nitrogen soldering - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: exe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 06, 2015, 07:41:58 pm
content: Hi!Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried nitrogen soldering? I see this option available for some top-grade soldering stations, but I cannot find a review or an opinion about it. It would be interesting to hear how much it improves soldering, is it more noisy (due to the N2 "generator") or if extra cable makes it harder to manipulate the iron...

author: DanielS
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 07, 2015, 03:05:44 pm
content: Nitrogen is simply used to displace oxygen to prevent oxidation during soldering so you can use less/no flux.For small-scale operations, you would buy nitrogen either in high-pressure cylinders or in liquid form inside a low-pressure thermal flask, so no noise there.Extracting nitrogen from air can be done using either an osmosis-like process which is used in airplanes for fuel tank passivation (fill tanks with N2 instead of air to prevent fuel tank explosions) or high-pressure liquefaction.

author: Neganur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 07, 2015, 04:38:12 pm
content: Hot-air rework in production is typically done with nitrogen. Not sure if there's any point using it for hobby use.Oh and if you do, open the window

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 07, 2015, 05:03:35 pm
content: Quote from: Neganur on February 07, 2015, 04:38:12 pmair is already ~78% nitrogen, you'll have to use a hell of a lot to make a difference

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 12:04:29 am
content: You do not notice nitrogen poisoning. Opening the window is the least you can do.

author: janaf
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 12:25:29 am
content: OK, open the window if you like but you can displace at least a third of the air in a room without problems. You can get problems if oxygen levels go below 15%. There is no nitrogen poisoning, it's actually lack of oxygen.My company is brazing copper pipes filled with nitrogen. Joints come out perfectly shiny an clean on the inside after brazing. Not even discolored.I'll give soldering a try next time I'm near that equipment.

author: Neganur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 05:40:52 am
content: Quote from: langwadt on February 07, 2015, 05:03:35 pmExcuse me for being blunt about this one, what were you thinking when you wrote this?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 07:11:52 am
content: Nitrogen generators are cheap, compared to cylinder rental and refills, just needing a lot of very clean ( really clean, really oil free and very well filtered) compressed air at around 8 bar to provide the needed pressure, with a very large flow rate. not something you get from a typical spray paint compressor, you need something like a 100CFM unit and a big tank, preferably with a drier as well and even better oilless screw. Purity depends on flow rate, you can get 96% nitrogen at full flow, and if you throttle it to minimum it will get to 99.5% with most of the impurity being water vapour. Consumables are the 0.5 micron coarse air filters ( everywhere else thinks of these as a fine filter but not here) and t9he micropore fine filter used to protect the membrane. Waste gas is about 30% oxygen, not an explosive mixture but if you have a fish tank it will turbocharge the fish, and probably poison them with oxygen as well.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 08:27:03 am
content: Quote from: Neganur on February 08, 2015, 05:40:52 amGood ventilation makes sense when soldering, but I don't see that a small stream of nitrogen from a hot air pencil is likely to present a particular hazard. The nitrogen will rapidly diffuse away from the work zone and air currents will circulate fresh room air around the bench.

author: Neganur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 11:09:30 am
content: Aaaah, he meant the amount of gas set free is too small to matter.I thought he meant the amount of nitrogen used to improve the soldering, i.e. the purity.It didn't make sense at all to me. Of course you would use some high concentration for the soldering purpose. Hehe, guess I had a moment there. SorryBut to the comment of the tiny amount used not making a big difference - you basically hold the thing in front of your face while soldering, and after an hour or so you really feel how you're tired. Mind, this is from my experience using the gas in a production line. Home use may not matter at all but having fresh air keeps motivation high at home.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 12:14:55 pm
content: Production line probably would benefit from getting a few MSA oxygen analysers and placing them at the work stations. Just expensive, and the sensors have a limited life in operation, typically you replace them every 6 months. Calibration check though is very easy, you just go outdoors to an open area with a breeze blowing and adjust the cal pot to show 20.9% as full scale. Inside they are a totally standard ICL7106 voltmeter with a 200mV full scale, measuring the voltage output of the cell. They also have an alarm for low oxygen level, which is internally adjustable as to level it operates at. Last price I had for the sensors was $100 or so each.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2015, 01:07:53 pm
content: Nitrogen is sometimes used in reflow ovens