maintaining soldering iron tip?

[Crystal Chambers]

I used plecter's youtube on soldering http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOdnGUMi7lQ and Nova Star's wiring guide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOdnGUMi7lQand I wired up my whole hilt. All went totally smooth, even the accent LEDs. I used a damp rag to keep my tip clean, and that seemed to work fine till I went back to make some adjustments an hour or so later. When I tried to do more it wouldn't melt the solder for like 10 seconds and then it wouldn't stick to the tip and just made a ball on the end of my soldering wire. I'm guessing I contaminated my tip.:confused: Fortunately I had a second tip, a big honking chisel tip to finish it.

Can anyone tell me how to restore my tip? Fine grit sand paper maybe?

I'm also curious how I may have done this to avoid it in the future.


I was gonna put this in the LED wiring section but it applies to anyone using EL as well. A general wiring section seems like a good idea for something like this.

[Invisas1979]

This has happened to me when using my soldering iron for a few hours constantly. I think tips just stop allowing heat to transfer to the tip after a while, though I may be wrong.

I'm only using a cheapie soldering iron at the mo so it may be that.

I would love if the olde guard had a bit of insight on this as, I get really frustrated buying new tips every time I do some soldering.

[FenderBender]

I may be committing a huge sin, but I use steel wool to clean mine when the rag stops working. Eventually, it wears the nickel plating off and it goes down to copper, then the tip starts wearing away badly. But, then again, I do use an uber pointy tip.

[cardcollector]

I use steel wool when the tip becomes oxididized.

But I haven't had to do that in a lond time because i now use tip tinner!
after you wipe the iron on the rag, dip it in the tip tinner and it becomes a conducter to the solder.
It will become a protective "shell" I guess from the air when the solder iron is not in use.

[Jedi-Loreen]

That tip tinner is good stuff. I use it when I work for companies that make electronics parts. We always tin our tips before going to breaks, and especially before leaving for the day.

You can also just use solder for that after you are finishes soldering. Clean your tip, melt some solder onto the tip and leave it on and turn off/unplug your iron. When you go to use your iron the next time, just clean off the old solder after the tip heats up and you should be good to go. It sounds a little counter intuitive, but it works. I've been soldering professionally, off and on, for 25 years.

Once you get down to the copper on a soldering iron tip, the flux or rosin core in your solder will eat that copper away pretty fast.

[Sunrider]

Tips will oxidize bad if the temp is set too high. Tin & clean frequently & don't leave on for long as others have said.;)

[Invisas1979]

I take it the quality of the iron and tips don't matter too much, it's about keeping the tip tinned when cold? I guess thats the problem as I always clean them and leave them.

[Jonitus]

If the tip isn't conducting heat well, and it takes a long time to get solder to melt and flow, it's probably dirty and needs to be cleaned.

I use a tip cleaner from Radio Shack to clean the tip if the iron has been sitting in the holder for more than a few minutes, but in between solders, I clean it on a cotton cloth. I clean it between each and every solder, and my solder flows almost instantly.

I replace the tip after a couple of months, because it does begin to get pitted and the copper begins to show through. Tips for my iron are cheap, so I just consider it a cost of the hobby.

[Jedi-Loreen]

After the many, many thousands of solder joints I've done, it's natural for me to pull my iron from the stand, wipe the tip on the damp sponge I use, solder the joint then wipe the tip again before putting it back in the stand. I don't even think about it, it's so ingrained.

And when you're used to soldering under a microscope, you don't even have to look directly at it, because you put your solder station in the same place so you know exactly where it is. :p

[Ovlos]

Yeah I have to agree with J-Lo on this one, grab wipe solder wipe is a gooooood habit to get into. I'm curious, what wattage is your soldering iron? 20-30 watts is the highest you'll probably need for the work necessary for crafting sabers. Forgive the question...but I caught a guy a week ago at work trying to solder 24 gauge wire onto a terminal about the size of one on the switches Tim sells with a 250 watt gun. All I can say is...PHAILZOR lol.

I'm an aviation electrician by trade, and soldering can be a pain. Most electronics stores (ie Radio Shack) typically carry some type of tip tinner/cleaner that is very easy to use to keep your tip maintained. Normally I use this to re-tin and clean any tip that I happen to be using before a job, wiping any excess off on the sponge.

It sounds to me like your problem is primarily an improperly tinned tip. If your tip isn't tinned properly, heat transfer doesn't occur properly. The metal that makes up the tip tends to darken over time, so when you're tinning your tip make sure that you see a nice silvery sheen (from the solder) on the end instead of dark metal.

Also look for a small wire brush (typically sold with basic soldering tools, I believe Sears carries a set of soldering tools for around 10 dollars) and use it to clean your tip at the end of the job. A damp sponge is a must as well, which you use to wipe the tip before and after every solder.

The other possible problem with your attempt to reheat the solder joint is a lack of flux. I prefer the liquid flux over the paste. I use a 3cc syringe with a needle to apply it, one drop does the job nicely. Just remember to clean the flux off after you apply it, as flux is corrosive and will eventually corrode your contacts to junk if not removed after the solder is complete. Rubbing alcohol works well for this. Just be careful, if you're soldering on a circuit board many of the coatings that are applied to protect the card will dissolve in rubbing alcohol. I normally use a small paint brush to clean the solder to prevent this.

When purchasing solder, I'd make sure to buy it at an actual electronics store rather than somewhere like Sears or Lowes. It tends to be higher quality. Double check to make sure you aren't getting solder with flux already added, personally, I can't stand that stuff. .020" is what I use for my detail soldering, works really well.

Other than that, avoid the nasty cold solders (if you can see a definite line between your solder and either the wire or the terminal, it needs more heat), and tin your wires before attaching them. Also, it's a good idea to make sure that any terminal holes (like on the switches TCSS sells) are filled with solder. Don't go overboard, just apply enough solder that the hole is filled completely. This will strengthen the solder joint and prevent breakage. Also, practice practice practice. Soldering properly takes a bit of work to get down, but once you get it down it's easy from there.

Hope this helps. If you'd like, I'm doing some soldering at work either tomorrow or the next day, I'll take some pics :)

[Invisas1979]

Yeah, thanks for all the advice. My tips keep going dark and I didn't realise that the tinning on the tip was a benefit as opposed to something that needed wiping off.....

Another lesson learned.

[Crystal Chambers]

Thanks a bunch! I thought I was gonna need a new tip. So some tip tinning should restore and maintain my tip..awesome!

So in other words I'm awesome and don't need to learn anything and go right to work for a major airline...lol

The whole adding flux thing sounds a bit scary but good thing to be aware of.

I can't believe I couldn't find this info....much appreciated.

[Ovlos]

Sorry if my warnings about using flux made you shy away from it. Flux is a valuable tool and very necessary when soldering on circuit boards. Here's the thing...

Most circuit boards (like the US 2.5 for example) have quite a few very sensitive components on them. When you're soldering on a circuit board, the goal is to complete the solder with the minimum amount of heat necessary to form a good solder joint, to prevent any possible damage to the rest of the board. Flux aids in this by acting as an accelerator for transferring heat from soldering iron to the joint, thus reducing the amount of time you have to keep the iron on the board.

The real key to good soldering is to learn that a little goes a long way. Too much solder on the joint and you risk it contacting another circuit, creating a short. Too much flux and you have a sticky mess all over your board. Too much heat and you risk damage to the circuit board, etc etc etc...

If you're new to soldering, I'd suggest going to an electronics store like radio shack and buying a blank circuit card or two to practice on. They're dirt cheap. While you're there, get some small cheap resistors to practice component soldering and wire soldering. Practice makes perfect :)