take your lead, and hold it in the "pool of solder", while blowing slightly to hasten the cool-down. You may have to hold the wire steady for 20 seconds while the temperature drops enough for the solder to solidify.

It sounds long and complicated, but it's actually really simple. The big challenge in trying to solder to a host or pill directly, is that they are natural heatsinks that pull heat away from the localized area you're trying to solder. The solution, is to just get the entire host or pill really really hot. It's not actually that difficult to solder to aluminum, absent the issue of the host dissipating all your heat.

I do this on occasion. I'm increasingly looking for newer and better was to tap case feeds, because I'm not crazy about using case-pins on diodes. For one, it implies that your Aixiz module needs to have an unobstructed connection to the host. Sometimes, this makes it difficult to use thermal compound effectively. I'm starting to see some value in using arctic silver in a lot more areas of my builds, and then finding alternative ways to either tap the host feed, or at least provide a "backup" host feed.
 
Flaminpyro

Flaminpyro

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@ RHD are you being funny :thinking: lead and tin will not solder to aluminum, if you got it to stick I think you better check it again as it's most likely the flux that got stuck.
I bet if you go hit it with something the solder will pop right off the pill.

I just tried it here and the aluminum was hot enough to melt the solder but no matter what I did it would not stick !

This is why they put them little brass rings in the aluminum pills, it's so they can solder to the brass.




rhd said:
There's a secret to soldering directly onto a host wall. It works best when you're dealing with a host that has some sort of internal removable pill.

It doesn't matter if it's copper or aluminum. You need to have some pliers on hand. Take the pill, and set it on your stove's burner. Flip the heat up to high. Once the entire pill is host enough, you'll be able to dissolve solder onto it. It works really well if you have an internal "edge" where you can let a bit of solder pool.

Basically (and you have to do this realtively quickly), melt some solder onto your heated pill, then with pliers, move the pill to another burner that is OFF, take your lead, and hold it in the "pool of solder", while blowing slightly to hasten the cool-down. You may have to hold the wire steady for 20 seconds while the temperature drops enough for the solder to solidify.

It sounds long and complicated, but it's actually really simple. The big challenge in trying to solder to a host or pill directly, is that they are natural heatsinks that pull heat away from the localized area you're trying to solder. The solution, is to just get the entire host or pill really really hot. It's not actually that difficult to solder to aluminum, absent the issue of the host dissipating all your heat.

I do this on occasion. I'm increasingly looking for newer and better was to tap case feeds, because I'm not crazy about using case-pins on diodes. For one, it implies that your Aixiz module needs to have an unobstructed connection to the host. Sometimes, this makes it difficult to use thermal compound effectively. I'm starting to see some value in using arctic silver in a lot more areas of my builds, and then finding alternative ways to either tap the host feed, or at least provide a "backup" host feed.
Click to expand...
 
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H

honeyx

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There exists a special solder for aluminium you can use to solder two pices of aluminium or leads to aluminium. Used it once and it works flawless. But not having it now I´m using conductive silverpaint.
 
rhd

rhd

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Flaminpyro said:
@ RHD are you being funny :thinking: lead and tin will not solder to aluminum, if you got it to stick I think you better check it again as it's most likely the flux that got stuck.
I bet if you go hit it with something the solder will pop right off the pill.

I just tried it here and the aluminum was hot enough to melt the solder but no matter what I did it would not stick !

This is why they put them little brass rings in the aluminum pills, it's so they can solder to the brass.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1166/alpillwithbrassring.jpg
Click to expand...

Interesting - it has worked for me. The only thing I can think of to explain the discrepancy is that:

1) I use lead-free solder. Does that change the equation?
2) I suppose what I'm taking to be aluminum pills, might not be aluminum.

The copper pills I've used my approach with are definitely copper though.
 
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H

honeyx

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There are different types of aluminum. Pure aluminum and sorts of aluminum mixed with different types of metals like magnesium. Normal solder will not make permament contact with pure aluminum but maybe with one that has magnesium in it or a different metal included.

There is like said a special solder you can buy to solder leads to aluminum or pices of aluminum to aluminum. You can use it like normal solder with a solderiron but it costs way more than normal solder.

You also have to sand it right before applying it and do it quickly as aluminum oxidises very fast.
 
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