Blue tac alternative?

What temp you soldering at? I solder at 700-750F get on off quick and rarely an issue with Blu getting sticky and soft!
Yep 700f here, and I’m pretty quick… even without heat it leaves residue. What brand are people using? I’ve tried the white putty too, possibly worse…
One thing to note is you don't have to squish the components down into it, just needs to make contact.
Hmm good point. I’ll have to see how much “thumb jamming” I do next time! Possibly too much.
 
Yep 700f here, and I’m pretty quick… even without heat it leaves residue. What brand are people using? I’ve tried the white putty too, possibly worse…

Hmm good point. I’ll have to see how much “thumb jamming” I do next time! Possibly too much.
I have experienced some issues if you push it too hard into IC sockets. Those pins heat up and cause it to break down.
 
Try soldering axials on the component side.
I hardly use my bluetack anymore. I bend the cap leads and flip. Do one side and check.
Yeah, you get flux on the component side but I don't care. It's called no clean for a reason.
 
Try soldering axials on the component side.
I hardly use my bluetack anymore. I bend the cap leads and flip. Do one side and check.
Yeah, you get flux on the component side but I don't care. It's called no clean for a reason.

I was big on blu tack for awhile until I started top side soldering as well. Can always flip it over and touch up quickly after, it’s solid.
 
Well, generally I avoid drinking and eating at the solder-bench, but I think I'm slowly being persuaded to try this TOP-CIDER thing...


BS25.png

Twin Island Cider ... mmmm
 
Try soldering axials on the component side.
I hardly use my bluetack anymore. I bend the cap leads and flip. Do one side and check.
Yeah, you get flux on the component side but I don't care. It's called no clean for a reason.
confused about --- oh wait, cap leads are radial, right? so you're talking about axials on component side and then for radial caps bending the leads and flipping?

and then you go back to talking about soldering topside. thats what confused me.

Learned that topside soldering trick from PaulampsUK (I think thats it) did a video on changing the bias resistor on a blues jr, and he just clipped the resistor and dropped in a new one without pulling the whole board off the chassis. Definitely a way about it for pcbs too I guess.
 
confused about --- oh wait, cap leads are radial, right? so you're talking about axials on component side and then for radial caps bending the leads and flipping?

and then you go back to talking about soldering topside. thats what confused me.

Learned that topside soldering trick from PaulampsUK (I think thats it) did a video on changing the bias resistor on a blues jr, and he just clipped the resistor and dropped in a new one without pulling the whole board off the chassis. Definitely a way about it for pcbs too I guess.
I solder axials topside/component side. Resistors, diodes etc
 
I only use fun tak (the American much less fun version of blu tak) only for offboard wiring and sockets. I’ve had some residue on sockets in the past but not so much recently. Maybe I got a bit faster. Also, as others have mentioned, I can remove the tak after one lead and then continue soldering in the panavise.

For all other components I bend the leads just enough to hold them steady so they won’t fall out when I flip the board and secure it in the panavise.

I’m still experimenting on the most efficient way to solder jacks and power plugs. Sometimes I mount them in the enclosure with the PCB and move the wires so that they are inside the solder lugs, but it’s a bit annoying and error prone. I also tried little helping hands (the crappy cheap kind that everybody hates) but they are also quite annoying to position properly.
 
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