Quote:
Originally Posted by jkstill
I appreciate the input. I've had a few years practice and do know how to solder. 
The issue of not soldering a crimped joint doesn't seem that clearcut.
Here's a couple articles, one clearly against the practice, and one that tells how to properly do it. |
Good info.
Yeah, I agree its definitely not clear-cut. :-) There are places for both.
I remember hearing NASA mostly uses crimp connections because anybody doing a solder joint has to be certified. A good crimp connection that is 99.9% the same as a solder joint is easy to make with the proper tool, proper hardware and proper prep and requires no skill (which is usually good for quality).
Being in the electronics industry though, its hard for me to imagine there being any question as to the reliability of soldering. We employ 3 full time soldering professionals for prototypes and repair work and have product lines with 20 years of production history and 100s of thousands of boards built so one can imagine the cumulative reliability data acquired. If there was anything wrong with solder joints, we would see it in our repair dept and in production yield stats and I'd be (as well as the rest of the industry) trying to find alternative ways to manufacture electronics.
Some further useful facts to contribute:
One of the biggest surprises to be learned about soldering is that rosin flux residue becomes corrosive at high temperatures. It is very important to clean the solder joint (acetone works best). It is not apparant immediately, but over the course of several years an invisible amount of flux can eat heat shrink, wire, and cause problems.
Also, the electronics industry recently got hit with B.S. (IMHO) Eco-legislation (RoHS) that requires us to take the lead out of solder. Soon it may become difficult for Joe Blow to get leaded solder which is superior in every way to the new "Greener" solder. Without the lead in solder, a phenomenon called "tin whiskers" causes solder joints to grow metal "hair" which can cause shorts to anything nearby. They take many years to grow such that the real hit to electronics reliability probably won't be known for 5-10 years. It also requires a hotter iron, easier to make a cold joint, doesn't flow as well, and is more expensive. It is also interesting to note that high reliability industries such as military and aerospace, have been given convenient exceptions to this new lead-free solder legislation.