I have a feeling desoldering is going to be much easier with this iron as I was having problems by not having a proper temp controlled iron.
Just to verify though, when desoldering, you don't attempt to just have a go at the joint as-is, right?
Because that's not the best way to go about it.
Generally speaking, there are two good techniques to properly melt solder on a used joint.
First one is to apply a bit of flux to it, and second is to apply a bit of fresh solder to it.
After that, just heat it up with the iron and use wick/pump to remove the solder.
Sometimes though, it's easier to remove the component first, and then clean up the solder from the joint.
This is especially true when it comes to wires/capacitors/resistors/diodes. I.E heat up the joint from one side, and wiggle it out from the other (one leg at a time) with a soft cloth/tweezers/solder assist tool.
I bought a roll of Kester leaded solder for $25 of Amazon a year or so ago. 63/37 alloy. 0.031" diameter. Core size 66. I do my best not to breathe in lead fumes.
That should be good enough for most uses, although, a smaller diameter could come handy for SMD work, or cases where you have joints that are very close to each other with very little spacing.
Thank you for your concerns, but I've been doing soldering for pretty much 40+years, and not as a hobby..
Speed of chemical processes, including oxidation, are very dependent on temperature, and relation is not linear. So increasing temperature just 30-40C might decrease life of tips many times.. Magnastat tips are using Curie point magnetic sensor in a tip itself, and cannot be uncalibrated..
Well, to be fair, I didn't know what your soldering experience is, and I've never suggested that you don't know your stuff, only disagreed with some of the things you've mentioned. Especially the part about damaging components. Heat by itself will not damage components (unless you use an extremely high temp, then it's a possibility) the most important thing is the technique and using the right tip (I.E you don't wanna use a too small tip for a fairly large joint, nor keep the tip on the joint for extended period of time). Also, some people don't know how to properly hold/point a soldering iron, and accidentally fry the components or make a hole in the PCB etc. But set all that aside, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised from the way you've handled it! Someone else would've probably get a bit angry at me. Anyhow, I definitely agree with you that there is a correlation between the temperature you use to the tip's longevity. That said, 350>370 is hardly that much of a difference. My bad about the Magnastat tips, just didn't had prior experience with em.
Your recommended temperatures are quite OK, I would consider them upper bracket. They are good recommendation, actually, because in real life you get to work with all solder qualities, and those can melt slightly differently than quality solder. I would agree that as a general recomendation, 330-360C would be best.
It's always nice to have some common ground
And I was talking of tips that had 8+hours a day working, so some of them worked harder in their 10 years than a hobby user would use them in a lifetime
That's a very good point actually.
Most people rarely use a soldering iron for that much time in a single day.
In a commercial setting (I.E a repair shop) this could be different I guess.
Also I would again repeat the issue of rosin flux burning. If you solder in 330-350C area (or 310-320C as I do) you are minimising rosin flux burning and carbonization. It gets properly activated but not decomposed and burned. No clean fluxes are no clean, only if you don't burn them black. And it is easy to keep tips clean. No hardened burned flux residue. Wipe it to the sponge, solder on. Also no rapid oxidation of the solder itself... And thank you for asking, i pretty much wipe the tip after EVERY soldered point.
That very rarely happens to me. And I clean it up regardless (I just find it more aesthetically pleasing)
I clean up the tip after each joint also, although, I no longer use a sponge (I much prefer the wool brass!)
Wetting the sponge before each job is a bother, plus, if you don't use distilled water, you risk increased tip oxidation.
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
