Electronics > Beginners
Soldering temperature question
Nerull:
I use pretty much exclusively Metcal 700 series, and I've never had a problem with heat damage.
A similar thing can occur in welding, where people are terrified of heat damage so they use the lowest amperage they think they can get away with. This tends to actually increase heat damage as instead of getting the job done and getting heat off the part you sit there forever trying to get it to melt and greatly increasing heat soak. Heat transferred into the part is a function of tip heat *and* time. If you can work faster with a higher temp this can result in less heat transfer and less heat damage.
tooki:
All of my soldering with a soldering station has been with my Ersa I-Con nano at home and JBC at work. I find that for lead-free, I usually stay around 330, for leaded around 300, for typical thin THT or SMD soldering with a 1.6-2.4mm chisel, not onto ground planes. Higher temps do work better for larger joints, but the higher temps cause the solder on the tip to oxidize so much faster that it can slow me down due to needing to “wash” the tip before use much more frequently.
If I ever get an ADS200 (or a “big” I-Con station), I may see how it is to set a very short setback timer, since these all reheat from setback in seconds, and then use a higher temp.
tautech:
--- Quote from: DBecker on February 12, 2020, 05:35:02 am ---My go-to is lead solder, a knife tip, and a temperature of 260C. I only go higher if something isn't working, and then I'm very careful about heat damage.
I feel that I should be working at 240C and am cheating with 260C. I'm a little surprised that people are comfortable with over 300C.
--- End quote ---
Is your station temp accurate ? How would you know ?
I don't know if mine is or not and don't even care, 325C is just what the pot knob is set to and if I need more I change the tip or wind more heat on....or off.
Once you get the feel for soldering you can do it with a flame heated lump of copper or the old uncontrolled fire sticks many of us started with. For fine work they do need some heat control and an incandescent light dimmer was often used.
Dwell time on the joint is the secret to not lifting traces or damaging components and experience gained from harvesting parts from old PCB's is invaluable in learning the 'art'.
I only went to a cheap dual station for the hot air and to have a single unit on the bench and to have a range of tips for SMD work. Knife tips are real good for SMD passive rework.
Vovk_Z:
--- Quote from: DBecker on February 12, 2020, 05:35:02 am ---My go-to is lead solder, a knife tip, and a temperature of 260C. I only go higher if something isn't working, and then I'm very careful about heat damage.
I feel that I should be working at 240C and am cheating with 260C. I'm a little surprised that people are comfortable with over 300C.
--- End quote ---
It depends on calibrating your soldering station with each exact tip too. I usually work with 270-280 C (T12 station, T12-D24 universal tip).
When 260 C - it starts to take some time to solder even small items so usually I don't use such (low) temp.
When 300 C - tip starts to oxidize fast, so I use that (high for me, 300-320C) temperature only for large wires.
Mp3:
I tried a couple of those chinese T12 soldering stations, but they were too unreliable, i was having all kinds of issues with them going cold. My ts100 is much more reliable, but it's not ideal for all day use, and isn't ESD safe.
I am waiting on a new handle to get here before i can use my Hakko 936 again, but i've been awful tempted to get a ADS200.
I know that's off topic.
I watched some of the pace soldering videos, learned a few things, will try to run my station just a bit hotter and maybe try using bigger tips. But i have not really had issues for my purposes using pencil tips most of the time.
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