jade3•1mo ago

Got called out for using wrong flux on a 1978 Tandy TRS-80 board

I was trying to fix a dead RAM chip on my TRS-80 Model I and used plumber's acid flux. A guy named Frank at the local retro computer meetup in Portland saw my board and said "you're gonna eat through those traces in 3 months." He was right, I had to redo the whole thing with rosin flux and it worked way better. Has anyone else ruined a vintage board using the wrong solder supplies?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara_palmer1mo agoMost Upvoted

That little tub of rosin flux from a hobby shop is exactly what I switched to after my own mess. @tessacarter you're right, it lasts forever and works perfect on these old boards. I keep a tiny jar of it with my iron and haven't had a single trace issue since.

tessacarter1mo ago

and that Frank guy sounds like he's been around the block a few times with these old boards. i learned the hard way too but with a Commodore 64 power supply, the caps started leaking all over after i used some cheapo solder from a garage sale. actually that was a mess, the whole thing smelled like burnt electronics for a week. rosin flux is the only way to go for these old boards, i've found a little tub of it from a hobby shop lasts forever. the acid stuff is great for pipes but man it's like pouring acid on a piece of history, just not worth the risk.