DIY flux made from pine gum straight from the tree
We’ve posted about homemade flux before, but Tom has taken it to a whole new level. He used pine gum straight from the tree for his Flux recipe. He dissolved the rosin in some 99% isopropyl alcohol, and filtered it using coffee filters.
I tried making flux from an even more raw material, pine gum straight from the tree. It had to be filtered, of course, but so far so good — and the turpentine in it hasn’t eaten through my bottle yet. :)
Via the forum.
This entry was posted in DIY and tagged DIY, flux, tree sap.
Comments
this is most definitely clean-board-after-use flux! But a neat idea, and begs the question: why is purchased flux so expensive?”
Interesting, but I’ve finally got to ask – what’s with you guys and your fascination with homemade flux?
Because it is there? Or because we buy thin flux for this and thick for that, it is nice to know what is going on, and maybe make it better! e.g., I’d like a sticky flux that still retained the smd float-into-place feature. I have tried thick stuff, and by the time it burns off your component has moved to the next pin, and thin stuff that practically requires you to glue the component down. Hacking is the driving force.
OK, was simply wondering. I have both thick and thin commercially made stuff, buying them when I occasionally find them on sale somewhere.
For me it started with testing a bunch of different fluxes, when someone in the forum documented making their own. I wanted in on that hacking action for sure :)