Soldering iron and tips

[carlsson]

Biggest beginner mistake is applying solder to iron.
Yep, I also know to heat the post first, then carefully apply the solder. Maybe if I bought myself a new iron with fine tip.. is temperature control a luxury or a neccessity?

This topic originated in the Apple 8-bit subforum, but since the discussion moved on to soldering in general, I thought to move it to a proper area.

[vic user]

i think the best advice is to keep practicing on stuff you don't care about and try out different things.

for example, i found that you can 'draw' solder along with the iron, if you move the iron at the right speed etc..

chris

[carlsson]

If I file the tip clean, but as soon as I handle solder, it sticks and grows dirty, is that a sign the tip should be replaced, or the whole iron? As I wrote in the other thread, the one I use appears to cool down a bit from time to time, so solder won't melt properly and it gets difficult to use it. A new 15W iron doesn't cost more than 40 SEK (~5 USD), add 50 cent for a 30W. Maybe add a stand and some solder suction pump too...

[80sFreak]

Do you have have a wet sponge nearby to clean the hot tip? You should use this while soldering and then when you are done to keep the tip shiny.

Cheers,

80sFreak

[Terry Yager]

Real hackerz just wipe the tip off on the Levi's they're wearing at the time (ouch!).

--T

[Micom 2000]

LoL !! Heh, heh.
That explains at least some of the blemishes we hands-0n people have on our Jeans. Don't wipe if the iron is red.

L.

[carlsson]

No, I didn't have a wet sponge. I will consider it the next time (which probably is far away).

[vbriel]

Real hackerz just wipe the tip off on the Levi's they're wearing at the time (ouch!).

--T

Yeah, I have a few "custom" pair of Levi's. A wet sponge is a good idea. Get it almost dripping. If you have a freshly filed down tip, heat it up, tin it with solder, wipe it clean with wet sponge.

Vince

[alltare]

No, not a dripping wet sponge- it will cool the tip too much. Get it wet, then squeeze it out. The only reason for the water is to keep the sponge from getting burnt. The reason you use a sponge at all is to clean the crud off the iron's tip, which would act like a thermal insulator and make soldering difficult. Don't use just any old sponge- you should use the kind made for soldering irons (some synthetic types will melt). In a pinch, wet (squeezed out) cotton cloth works well too (Levis are OK, but no synthetics). In the field, I often just use a wet paper towell.

"Wetting" the tip with a little solder (not water) will help conduct heat to the items being joined, and you'll be able to make the joint much more quickly than with an unwetted tip.

And one does not use a file on modern soldering iron tips- you would remove the cladding (usually steel but sometimes gold) and the tip would rapidly become corroded and useless. Just use a sponge. Soldering GUN tips can be filed because there's no cladding, but what the heck are you doing using a soldering gun on a computer?

... A wet sponge is a good idea. Get it almost dripping. If you have a freshly filed down tip, heat it up, tin it with solder, wipe it clean with wet sponge.

Vince

[carlsson]

My iron is probably 15 years old or more. :) But I appreciate all the good advice. Still noone answered the question whether temperature control is a luxury only for professional users - those solder stations are radically more expensive than a simple iron.

[DimensionDude]

At work I use a Weller temperature controlled (non-adjustable) solder station. You can leave it on all day long without worrying about burning up the tip.

At home I use an Ungar 33-watt pencil iron with a needle tip. I think it's just a bit overpowered, probably should have gotten a 15 or 20 watt.

For my purposes, I don't need a temp controlled iron at home.

Be aware, there is a (my opinion) poorly designed temp controlled iron that has a hollow tip that the temp sensor fits into. If you don't at least loosen the tip after every use, the sensor becomes stuck and will have to be replaced when you replace the tip as it won't come apart without destroying the sensor. The Weller solder station that I use has a spring-loaded sensor that presses against the backside of the tip. Even after much use and neglect the tip will come out without damage to the sensor.

