Is it necessary to wait for soldering iron tips to cool a certain amount before changing them?

[salil]

Anyone?  In my case, I have a Hakko FX888D, I'm able to change tips by lightly gripping a pair of pliers.  I know some hobbyists who work with two soldering irons and claim that it allows them to continue work during the "cool down period" of the other soldering iron prior to switching tips.

[TimFox]

A good safety procedure to avoid burns, including where the hot tip my fall when it slips out of your pliers.  Why would you be in such a hurry as to handle hot tools?

[Stupid Beard]

I once got impatient waiting for the tip on my butane soldering iron to cool down so I could change it. I got it off the iron no problem using an oven glove, but then I dropped it and burnt a hole in the kitchen floor

[suicidaleggroll]

1) Put the iron away
2) Grab a beer
3) Drink said beer
4) The tip is now cool, feel free to change to a different one

[mtdoc]

1) Put the iron away
2) Grab a beer
3) Drink said beer
4) The tip is now cool, feel free to change to a different one

And if you get impatient, a cold beer works well for icing burned fingertips!

[Matje]

1) Put the iron away
2) Grab a beer
3) Drink said beer
4) The tip is now cool, feel free to change to a different one

Hmm, that depends on the actual definition of "drink a beer". Some people can quaff it in mere seconds (aussies, germans?), depending on the containers volume ;-)

Also: if you change the tip multiple times the beer may impair soldering ability, provided we are talking real beer, not 'murrican "ersatz" stuff.

[SaabFAN]

Product idea: Coffe-Cup with a hole in it to warm your coffee with your soldering iron

[Stupid Beard]

Product idea: Coffe-Cup with a hole in it to warm your coffee with your soldering iron

I'm pretty sure all coffee cups have holes in. How else would you get the coffee in?

Not sure I'd want to stick my soldering iron in it, though. It would impair the flavour.

[suicidaleggroll]

1) Put the iron away
2) Grab a beer
3) Drink said beer
4) The tip is now cool, feel free to change to a different one

Hmm, that depends on the actual definition of "drink a beer". Some people can quaff it in mere seconds (aussies, germans?), depending on the containers volume ;-)

Also: if you change the tip multiple times the beer may impair soldering ability, provided we are talking real beer, not 'murrican "ersatz" stuff.

I should have added a step:
3.5) Repeat steps 2-3 until the tip is cool

Multiple tip changes are fine, just make sure you don't power on the circuit until you can inspect your soldering job the next morning.

[Ian.M]

I'm pretty sure all coffee cups have holes in. How else would you get the coffee in?

Not sure I'd want to stick my soldering iron in it, though. It would impair the flavour.

It wouldn't do much for the taste of the coffee either - even if you are ROHS compliant.

Seriously though:  If you use pliers to hold the tip, you are probably scratching the plating.  Once it fails, the copper oxide spreads sideways under the plating till the tip dies.   Its *NOT* a good idea, but if we cant persuade you not to, you should keep a pair of pliers with the jaws padded with glasscloth for the task.

[Excavatoree]

I've been known to change the tips on my butane iron on the top of an excavator.  Two important points:

1.  The butane tips can be gripped by pliers such that the plated "soldering" area isn't touched.
2.   If the tip drops, the Excavator or the concrete floor won't burn. 

However,  the boss finally bought a second one.

When using my regular soldering iron, I wait until the tip is cool before changing it.

[pickle9000]

No question you can get it off. If you do it then use caution when installing the new one. If the collar is hot it will be expanded slightly this can lock it in place when you reinstall. If that happens heat the iron loosen with pliers then cool and remove.

The main reason I don't do this often is because it can cause excessive wear to the collar. Having said that in the field and time is money what are ya gonna do?

Of course I should really have to say this but make sure the heat is off before starting. 

[AndyC_772]

I haven't waited for a tip to cool in years. Just switch off, grab the tip with an insulating pad, pull it out and swap it for another. Ten seconds start to finish.

http://uk.farnell.com/metcal/ac-cp2/tip-removal-pad/dp/7764308

[max666]

Product idea: Coffe-Cup with a hole in it to warm your coffee with your soldering iron

I'm pretty sure all coffee cups have holes in. How else would you get the coffee in?

Not sure I'd want to stick my soldering iron in it, though. It would impair the flavour.

I'm pretty sure SaabFAN was thinking more along the line of something like this 
[Sauce]

[Psi]

Changing it hot is fine, just need to watch you don't burn things.
The thing you do need to be aware of with soldering stations is never change a tip while the iron is on.

Depending on the iron brand, how good the temp feedback is, and what feedback system they are using - you can get serious problems instantly removing the tips thermal mass from the ceramic element and temp sensor.
The PID can go nuts and burn out the element in extreme cases.
It expects some thermal mass to be there, without it you get overshoot

Best option is to have 3 irons. It's so much easier when you have a small SMD tip , a medium SMD tip and a large TH tip all on hand whenever you need.

[CrashO]

Best option is to have 3 irons. It's so much easier when you have a small SMD tip , a medium SMD tip and a large TH tip all on hand whenever you need.

Or get a JBC so you can hotswap 


Works great and the fresh tip is back at temperature within ~5secs

[Howardlong]

Another vote for multiple irons. For SMD work I have two normal 80W Weller irons, one with a 0.25mm conical bit for SMD and one with a 2.4x0.8mm chisel bit for through hole and larger SMD parts like transistor tabs. I never need to swap to other bits.

I also have a tweezer iron (Weller WMRT), that does have a selection of bits, but it's very rare that I need to swap them as typically it's only used for rework, and usually just the smallest bit for lifting the odd 0402/0603/0805. The larger bits let you do SOT23s and SOICs etc as an alternative to using a hot air iron. You can change those bits by hand without a tool or needing to switch it off.

The hot air iron I have also has a selection of four nozzles. I do have to switch that off, and indeed it takes quite a while to cool down to reasonably be able to change nozzles.

[Howardlong]

Best option is to have 3 irons. It's so much easier when you have a small SMD tip , a medium SMD tip and a large TH tip all on hand whenever you need.

Or get a JBC so you can hotswap 


Works great and the fresh tip is back at temperature within ~5secs

Very nice, but I'm still not convinced it's easier than having a couple of irons on the go!

[max666]

Plus there is the rare occasion where you might want to go at something from two sides, so you would need two irons.

I just did a little window shopping for JBC stuff and stumbled over this Cartridge Map:
http://www.jbctools.com/pdf/brochures/11456%20Quick%20Cart%20A3.pdf 
I get why they call it a "map", because for the labyrinth they created you can really use one.