Hello ETO!
Every time I buy a soldering iron, the tip ends up like this. On the cheaper soldering irons I buy, they end up like this quicker. With this one (Weller WLC100), it sat for a while then the next time I tried to use it "browned" like this. Do I need a new tip?
Looking at the picture, the joints look acceptable, BUT, the length of bare wire between the solder joint and the insulation is too much, aim for 1 to 1.5 "wire diameters" of bare wire between joint and insulation.
I don't like the wet sponge; it makes soldering difficult if doing over a long day. I would rather flick it to the floor; or golden clean like Inq said.
When needed I would just rosin the tip and begin over again. The floor in the TV shop was covered. But; I had some old time repair folks to learn from.
When you don't have the money to get good clean material you do what you have to do.
Your cheapo soldering iron has a light dimmer for you to fiddle with its power. Sitting there its tip gets hotter and hotter and browner and browner as the rosin and its tip burns, then when you begin soldering it gets colder and colder.
My Weller soldering iron has automatic temperature regulation. It is always at the correct temperature and has nothing to fiddle with. Mine also has more power than yours that is automatically used only when it is needed.
Looking at the picture, the joints look acceptable, BUT, the length of bare wire between the solder joint and the insulation is too much, aim for 1 to 1.5 "wire diameters" of bare wire between joint and insulation.
I don't like the wet sponge; it makes soldering difficult if doing over a long day. I would rather flick it to the floor; or golden clean like Inq said.
When needed I would just rosin the tip and begin over again. The floor in the TV shop was covered. But; I had some old time repair folks to learn from.
When you don't have the money to get good clean material you do what you have to do.
I've heard somewhere that the sponge isn't good for the tip because it shocks the hot tip with a much cooler one. How does the sponge make soldering difficult though?
Also, as a student who is perpetually low on funds I know what you mean!
Your cheapo soldering iron has a light dimmer for you to fiddle with its power. Sitting there its tip gets hotter and hotter and browner and browner as the rosin and its tip burns, then when you begin soldering it gets colder and colder.
My Weller soldering iron has automatic temperature regulation. It is always at the correct temperature and has nothing to fiddle with. Mine also has more power than yours that is automatically used only when it is needed.
That's a good point, can you belive that this is an upgrade from the one I had before this? :/ The one I had before was some off brand one that didn't let you change the temperature. I should probably invest in a better one. Thank you.
My Weller soldering iron with regulated temperature was not expensive because it does not have a Mickey Mouse light dimmer circuit in it. It uses the "Curie" theory and simply uses a magnet pulling on a switch. When the tip reaches the required temperature then the magnet becomes non-magnetic and a spring turns off the switch. When the tip cools a little then the magnet pulls the switch and turns it on. I hear it clicking on and off.
I like the tip as warm as it needs to be at all times. I don't like to wait for it to get to temp to get back up after cleaning; and yes it does shock the tip. Plus, the hole point of flux is to keep the tip from forming oxides.
Then ask yourself what is water?
Thats why I use the golden cleaner; it wears the tip a bit but it's worth it. My soldering Iron has a Temp setting at home and I only paid something like $15 for it.
AG, I bought one of those simple Weller 'stations' in 1986. It worked for a few months.
I looked at the replacement prices and discarded the iron.
A few years later I read on the Net that you can often get the iron to work again by banging it on the workbench one or more times. I guess something sticks in the iron.
My Weller soldering iron with regulated temperature was not expensive because it does not have a Mickey Mouse light dimmer circuit in it. It uses the "Curie" theory and simply uses a magnet pulling on a switch. When the tip reaches the required temperature then the magnet becomes non-magnetic and a spring turns off the switch. When the tip cools a little then the magnet pulls the switch and turns it on. I hear it clicking on and off.
I've used a simple RS (yeah, I know...) 15W iron for years. Same tip it came with (little sucker - perfect for PCBs).
The iron holder came with a small, square sponge (replaced beaucoup times) that I always twist-wipe the tip on after every use. The sponge is damp. NOT sopping.
There is a short (short) period of time where the tip needs to come back up to temp, but that is rarely an issue.
Truthfully, the best soldering iron I've ever owned (and the cheapest).
I also was using a such an iron. It worked well but I did not enjoy using it.
The power cord was thick, heavy and inflexible.
When I was a kid, (~1959) I used an old 100 watt soldering iron.
The iron was heavy and the cord was very light and flexible with a woven covering.
Something like this.
AG, I bought one of those simple Weller 'stations' in 1986. It worked for a few months.
I looked at the replacement prices and discarded the iron.
A few years later I read on the Net that you can often get the iron to work again by banging it on the workbench one or more times. I guess something sticks in the iron. View attachment 89921
From what i can see of the very first photo in this thread, it looks more or less normal to me. The tip gets a little flux on it and it burns and looks brown.
To get it off, use a paper napkin quickly brushing it off with that. A wet sponge could hurt the plating so i never use one. Once the plating goes the tip erodes fast. If you have a tip cleaner than that should work ok.
So you are going to get some brown on the tip, and if you want it off you just clean it off.
To get the excess solder off the tip i find that lightly tapping the iron on the rim of a tin can works good. The solder then drops into the can.
Also, as JimB said, it looks like you might have too much bare wire on your connection. If it shorts to another pin it could cause big problems.
Another idea is to angle it out away from the connector rather than parallel to the connector body.