choice of soldering iron tips for smd

[CharlotteSwiss]

I have an Ersa soldering station and I would like to start soldering smd components.
I would like to purchase some necessary tips, but I am confused.

Multi pin smd IC soldering, putting tin on the tip and dragging:
in the catalog I have the choice between these three 102-WD series tips recommended for this type of soldering:

I am undecided whether to take the 2.3 or 3.5 mm one: maybe even thinking about using it to vacuum tin, or bring back tin on wires, etc. .. Any advice? The 3.5 one allows you to retain more tin in the concave area, but maybe it will be too big to work on the smd IC pins?

Soldering of the classic two-pin smd: I have this tip for now, it has a 0.8 and angled tip.

In your opinion is it too big a measure to weld classic smd? (there is also with a 0.4 and 0.6 mm tip)

In the catalog there are also those with straight points, which even start from 0.1 mm up to 1mm
This for example is the 0.4mm


Any advice so I can make myself a gift?
thanks
 

[ataradov]

It is very individual. From all presented here, I'd start with 0102WDLF16 or 23.

Tip that I currently use for 99% of the work is Pace 1130-0035-P1. It is also a miniwave tip with 2.11mm tip. And sometimes I wish they had a smaller version. 1.6 mm would be ideal.

The conical ones I don't get at all. I never found them useful for anything. They just don't hold the solder at all and I can't really control the solder flow using them.

[TimNJ]

I think this comes down to preference. I use a 1.3mm wide chisel tip and it is fine for me down to 0402. Also okay for SOIC and TSSOP chips, with enough flux. If you are going to do a lot of drag soldering of QFPs, TSSOP, etc. , I'd consider the "well" style tips...but I don't like them for general use.

[CharlotteSwiss]

thanks ataradov and Tim; now I'm going to work, tomorrow I'll read your advice better
 
char

[CharlotteSwiss]

It is very individual. From all presented here, I'd start with 0102WDLF16 or 23.

Tip that I currently use for 99% of the work is Pace 1130-0035-P1. It is also a miniwave tip with 2.11mm tip. And sometimes I wish they had a smaller version. 1.6 mm would be ideal.

The conical ones I don't get at all. I never found them useful for anything. They just don't hold the solder at all and I can't really control the solder flow using them.

thanks ataradov, as for the tip to drag the weld, then I will stay on the intermediate size 2.3
I understand that you prefer the angled tip for this kind of soldering, the intermediate  Ersa sizes are 1.5 and 2.0 for angle tip


at this point I can evaluate whether to take the AD tip instead of WD if the yield is the same ... (the WD costs a lot)

thanks
 

[CharlotteSwiss]

I think this comes down to preference. I use a 1.3mm wide chisel tip and it is fine for me down to 0402. Also okay for SOIC and TSSOP chips, with enough flux. If you are going to do a lot of drag soldering of QFPs, TSSOP, etc. , I'd consider the "well" style tips...but I don't like them for general use.

drag soldering could happen, I certainly won't do many; I'm starting to think I could help but spend a lot of money on a WD well tip. As for the soldering of the classic smd, I currently have a pencil tip 0.8 and a chisel 1.6; if you even use a 1.3 for a smd 0402, then with the 0.8 I have it could be fine; but since I have to give myself a gift, maybe I'll add something to the two points I have 
thanks Tim
 

[m3vuv]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

[richard.cs]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

Many languages don't make the soldering / welding distinction that exists in English.

[tooki]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

Many languages don't make the soldering / welding distinction that exists in English.

Yes, but it’s weird that OP mixes up both words within the same post, even after seeing reply after reply say only “soldering”.

CharlotteSwiss: you mean soldering, NOT welding. In English they are NOT interchangeable. (Soldering is Löten/brasage/brasatura. Welding is Schweissen/soudage/saldatura.)

[tooki]

I have an Ersa soldering station and I would like to start soldering smd components.
I would like to purchase some necessary tips, but I am confused.

Multi pin smd IC soldering, putting tin on the tip and dragging:
in the catalog I have the choice between these three 102-WD series tips recommended for this type of welding:

I am undecided whether to take the 2.3 or 3.5 mm one: maybe even thinking about using it to vacuum tin, or bring back tin on wires, etc. .. Any advice? The 3.5 one allows you to retain more tin in the concave area, but maybe it will be too big to work on the smd IC pins?

Soldering of the classic two-pin smd: I have this tip for now, it has a 0.8 and angled tip.

In your opinion is it too big a measure to weld classic smd? (there is also with a 0.4 and 0.6 mm tip)

In the catalog there are also those with straight points, which even start from 0.1 mm up to 1mm
This for example is the 0.4mm


Any advice so I can make myself a gift?
thanks
 

I have the 0102WDLF23 and like it a LOT. And yes, it’s great for tinning wires, too. Larger spoon tips are too big IMHO.

I have a 0.4mm chisel, which is practically like a needle tip, and I never use it.

[CharlotteSwiss]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

it's a question of the translator 

[now I have edited]
thanks

[tooki]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

it's a question of the translator 

Not in English. Welding and soldering are different things.

[CharlotteSwiss]

I have the 0102WDLF23 and like it a LOT. And yes, it’s great for tinning wires, too. Larger spoon tips are too big IMHO.

I have a 0.4mm chisel, which is practically like a needle tip, and I never use it.

yes I think the WD23 size is quite adequate, so I could also use it for other jobs and not just for dragging.

