Liquid Flux, Yay or Nay?

If your solder already has flux in it, try it as is. I only add flux if I'm trying to melt and re-flow a blob of solder that is already there.

 

Try some solder wick to draw it out of the socket pin. It will probably work....then u don’t have to change the socket

 

I’d check the specs on your flux capacitor first, to make sure if it’s compatible with liquid flux.

 

I miss having liquid flux. I do have the paste so I am not all lost. Not that I can't just use solder, I am old school, soldered with it fine for many decades. But the liquid and paste sure makes for a slightly easier job. Do you not have a solder sucker? I would think one should get your solder out of the socket. That is another tool I would not be without. And as far as solder going where you want, you should be able to control it with your heat and how much solder you apply.

 

I have no problem with a soldering gun, darn soldering iron broke a while ago and I have not replaced it yet.

 

I never owned any flux products until about 2 weeks ago, which I acquired for SMD work really. Never felt I needed it otherwise.

I got a flux pen, which reminds me of the invisible ink markers I had as a kid. Not very wet, not like the stuff that comes in a syringe. I don't think it would drip if you used it lightly...

Anyhow, I can see some point to flux now as it has occurred to me that you use all the rosin core up on your first soldering pass, so if I needed to desolder I might get out the flux pen someday...

Seems like a braid could be of some use here if the solder sucker won't do it.

 

Also, in case you haven't heard of the trick where you put an old tube in the socket while you solder to it... that's one way to prevent this.

 

You can save the socket.

1. Put on your safety gargles. <-- THIS IS IMPORTANT

2. Use a dropper to place a drop or two of liquid flux on the boogered-up pin in question.

3. Heat the pin with the soldering stick

4. As soon as the solder goes to liquid state, hit it with a long blast of compressed air.

The solder will blow out the back of the socket. Take precautions to catch the molten solder when the blobs fly out. A wadded up Kleenex tissue works better than a paper towel because it's softer and absorbs the speeding molten metal before it splatters.

Compressed air from a can (a "duster") can work fine, but even better is a blast from an air hose connected to a compressor supplying 90 PSI or more.

Obviously the best way to accomplish this task is to have the solder stick in one hand and the air blaster in the other. You don't want any delay time that will allow the molten solder to cool before you blast it out.

Wear those goggles.

 

There's a better way:

Before you join the wires to the solder tabs on any component (pots, jacks, tube sockets, etc.), first tin the tabs and the wire ends with solder. This does three things; (1) it ensures the two items to be joined are coated with solder, (2) it gives you 100% control over where the solder goes, and (3) you'll use a lot less solder on the joint.

With both terminals tinned, you poke the wire into the tab, crimp it into place, and then heat the joint with the stick. No need to add additional solder.

 

Compressed air, sure, OK. Or you can just give it a good whack when the solder is molten.

 

At my previous job (and career) they had one of these plugged in 24/7, for years. Super handy when prototyping to tin up all your leads.



Still can't convince the wife that we need one for home use. I really miss it. And yes on organic, liquid flux.

 

I use liquid flux, a lot. I personally think it is much cleaner than paste (and the flux pens are junk in my book). I’ve booger up plenty of holes in my time too. Here are some thoughts that may help

1. Avoid too much flux. You don’t need all that much.
2. Gravity can be your friend, or enemy. Turn the work (if you can) to improve access or control flow
3. Have a general idea about how much solder a joint will need. A little warning alarm should be going off if you are going past that, and stop.
4. snugly fitted connections Pre-soldering will help improve structural integrity, and keep the solder wicking just between components (less drip potential)

For desoldering, I use both wick and sucker. It depends.

 

get a nail a bit smaller diameter than a valve pin, stick it in the socket and heat it up with a blow torch then when hot enough shake the molten solder out, might work,

i've always used flux paste, never bunged up a valve socket with it,

 

No Ko Rode soldering flux/paste.

Have any compressed air or one of those compressed air cans for cleaning keyboards? Heat the socket tab up and blow it out quickly!

 

I personally like using liquid flux; the main idea of flux is to "clean" both surfaces to be mated and this is a little difficult to do using just the flux in the solder spool. My soldering joints have improved dramatically with the use of liquid flux, I think. Never had the issue of dripping flux down into a tube socket (that sounds like just plain old bad luck), but it doesn't take a lot of flux to clean your parts. I ordered nail polish containers from Amazon and use the brush to apply the flux...doesn't seem to overdo it. My $0.02.

 

I had the exact same thing happen on my last new build and it wasnt due to flux, just poor technique. And I sat there for a half hour trying to unclog the pin by heating it with my iron and poking at with a little metal pick, until i finally gave up and pulled a 50 year old original fender socket out of the pile and using that. Better than holding the whole project up waiting on one in the mail.

 

I use liquid flux ALWAYS!! I've worked in electronics most of my life and even with flux core solder, I will use the liquid as well. The flow is 100 times greater. Years ago, I had an issue similar to yours. It takes awhile, but the standard solder suckers will get that out of the socket eventually. You just have to keep at it. Best of luck, mate.