How to properly take care of soldering tips?

[rvk2]

Hey, just wanted to get people's opinions on how they take care of their soldering iron/tips. I have a 15/30 watt soldering iron from radioshack, and after about a month, the tips are rusted, solder filled and just not good. How do you guys make the tips last longer?
Also, is having your soldering iron plugged in for a long time a bad thing? Once in a while I'll have the iron plugged in for about an hour or more w/o unplugging it. Am I damaging the soldering iron?

 

[Optikon]

Hey, just wanted to get people's opinions on how they take care of their soldering iron/tips. I have a 15/30 watt soldering iron from radioshack, and after about a month, the tips are rusted, solder filled and just not good. How do you guys make the tips last longer?
Also, is having your soldering iron plugged in for a long time a bad thing? Once in a while I'll have the iron plugged in for about an hour or more w/o unplugging it. Am I damaging the soldering iron?

1) start with a high quality iron to begin with. If you buy junk, don't expect to work miracles on the life you get out of it.

2) One or more hours of being plugged in should not at all bother a good iron. The one I use (and have for years) sometimes stays on all day long.

3) Keep the tip clean. Clean it occasionally. The types of flux/solder used I'm sure has some kind of corrosive impact on it over the long term.

4) They make things like polishing bars for cleaning that dont damage the tip. I've never used them so I cant comment. Look into it.

5) I personally leave the tip tined with tip tinner when not in use. this protects it from moisture although I'm not convinced it's really a problem.

6) The Arrhenious(sp?) equation shows that heat speeds up all chemical reactions. Corrosion & erosion are no exceptions. To that end, only use the iron at just the right lowest temperature possible. No need to run it 2x -3x hotter than it needs to be. This will also help maximize life.

Does this help? To be honest, I've never experienced such a problem with irons. Hakko is what I use and I think Weller is also a reputable brand.

 

[rvk2]

yep, it does help. gotta do more research on this.

 

[panic mode]

i'm only using Weller tips and never had problem. some guys used to clean tip with files or sandpaper. don't do that. it will ruin protective coating and the tip will develop cavities. to clean the tip, warm up the tool and wipe it on wet sponge or other soft material.

 

[zevon8]

To add to the above suggestions;

- Don't wipe the tip on the damp sponge before you put the iron in the holder to rest. You clean off most of the solder, leaving the tip to oxidize.

- Wipe it just before you use it. Leave a bit of fresh solder on the tip when you return the iron to the holder. I have a small bit of large gauge solder wrapped around the holder I touch the iron to just before I put it in the stand.

- Always get good quality tips, iron plated, pretinned. Mine last several months with daily use, being on for 8 hours at a go.

- The little cans of tip cleaner ( about 1" in diameter ) work well, they do a good job of getting the burnt crud off the tip, and last a long time.

- Brass scrubbing pads also work pretty good if you get some melted plastic or similar on the tip. Be gentle though, don't ruin the plating on the tip.

-Don't use acid core flux - it's for plumbing only! Get proper electronic solder, 63/37, rosin core or similar.

- Don't dip the tip into a can of flux - this flux you find in the hardware stores is almost certainly acid flux for plumbing, and will ruin a tip in no time.

-

 

[Klaus]

You can try to use a "savebit" solder, it has copper in it that supposedly replaces the copper lost from the tip during the soldering process.

The solder wire I have here is called Multicore, Savbit No 6 and is a tin/ lead/ copper alloy.

At work I use a Weller temperature controlled soldering iron where the tips last a very long time. At home, using just an ordinary 15w soldering iron, I always leave it on as little as is neccessary to complete the job. While the iron is actually being used its tip constantly gets cooled by the soldering process. It is when the iron sits unused for long periods in the holder that the tip overheats and starts to corrode.

Klaus

 

[DigiTan]

What about soldering sponges? Is there a criteria for them, or will any old cleaning sponge work?

 

[zevon8]

The sponges that come with many iron stands are cellulose. Especially the ones that are really compressed and swell the first time you wet them. These stand up to the irons heat really well and last, the plastic ones won't. Also , pure cellulose sponges don't contain any dyes or other nasties that will burn or damage a soldering tip.

A cheap supply of cellulose sponge can be found in the form of a wallpaper sponge, the "half-moon" shaped ones. Some kitchen sponges are cellulose also, check the package. They are very cheap, and large enough you will get several soldering sponges from one. Cut the new dry sponge with a bread knife or something similar. They are hard and stiff when dry.

 

[Dean Huster]

Nearly all iron tips available now are iron-plated. The Sav-a-bit copper-loaded solder only worked with solid-copper, non-plated tips by having the solder already slightly saturated with copper so that it had less of a tendency to leach copper from the tip.

The tip about not wiping the iron before putting it in the holder is a maxim that's lauded by Pace, Inc., considered by many (NASA, U.S. military, etc.)to be the "gods" of soldering and PCB rework.

I don't have a problem of dipping the tip into flux, although there isn't much point if solder isn't involved. The little 1" tin mentioned is "Tip Tinner Cleaner TTC 1" made by Multicore and manufactured in England! This is a 15 gram container and is a mixture of flux and powdered solder and works really well for restoring bad tips.

Don't ever touch an iron-plated tip with any abrasives (files, sandpaper, Scotchbrite pads, whatever) ... soldering joints puts enough wear on them anyway. The iron plating keeps the copper from being dissolved by the molten solder, but once there's a void in the iron, the tip gets eaten up even faster than if it were solid copper since the copper is a more active metal than the iron. It's a bit like the old tin-plated iron roofing. Worked great for stopping rust until a small hole developed in the tin, in which case, it rusted even faster than if it were not plated at all because of galvanic action. That's why they switched to galvanized roofing.

On the other hand, a solid-copper tip or an iron-plated tip that has the iron worn through is a good candidate for dressing up with a fine-tooth mill file. Be sure to immediately tin the iron after fresh copper is exposed.

Dean

 

[zevon8]

... The little 1" tin mentioned is "Tip Tinner Cleaner TTC 1" made by Multicore and manufactured in England! This is a 15 gram container and is a mixture of flux and powdered solder and works really well for restoring bad tips....
Dean

That's the stuff!, couldn't remember who made it, and I was too lazy to look it up. Mine is stuck on my micro iron station, and the long lost lid had the info. Lasts a very long time. I always wondered why it smelled like you were burning sugar when you used it. Maybe they have sugar in it? LOL.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

The Kester brand Tip Tinner also works well... A "must have" item for tip care... A bit pricey but lasts a long long time...

Mouser part # 533-83-4000-4010 Ultrapure Tip Tinner, 0.7-oz $4.50

Regards, Mike

 

[Dean Huster]

Sal ammoniac blocks used to be the recommended tip cleaning tool. You don't see those too often anymore and I've always been a little leery of them anyway. Don't know what kind of chemistry is involved there.

Dean