So far I have only soldered smd 0603 (with the SD 0.8 tip, the smallest I have)
But I was thinking that a 0402 should happen, the ideal I think would be a tip around 0.5 I guess
thanks
 

[CharlotteSwiss]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

it's a question of the translator 

Not in English. Welding and soldering are different things.

the fact is that I have always called welding both brazing and electrode welding 

[ataradov]

"Not in English" is a very strong statement. I'm sure most of the languages have this distinction.

I noticed Chinese probably does not, since I often see "welding" as a description for soldering in eBay listings.

[CharlotteSwiss]

yes however in fact I had written both soldering and welding...

my fault ..
 

[tooki]

since when has soldering been refered to as "weld"

it's a question of the translator 

Not in English. Welding and soldering are different things.

the fact is that I have always called welding both brazing and electrode welding 

Well, tradition doesn't make it correct! English actually distinguishes between soldering, brazing, and welding, and they're not interchangeable. (Brazing and soldering are closely related, differing just in temperature ranges, but welding is fundamentally different.) The thing we do with a hot metal stick in electronics is soldering. 

Welding: melting the base metal to join it, sometimes adding more of the same metal.
Brazing and soldering: melting a different, lower temperature metal to join a different base metal which is not melted. Soldering is low temperature, brazing is high temperature.

"Not in English" is a very strong statement. I'm sure most of the languages have this distinction.

I noticed Chinese probably does not, since I often see "welding" as a description for soldering in eBay listings.

"Not in English" makes no claims whatsoever about any other languages. Don't read something that isn't there!

[CharlotteSwiss]

Well, tradition doesn't make it correct! English actually distinguishes between soldering, brazing, and welding, and they're not interchangeable. (Brazing and soldering are closely related, differing just in temperature ranges, but welding is fundamentally different.) The thing we do with a hot metal stick in electronics is soldering. 

Welding: melting the base metal to join it, sometimes adding more of the same metal.
Brazing and soldering: melting a different, lower temperature metal to join a different base metal which is not melted. Soldering is low temperature, brazing is high temperature.

thanks for the explanation 

[nigelwright7557]

I just use a normal through hole tip.
I have used it on 0.55mm SMD IC's with 100 pins and it worked fine.
I found the right solder to be more important.
A low melting point solder that flows well.
I bought some cheap Chinese stuff and it just left big blobs and barely melted.

Bridges are easy to remove, just remove all solder from tip then drag away from the pin to remove the bridge.

I got quite a bit of experience making USB scopes with SMD A2D and processors on 0.55mm scale.

[ferdieCX]

"Not in English" is a very strong statement. I'm sure most of the languages have this distinction.

In Spanish the substantive "soldadura" is both for welding and soldering. You add by torch, by arc, acetylene, and with "estaño" if you mean soldering

[WattsThat]

The most common mistake made when selecting a tip, especially so for SMD, is making the assumption the tip must be small. This may help when soldering very small components, for example 0402 devices but the smaller the tip, the more difficulty you’ll have when attempting to drag solder IC leads. For that task, my go tip is a basic 2-3 mm chisel to hold the solder.

[tooki]

The most common mistake made when selecting a tip, especially so for SMD, is making the assumption the tip must be small. This may help when soldering very small components, for example 0402 devices but the smaller the tip, the more difficulty you’ll have when attempting to drag solder IC leads. For that task, my go tip is a basic 2-3 mm chisel to hold the solder.

100% agree with this entire statement.

[CharlotteSwiss]

I just use a normal through hole tip.
I have used it on 0.55mm SMD IC's with 100 pins and it worked fine.
I found the right solder to be more important.
A low melting point solder that flows well.
I bought some cheap Chinese stuff and it just left big blobs and barely melted.

Bridges are easy to remove, just remove all solder from tip then drag away from the pin to remove the bridge.

I got quite a bit of experience making USB scopes with SMD A2D and processors on 0.55mm scale.

thanks nigel, yes of course more than the tip counts the experience, without a doubt. The bridges I tried in the field, in fact it doesn't take long to remove them, even using the braid. I use good quality wire (although I would have liked to avoid using lead ...)
 

[CharlotteSwiss]

The most common mistake made when selecting a tip, especially so for SMD, is making the assumption the tip must be small. This may help when soldering very small components, for example 0402 devices but the smaller the tip, the more difficulty you’ll have when attempting to drag solder IC leads. For that task, my go tip is a basic 2-3 mm chisel to hold the solder.

attention Watts, I have clearly divided the choice of the tip into two types of soldering: drag soldering (tip about 2 mm) and soldering of the single smd pin (0603 or 0402); the small tip I would use only that solder small two pin smd
thanks 

[tooki]

The most common mistake made when selecting a tip, especially so for SMD, is making the assumption the tip must be small. This may help when soldering very small components, for example 0402 devices but the smaller the tip, the more difficulty you’ll have when attempting to drag solder IC leads. For that task, my go tip is a basic 2-3 mm chisel to hold the solder.

attention Watts, I have clearly divided the choice of the tip into two types of soldering: drag soldering (tip about 2 mm) and soldering of the single smd pin (0603 or 0402); the small tip I would use only that solder small two pin smd
thanks 

Yep, but even for that, don't go too small. Really thin tips have terrible thermal characteristics, and end up just being a PITA to work with.