Adding Silver Solder to Mech Mod Contacts

[Man Called Jane]

Hello Everyone...

This might be a stupid thought, but was wondering if anyone has tried this before?

So, I have been working on putting together a PWM with a Fat Al side mount board in it. As I have been going through I have been soldering together the connections to my sled, button, and 510 with silver solder, as it conducts better and is a little nicer for the board.

This was one of those late night, laying in bed through, but what if I took and, using the silver solder, coated the contacts on my Mech mod that I just cleaned. Would this help the conductivity? Would it just pool in the center of the pin? Hell, would it even adhere to the polished copper?

So my question is, has anyone tried this or is this just some stupid idea that was just running though my head and should never try.

I have included a picture of the pins and the flat sides are the only places I have thought of coating. I don't want to mess up the button throw or the rattle adjustment on the 510 pin base.

 

[Zipslack]

If the copper is clean, solder should adhere. You could always scuff it a little with sandpaper first, if needed. The copper would probably have as good, or better, conductivity than the solder. Solder is for making a mechanical connection of electrical components. Also, heat could cause the solder to soften. In short, no...I wouldn't do it.

Are you sure you're using silver solder? Silver solder is typically used for high-strength mechanical connections (like sealing freon lines) and requires much higher temperatures to flow and adhere. I have difficulty seeing any PCB work being done since it usually requires a small torch to generate the required heat.

 

[Zaryk]

I agree with zipslack, probably not the best idea.

I also wanted to mention that silver plated contacts do not increase conductivity. The current flows through the path of least resistance, and a super thin layer of silver is much higher resistance than copper plate that is much thicker than the silver plating. The plating is more for reduced maintenance. Silver doesn't tarnish as fast as copper and will need cleaned much less.

 

[Asbestos4004]

Yup... keep the copper clean and it'll hit as hard as you need it to. Altering the firing components of a tube mech is risky business for very little, if any, return.

 

[suprtrkr]

I don't think I would try it either, but yes, it should adhere to pure copper. If you really wanted to do it, try rhodium plating. This is pricey, but an effective solution to the forever-cleaning-the-contacts problem; many high end mods use rhodium plating on copper or even silver conductors and contacts to keep them bright. Rhodium is a rare earth metal, much harder than copper, and will not tarnish; plus it has good coductivity. It can also be polished to a silver colored luster that is about impossible to tell naked eye from silver. In fact one of its major commercial uses is to plate silver jewelry so it lasts a while before it starts to tarnish. You can do it yourself, but getting set up will costs some bucks. It would probably be cheaper to find a jeweler who does it and pay him. Tell him to leave it in the tank 5x longer than usual, or more: most jewelry plating is 2-3 microns thick; for contacts you want 15 microns or more.

 

[dc99]

I wouldnt try it either but the solder will stick if you use flux. If you dont I dont see how you get solder to stick to anything. You can always check with FDV and see if he has an upgrade pin and contact for the mod. I presume you meant "BigAl's" not fat al

 

[Man Called Jane]

Thank you everyone...

This was just an idea I had while playing around the other with my iron, and touching up on my soldering skills.

I meant BigAl's not fat. I been vaping on Fat Boy by Nasty Juice and just wasn't paying attention at the time.

I think, I am going to just clean and polish the hell out of my pins. It hits great now, just still need to upgrade to magnets.

And as always, thank you everyone for your input.