Hi,

This is my first post and I'm pretty new to electronics so this might seem stupid but I'll go ahead and ask anyway.

I've been looking at the EMS kits for a while and finally managed to get one for christmas (Today!), which is a Meggy Jr RGB.

In the instructions it says I should use Rosin Core solder, I'm not sure if this has a special purpose or is just another word for regular solder. All I have at the moment is Lead Free which came with a soldering iron set, would this make a good enough replacement or should I try and get my hands on some Rosin Core?

Thanks in advance and hopefully I'll have more stupid questions for you all as I tackle the Meggy!

Merry Christmas!

w00t! Meggy Jr!

There are a *lot* of different kinds of solder out there. "Rosin core" refers to one of the most common types, which has a hollow center filled with a rosin. Rosin is one of a type of soldering flux, which means a chemical that "activates" the metal surfaces and encourages them to stick together. (It works by removing thin surface oxide layers that normally exist and prevent soldering.) It is important to use a type of solder that contains flux. There are also "solid core" solder types that do not contain flux, but are meant to be used with externally applied flux. These are not suitable to use for electronics soldering unless you apply your own flux-- not recommended; it is *very* hard to make reliable connections with solid-core solder.

There are other kinds of soldering fluxes and flux-cores solder as well, some of which are definitely NOT suitable for normal soldering-- for example, the acid-core solders commonly used in plumbing and some specialty electronics --which leave a corrosive residue. If you use one of these and don't clean off the residue when you finish (usually a procedure that involves immersion in heated industrial chemicals), they will eventually cause unacceptable corrosion on the board.

When a solder is "lead free" that refers to the mix of metal alloys that is in the metal part of the solder. Lead-free solder is fine to use and there are types of it available in all the different flux-core or solder-core varieties that I've been referring to.

Probably, what came in your soldering set is "lead-free rosin-core" solder, assuming that it's a soldering iron set intended for electronics work, so you should be just fine.

Hey, you sound as excited as I am

The solder I have says nothing more than "Lead-Free Solder Wire" and that the content (Which I'm guessing is the metal content) is Sn:99.3% Cu:0.7%

I've got everything else ready to go, I just don't want to jump the gun and mess up my first proper kit because I didn't use the right stuff for the job.

Thanks again for the advice.

It's probably fine. If you have trouble with the first steps-- making clean connections to the resistors --you may want to pick up a different spool, though.

Great, I'll be getting started tomorrow then.

Thanks and I'll let you know to outcome.