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17.9.12

DIY Solder Flux From Pine Resin

My flux pen recently bit the dust. Fortunately the raw material was close at hand. Making solder flux from rosin is a snap — and a pine tree near my house was oozing big dollops of gum.


Pine tree oozing gum

Harvesting the gum was a furtive operation. Under cover of darkness, I crept out and scraped some into a tin. Then I covered it in 99% isopropyl alcohol, swirled it around for a minute or two, and left it overnight to dissolve.


Pine resin dissolved in 99% isopropyl alcohol


The next morning I jury-rigged a filter from a juice bottle and a coffee filter. It spilled all over the place, but we're doing things cheap, right? That clear amber liquid is pure rosin flux. (Well, not quite pure. It is better to heat the resin beforehand to drive off the turpentine.)

Filtering the flux


I would have added a few drops of glycerol if there had been any nearby, but the flux was fine as it was. It cleans up with a little more isopropyl alcohol. An easy way to dispense the flux is from a 10 ml needle-tip bottle. All I need now is to brush up my soldering technique. :)





Hints and tips


This project is dead Easy. Just try not to get sticky goo everywhere.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nicely explained and videoed. Thanks for that. Gotta find some pine trees now!

Joshua Mitche said...

Very Informative content on Live rosin Vs. Live Resin Thank you for the article!

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