proper soldering iron care

[Michael]

Hi - I'm finally getting a good soldering iron (Hakko 936-12) and I want to
make sure it lasts me a while. Anyone have any tips for me on how to
protect the tip?

Oh - and by the way - I ordered through kiesub.com - and they were awesome.
Very nice on the phone - shipped immediately, best price on the Internet,
etc. I highly reccomend them.

Michael

 

[Walter Harley]

Hi - I'm finally getting a good soldering iron (Hakko 936-12) and I want to
make sure it lasts me a while. Anyone have any tips for me on how to
protect the tip?

Modern soldering irons, with modern solder, don't seem to need much in the
way of care or protection. I remember when I was a kid spending lots of
time tinning the tip, using steel wool to take off corrosion, and so forth;
none of that seems necessary any more. Maybe it's partly because
temperature-regulated irons don't get so hot in between soldering.

Clean the tip (with a damp sponge, most likely mounted to your soldering
iron holder) before you solder a joint; when done soldering, leave the
excess solder on the tip. That is, clean before, not after, each joint.
And feel free to leave the solder and junk on the tip when you turn the iron
off; clean it when you turn it back on. At least that's what my Weller
irons say, and it seems to work.

 

[Ian Stirling]

Modern soldering irons, with modern solder, don't seem to need much in the
way of care or protection. I remember when I was a kid spending lots of
time tinning the tip, using steel wool to take off corrosion, and so forth;
none of that seems necessary any more. Maybe it's partly because
temperature-regulated irons don't get so hot in between soldering.

<snip>
Perhaps most important, turn it off when you'r not using it.

 

[qrk]

Hi - I'm finally getting a good soldering iron (Hakko 936-12) and I want to
make sure it lasts me a while. Anyone have any tips for me on how to
protect the tip?

Oh - and by the way - I ordered through kiesub.com - and they were awesome.
Very nice on the phone - shipped immediately, best price on the Internet,
etc. I highly reccomend them.

Michael

If your dealing with surface mount or tiny stuff, a clean tip is very
important. Use Multicore's TTC1 tip cleaner. You can get this at
Digi-Key (TTC-1-ND). It removes crud and tins your tip all in one go.

Mark

 

[John Popelish]

Hi - I'm finally getting a good soldering iron (Hakko 936-12) and I want to
make sure it lasts me a while. Anyone have any tips for me on how to
protect the tip?

Oh - and by the way - I ordered through kiesub.com - and they were awesome.
Very nice on the phone - shipped immediately, best price on the Internet,
etc. I highly reccomend them.

Michael

Always put it away with a genearous coating of fresh solder and do not
rub it on anything more abrasive than a pad of paper to clean any
crusted flux from it. I also recommend you get a pound of .031" or
..020" 63% tin, 37% lead or 62% tin, 36% lead, 2% silver rosin core
solder. Cheap solder is a false economy.

 

[Steve Dunbar]

Walter Harley wrote:

Modern soldering irons, with modern solder, don't seem to need much in the
way of care or protection. I remember when I was a kid spending lots of
time tinning the tip, using steel wool to take off corrosion, and so
forth;
none of that seems necessary any more. Maybe it's partly because
temperature-regulated irons don't get so hot in between soldering.

Temperature regulation helps; also, modern soldering tips have a protective
metal plating (I believe it's iron) that lets them last much longer than
the old plain copper tips. Damaging this thin protective layer by cleaning
the tip with a file, sandpaper, etc. will greatly shorten the tip's life.

Hakko tips are hollow and fit over the heating element. They usually fail
from the inside. The heat oxidizes the inside of the tip. Eventually, the
steel liner inside the tip separates from the copper body of the tip, and
the copper continues to slowly burn away until it no longer makes good
thermal contact with the heating element. This takes a long time--many
months in constant production use, probably years for a hobbyist--and the
tips are fairly cheap and easy to replace.

 

[Mac]

<snip>
Perhaps most important, turn it off when you'r not using it.

And similarly, don't set the thermostat any higher than you need. If it
melts your solder readily, it is hot enough. If the rosin instantly turns
brown, smokes and sputters, the tip is probably too hot.

I should note that I don't do production soldering. I just mess around
with engineering prototypes when I need to change them, so my opinion may
not be as valuable as some others with more experience and training in
actual soldering.

;-)

Mac

 

[Vincent Himpe]

Hi - I'm finally getting a good soldering iron (Hakko 936-12) and I
want to make sure it lasts me a while. Anyone have any tips for me on
how to protect the tip?

Oh - and by the way - I ordered through kiesub.com - and they were
awesome. Very nice on the phone - shipped immediately, best price on
the Internet, etc. I highly reccomend them.

Michael

Multicore TTC1 tip cleaner. Looks like a pot of tiny solder balls. Use once
or twice a day ( when you power up or just before you power down. )
then wipe off the tip using moist sponge. Done.

Simply 'poke' the tip into the tip cleaner. the tip cleaner melts. It
consists of Solderballs and a mildly corrosive flux that 'eats'
contamination away from your tip. it will not attack the plating of the tip
itself.

 

[Jan Panteltje]

<snip>
Perhaps most important, turn it off when you'r not using it.

My Voltcraft LS50 has auto power-off.
You can set the time in 5 minute intervals.
Ever been on the way home from the workshop, and *DID I switch that thing off? *
Then either *my boss will kill me if he gets here before I do next morning* or
*will the insurance pay for my new workshop?*
I know about 2 burned down electronic places (at night), no not mine.
One could have been soldering iron related....
One was a TV set left on.

 

[Andrew Tweddle]

Hi - I'm finally getting a good soldering iron (Hakko 936-12) and I want to
make sure it lasts me a while. Anyone have any tips for me on how to
protect the tip?

Oh - and by the way - I ordered through kiesub.com - and they were awesome.
Very nice on the phone - shipped immediately, best price on the Internet,
etc. I highly reccomend them.

Michael

I use the same iron and a Metcal with the TTC stuff and keep a clean
cotton rag to wipe off the burnt resin this saves the tip from
unnecessary cooling from a wet sponge (makes the tip last longer). The
Hakko with tips at $5 each its not much of an issue, except for the only
occasionly used hoof tips,etc on the Metcal at $60 each anything to
preserve the tip is a good thing, my original Metcal is in moderately
occasional use for prototypes and a few days solid each month on
production stuff and is now passing 5 years use.