Kent

[alltare]

There are a couple of good reasons to have some kind of temperature control: If your iron is too hot, you can too easily cause the traces on PC boards to come unstuck from the substrate and lift up. You can also damage ICs and other components if you apply too much heat. Reducing the temperature will help avoid that. Also, if you only use the iron intermittently throughout the day, you can reduce the heat to a "standby" temperature when not using it. This will prolong the life of the tip and heating element, but will allow you to quickly bring it back up to full temp, a lot faster than if you had completely turned it off.

Always keep the tip coated with a blob of solder when it's idling- this helps prevent oxidation and corrosion. Then sponge it off when ready to solder another joint.

If your iron is like most simple "stand-alone" types, it has a resistive heating element that is driven directly from the AC wall outlet, with no transformers or electronics in the circuit. Essentially, your soldering iron is just a dim light bulb, and an easy way to adjust its temperature is, therefore, a common cheap light dimmer. I know of none that can't handle even the largest of soldering irons. You can pick one up at any home improvement store. You can use a Variac to throttle the voltage, too, but that can be expensive and bulky.

Of course, a real soldering station will probably have temperature sensors and feedback circuits that will maintain the desired tip temp no matter what load you put on it. A light dimmer won't do that, but it's still a useful attachment.

By the way, DimensionDude's Weller uses tips that have a metal slug in them that will attract a magnet. The slug attracts a magnetic switch within the barrel of the soldering iron, which causes current to flow and the tip to heat. When the slug reaches its "Curie point", it will no longer attract the magnetic switch, so the current is turned off and the tip cools. As it cools, it will again attract the magnet and the process repeats. Tips are marked for different temps, and each has an alloy slug whose Curie point is the specified temperature. You change the temperature of these soldering stations only by changing tips- there's no adjustment knob. An interesting experiment is to stick a Weller tip on a magnet and then heat the tip (not the magnet- heat can damage most magnets) with a flame. At the right temperature, the tip will fall away from the magnet.

... Still noone answered the question whether temperature control is a luxury only for professional users - those solder stations are radically more expensive than a simple iron.

[DimensionDude]

Good point about the light dimmer for "idling down" the iron, thanks for reminding me. Before I got the current Weller solder station, I used a pencil iron and a variac. The replacement for that was an adustable Weller station that had the badly designed tip. I always loosened the tip retainer after use, but no one else did. Every time the tip was replaced, so was the temp sensor.

I don't worry about the fixed temp of the current Weller station, it's ready to solder within 15 seconds of being turned on.

However, for use on the production floor, I have a cordless (butane) iron. I think the name brand is Master Mechanic but it is obviously a Weller. Oddly enough it's Ungar Red. With the cordless I don't have to worry about finding a place to plug it in, people tripping over the cord, and since the production room temp is kept under 50 degrees F it gets hot enough to actually solder. Also, the "hot air" tip is unbeatable for heat shrink tubing.

Kent

[Terry Yager]

I'm in agreement with DD here. Temp control at work (or other situation where it's left idling for long periods of time), and use the cheapo-type at home. If you're like me, you only use it at home for short-time, every once in awhile. I've recently 'upgraded' to a 25-watt Weller, after using the same two-dollar no-name iron for over fifteen years. I decided to reward myself with a 'better' iron, for all those years of sacrifice.

--T

[alltare]

DimensionDude-
We must have very similar soldering irons for field work. I have a "Portasol" butane iron (I think Weller/Cooper Tools may own them now). It beats the heck out of the rechargable battery types (like the Wahl IsoTip), and with the large assortment of tips, I can go from soldering itty-bitty stuff all the way up to large items that might otherwise require a soldering gun. There are also a hot knife tip, blow torch tip, and a hot air tip. I don't know about yours, DD, but mine also has an adjustable valve to control the tip temperature. These things are great. I would be lost without mine. They're not for production line work, but they're sure nice for quick jobs.

