Author Topic: Diy pointed soldering tip  (Read 2985 times)

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Offline meanie2Topic starter

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Diy pointed soldering tip
« on: September 17, 2019, 01:08:50 pm »
Hi! Most of the soldering tip sold online isn't pointed enough, I need something more pointed than this for 40W:



Can I file it down? Anything I need to take note? Thanks in advance.
 

Offline DTJ

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2019, 01:40:12 pm »
You can file it down but it may have a very limited life afterwards.

Tips are usually iron clad over copper. If you file it you will expose the copper which when hot will dissolved into the solder. If you run your iron hot it only takes  a few hours use  for the exposed copper to become a crater.

Maybe look for a suitably small tip that fits your iron. I find that long fine tips don't have the thermal inertia sometimes needed so I go for short stubby fine tips when needed.
 
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Online Shock

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2019, 04:20:39 pm »
If the tip is a copper core you could shape your tip then use a DIY electroplating method to add a protective plating layer back to the tip. Iron might be tricky, so perhaps start with trying nickel.

I'd be careful to only grind/sand the very end of the tip, that way only the end needs submerging in your plating solution. You can find a lot about plating online, but a perfectly smooth clean finish seems to produce the best results. Practice on some scrap before you butcher a tip.

Soldering/Rework: Pace ADS200, Pace MBT350
Multimeters: Fluke 189, 87V, 117, 112   >>> WANTED STUFF <<<
Oszilloskopen: Lecroy 9314, Phillips PM3065, Tektronix 2215a, 314
 
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Offline tooki

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2019, 08:56:15 pm »
Hi! Most of the soldering tip sold online isn't pointed enough, I need something more pointed than this for 40W:



Can I file it down? Anything I need to take note? Thanks in advance.
What do you think you need a needle-like tip for, anyway? It's a common misconception that soldering small contacts has to have a tiny tip. And the thermal mass of thin tips is terrible. Before I learned this, I got the 0.6mm chisel tip for my iron (it simply looks like a pin, you need a loupe to even see which sides are flattened to a chisel), and I can tell you, I never use it. Heat struggles to get to the very point, so when tinning, you end up with the solder forming a droplet above the very end, unless you turn the temperature up way hotter than you'd need otherwise. I'm sure there are special applications where a tiny tip like that is required, but it's definitely not for anywhere near as many situations as people think.

The tip I use a lot for fine soldering is actually a 2.3mm ⌀ drag soldering tip with the concave "well", which grabs onto excess solder, meaning beautiful, not overfilled joints, even on tiny SMD pads.
 

Offline KL27x

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2019, 11:44:58 pm »
Quote
Heat struggles to get to the very point, so when tinning, you end up with the solder forming a droplet above the very end, unless you turn the temperature up way hotter than you'd need otherwise
Oh, boy. Here we go, again. Man of science at work.:-DD
 
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Offline tooki

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2019, 01:03:46 am »
Dude, let it go. You’re wrong about this, as this is repeatable, observable behavior, and you don’t need to derail this thread with a dispute where we are not going to see eye to eye.

Sorry, meanie2, this is an ongoing spat between me and a couple of members who refuse to believe some commonly known truths about how solder behaves. If you want me to make a video of the droplet behavior, I’ll do it for you so you can see what I’m talking about.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2019, 01:16:29 am by tooki »
 
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Offline KL27x

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2019, 03:08:51 am »
Please remain calm and don't panic. There's nothing to fear.

Quote
You’re wrong about this, as this is repeatable, observable behavior
This is repeatable, observable behavior. When you tin a thin pointy conical, the bead crawls up off away from the point. I agree with this. So we agree?

Quote
Heat struggles to get to the very point
When touching the tip to a board/joint that is sinking away heat, yes. I agree. The skinnier and longer the point on that tip, the greater the thermal gradient between the base of that tip and the point. (But when the tip is in free air while you are just tinning it, this is not a very large gradient. Perhaps we still agree, or maybe not?)

Quote
... so when tinning, you end up with the solder forming a droplet above the very end
This is the part I don't agree. I'm actually shocked you still believe this after we had such a nice and civil thread a couple years back (and nearly became friends, until I inadvertently offended you by being myself).

And yes, I got your nice PM. But you asked me to never PM you again, and I continue to abide your wish.

I appreciate your presence on the forum. From what I know, you are a great person. Peace.


 
 

Offline magic

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2019, 07:48:46 am »
Silly arguments aside, it's true that fine tips are not actually that useful for anything but perhaps deadbugging 0.5mm pitch BGAs :P

For "reasonably hand-solderable" SMD, such as passives at least 0603 in size and common SO or QFP packages, the conical tips with oblique cut are fine.
C or CM shape in Hakko nomenclature: https://www.hakko.com/english/tip_selection/work_drag.html

They also work well for THT, except for large stuff which really needs lots of heat.

As for bare copper tips, there are special alloys supposedly intended to increase their life, such as Sn60Pb38Cu2. The copper already included in the solder reduces dissolution of other copper.
 
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Offline meanie2Topic starter

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2019, 07:57:08 pm »
I actually applied heat to the board for too long when desoldering and the pad came off the circuit board.
I am still practicing and experimenting.
Found some ready made 0.7mm and 0.5mm at last.
 

Offline Nerull

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2019, 09:33:13 pm »
If you find you are applying heat for too long, this may be because you insist on using an undersized tip. A properly sized tip will have the thermal mass to get the job done quickly and with minimal damage to the board.
 
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Offline tooki

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2019, 10:15:54 pm »
I actually applied heat to the board for too long when desoldering and the pad came off the circuit board.
I am still practicing and experimenting.
Found some ready made 0.7mm and 0.5mm at last.
Again, what task are you doing? It’s unlikely that a superfine tip is actually the right tool, as I and others are saying.
 

Offline meanie2Topic starter

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2019, 07:50:55 pm »
Tried removing this type of IC by desoldering until i got fedup and snip them off and desolder the legs off one by one but soldering tip is too wide.




« Last Edit: September 27, 2019, 07:53:18 pm by meanie2 »
 

Offline Dave

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2019, 07:57:44 pm »
Soldering well takes time and practice. Patience is key.
<fellbuendel> it's arduino, you're not supposed to know anything about what you're doing
<fellbuendel> if you knew, you wouldn't be using it
 

Online Shock

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2019, 10:01:12 pm »
Yes desoldering takes a lot of practice and it helps to watch others till you refine your technique. I'd recommend getting both a desoldering pump and wick/braid they are both cheap and mastering both you can do a reasonable job, it just will be time consuming.

If you are removing through hole components with the intent to reuse them with as little stress as possible or doing frequent desoldering, consider a vacuum desoldering station it can make life easier. It requires a bit of investment as the decent vacuum desoldering irons start at around $300 new.

Soldering/Rework: Pace ADS200, Pace MBT350
Multimeters: Fluke 189, 87V, 117, 112   >>> WANTED STUFF <<<
Oszilloskopen: Lecroy 9314, Phillips PM3065, Tektronix 2215a, 314
 

Offline Nerull

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Re: Diy pointed soldering tip
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2019, 10:53:23 pm »
I seriously doubt that any tip you're likely to find is too wide to desolder a DIP, unless it's some specialty tip.

Super fine tips are for working on really tiny things, by comparison a DIP chip is huge. You want a mid sized chisel tip for even a big knife for that.
 


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