Question: How do you keep a soldering iron tip clean?

[kasskaboose]

See below

[kasskaboose]

HD, Lowes and Radio Shack sells just tips (you can visit the former two in store and easier to get from Radio shack online.) You just undue the screw on the soldering iron and attach the new tip. I understand the annoyance of having to get a new soldering iron.

~Lee

[SouthPenn]

E-L man tom

 

tstage

Tom, Is you soldering iron adjustable? In other words - does it have a knob so that you can adjust the temperature up or down? For electronic soldering, 650-700F is quite adequate. If your tip is small, temperatures above 750 will excelerate (shorten) the life (tinning) of the tip. Another good method: If your soldering iron is going to remain unused for longer than a minute, get into the habit of coating your tip with solder before putting it back into its holder. This will keep the air from oxidizing the tip and keep it tip shiny. If you think you won't be using your soldering iron for 5 minutes or longer, coat your tip then just turn the iron off. Irons generally heat up pretty quickly so you won't lose that much time. The brass metal pads do work very well and I, too, prefer those over a damp sponge. Your soldering iron temperature doesn't have to continually recover each time you wipe your tip clean. FWIW... Tom

 

 

No, its not an adjustable iron. Good advice on tinning the tip before turning off or storage. I'm also looking into getting an adjustable temp. soldering station.

There's an outfit out of Florida, Marlin P. Jones & Associates, who has several models that are quite inexpensive. I have their catalog, which has all their contact information. I do have about 70+ more soldering points to go, so I think this will speed things up as well as being easier on tips plus better and neater soldering joints.

 

 

I just ordered this one from Amazon. It looks to be identical to Radio Shacks but $20.00 Cheaper

South Penn

[BRAKIE]

I use a flat file and  2-3 licks cleans the tip.This method works  quite well for me.

[narrow gauge nuclear]

All the preceeding tips are great.  It is really simple.

1. Purchase a pencil iron that has a plated tip.  Do not use a naked copper tip.  Plated tips are very common now.  It is best to buy a variable heat controlled iron. 620-650 deg F is ideal

2. Use only a wetted sponge to clean your tip well prior to each application of solder to a joint. If you wipe with the wet sponge and the tip is anything less than bright silver you are not going to do a good joint.

3.  The use of the wire turning balled-up brillo type item is highly recommended just after you have turned the iron off or if you have a carbonized build up, followed by the wet sponge wipe to make the tip silvery.

4. Never leave the iron on for protracted periods if not needed for rather immediate work.

5. Always when shutting the iron off and within a minute, clean the tip well as in #3 above. and finally put a big blob of molten solder on the tip as it cools to solidify and protect the tip from oxidation when just sitting around.  When you start up, next time, the blob will go molten and can be wiped off to a shiney silver tip on the wet sponge prior to that first joint

6. Try and avoid separate rosin fluxing beyond that contained in the solder core or abraiding the plated tip with a file or with sal ammoniac!  These are good only for pure copper tips found on large soldering irons, soldering coppers (no longer used) and the popular soldering guns for heavy work.  Once the plating on a small iron is gone, the tip is gone and you will find it is in need of constant abrasive cleaning.  A modern plated tip never, ever needs abrasive action in a purely small joint, electronic/ electrical service.

For all wiring under table of 18 gauge or larger use only a soldering gun with a copper tip.  These are made for bigger electrical jobs.  In proper service a gun's tip can be cleaned in the same way a plated tip can but use the wire wool item more often and you may have to file a bit as the tip pits and wears unevenly. Tin solders dissolves copper over time. they are highly soluable in each other.

I have been soldering in electronics for 60 years and the modern plated tips on small electronic irons take a lot of hassle out of soldering circuitry, provided you used good technique and practices of keeping the tip wiped constantly with the wet sponge before making each and every joint.  The tip must be a pure brilliant silver color, always, just before soldering.

Note: I still use and prefer only 60:40 muticore Tin/Lead solder.  I do not particularly like the 95:5 tin based solders unless the 5% is silver. (expensive)

 

 

[Steve Hunter]

I've been using a damp sponge for 45 years and a couple of my soldering irons have been with me the entire time.

If the tip happens to wear, you can tin it with solder- just flood solder onto the clean tip and wipe it clean. The tip isn't ruined just because the plating wears off the copper. Tinning the iron is just good maintenance.

Hope this helps!

Steve Hunter

 

 

[E-L man tom]

Many thanks, all of you for the great advice. These replies shed quite a light on a part of model reilroading that I have struggled with for the past 25 years or so. These bits of advice will help me become better at soldering.

Additionally, I have ordered an adjustable soldering station; a cheapie, but it is well suited to my needs. I hope to not have to do much soldering after this wiring project, except, maybe trying my hand at building brass models.

I should be able to get trains running for the first time in almost 3 years once this project is done.

[BC Don]

I started soldering in high school, some 45+ years ago.   At that time Soldering Irons were headed by gas and were large chunks of copper or copper plate iron.   You would heat the use a large file to clean to clean the tip, the apply Sal Amoniac, rub that in and then solder.   All this to get a nice shiny tip but then the tip was larger than my thumb.

Anyway, fast forward 45+ years.   I now have an adjustable Weller station for my main soldering work.   Variable temperature means it stays at that temperature AND heats up in seconds.   I pretty much exclusively use the brass wool pad.   Some solder on the heated iron, dip in the acid based flux and then the wool pad.   And I always dip in the wool pad before putting back in the stand.

I'll sometimes use a wire brush to clean it as well.   Pretty much the same as th

e brass pad.

I also have a 35W Weller Pencil Iron for doing hookup work under the layout.   Was using this last night and noticed two things.   First it was getting a lot hotter than I run my workstation at and second it would corrode a lot faster but using the brass pad made it all shiney real quick.

[db200]

E-L man tom,

The best response is given by "Richard/narrow gauge nuclear". Read his advice and you won't go wrong.

Solder is actually the best tip cleaner there is. If you start from day one with a clean, bright and shiny new tip, and then coat it with solder and wipe the excess solder off on a damp sponge between each application, (so that each connection is made with a bright, shiny tip) the tip will last a long time. When you are finished, put a blob of solder on the tip and then turn the iron off without wiping, that will protect the tip while stored. Then the next time you solder, turn on the iron and when it reaches operating temperature, wipe off the blob on a sponge and you're readay to go.

Never use any kind of abrasive on the tip. Eventually, you'll wear away the plating and the tip will be ruined. I would only recommend using an abrasive very lightly (including the brass wool-looking thingy) if there were a spot that you just can't get removed by wiping on the damp sponge.

david

[richg1998]

Guess I don't really understand the issue. I have used soldering irons with plated tips for years with no issues. I never file them. Just brush with damp sponge, dip in RS tip cleaner and then do my soldering.

 

I use the Weller WLC-100 soldering station.

 

Rich

[Geared Steam]

HO-Velo

 

 

Two thumbs up for this, works great.