[alexkerhead]

Radio Shack 15watts irons, I have had great luck with them. They tend not to burn their tip up. I have several copper tips, but usually use a steel cladded tip.

[carlsson]

Thanks for the good advice. As I normally do solder work maybe twice a year (recently it has been a lot more, but now all cables seem to be working), I don't have needs for a tool that can keep the heat all day. Almost never I work on a circuit board, mostly connectors, cables and some simple components like a few diodes or resistors.

[DimensionDude]

alltare,

My cordless iron is a Master Appliance from Grainger. It has all the tips you mentioned, has a temp control (throttle) and has a self-ignitor. Indeed, very handy for those quick jobs in out of the way places. It was also about $40 cheaper than the equivalent Weller.

Kent

[alltare]

DD- yes, we have pretty much the identical butane irons, except mine has the older flint spark igniter.

Carlsson- Here's a pretty good (and humorous) description of these devices:
http://www.dansdata.com/portasol.htm

[carlsson]

Heh. Yes, I'd belong in that first category.

Soldering irons aren't just handy for meddling with things you don't understand, of course.

:-)

[Unknown_K]

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/IR-258/search/16-30W_VARI-TEMP_SOLDERING_IRON_.html

I use one of these, you can get different shaped tips for them too.

[bbcmicro]

I'm thinking of getting a new soldering Iron,
It'd have to be pretty cheap though, and variable temp would be nice.
I need a new one because for the last god knows how long I've been borrowing my Dad's.
Eventually the tip wouldn't even get hot enought to solder!
Modding my sega megadrive was hell. I sort of had to hold the Iron sideways to use the parts that were actually hot enough.

Heres one I am thinking of investing in. Less that half price :xmas:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35016&criteria=solder%20station&doy=8m4

What say you?

I know its cheap but I can hardly afford the Rolls Royce of Soldering Implements!

[carlsson]

Compared to their budget priced simple irons (£6 and upwards), it looks like a decent price, about as much as I would be willing to pay for a such iron here in Sweden. I found a similar station with manually adjustable temperature for approx £22 (Swedish mail order). The second cheapest station was £37, and I found an iron with variable temp but no holder for £29.

[DimensionDude]

bbcmicro,

The secret to soldering success is to keep the tip clean and shiny at all times. Wipe it on a damp sponge frequently and then reapply a small amount of solder. Make sure the tip is tight, as well.

Kent

[bbcmicro]

Yeh, We do a lot of soldering in school in Systems class. Its really annoying though cos half the school irons dont have sponges, or the tip is bent, or they just aren't hot enough.
My Dad's, I think he used ot for plumbing for something. It had a really big flathead tip so I bought a new one for a few quid.
One kid in my classs was banned from praticals for the rest of the term for making solder balls!

[bbcmicro]

I bought it in the end. Its a nice little unit and will be good for electronics. Also I can switch it off without having to climb behind my desk and unplug it. :D

[carlsson]

Good. I have some extention/expansion cords going from the wall wart to the underside of my desk, so I can easily plug in and out stuff. I currently have two spare outlets for i.e. soldering iron, temporary computers etc.

[dpatten]

At home I have a Hakko variable temp soldering Iron. It's the shit. At work I use a Metcal RF iron. The metcal uses RF to heat the tip making for a very precise temperature control and excellent joints. A metcal iron is just what you need for those vintage computer repairs. Then again since a basic unit approaches $2,000 I suspect that thay will stay the province of hi-tech aerospace soldering.

http://www.okinternational.com/product_soldering/mxRework

[DimensionDude]

That Metcal sounds like a nice setup. I had my employer ready to purchase a surface-mount device soldering/desoldering station so we could repair the inverters that were used on a lot of the machinery. In the end, we couldn't find replacement output transistors for the inverters so that plan was abandoned. At $600 a pop (with "pop" being the operative word) that station would have paid for itself in not time at all.

Kent

[Terry Yager]

Hell, for 2K, you could probably build a robot to do all your soldering for you.

--T