Electronics > Beginners

Soldering temperature question

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Mp3:
I don;t remember why I chose this temperature, or stuck with it for so long, but i remember back when i got my first soldering iron with temperature control, i read something to say to try soldering around 300c and see how that works.

I've been using my soldering iron at 300c or just barely any higher for probably 15 years.

I was googling yesterday shopping for new tips for my iron, and somehow stumbled upon not one but several discussions online where many people say they solder around 370-400C always.

Why solder so hot???? I'm genuinely curious, i never really tried a temperature higher than about 300 since i found it to work, and it seems that the "slower" heating of ~300C makes it less risky when repairing vintage PCBs which may not be in great shape and require lots of care when performing maintenance.

I only ever solder small dense PCBs, often a mix of dense thru hole and larger SMT, so even though i may use a lot of wick doing repairs, i almost always have a very fine pencil tip on my iron. Maybe i'm wrong, but i felt if i iron at 400C, i may ruin stuff by accident.

IanB:
I think there is no "right" temperature. It could depend on the kind of solder, the kind of flux, the size and capacity of the iron, the things being soldered, and so on. Lead free solder requires higher temperatures than lead solder.

You should adjust the temperature until the soldering process goes smoothly, so that joints are completed in 2-3 seconds, and without excessive smoke from the flux, and without damage to the components being soldered.

tautech:

--- Quote from: Mp3 on February 11, 2020, 10:45:29 pm ---I was googling yesterday shopping for new tips for my iron, and somehow stumbled upon not one but several discussions online where many people say they solder around 370-400C always.

--- End quote ---
Maybe for that Pb free muck but you don't wanna go that high with leaded solder.  :scared:

325C is where my cheap station spends most of its time and if I need better thermal transfer it's time to go to a larger tip.  ;)

wraper:
For lead free my temperature is usually in around 370-380oC range (ERSA I-CON) when I rapidly solder a huge amount of solder joints of mixed thermal mass. This way I can solder around 30-40 solder joints per minute. For lower thermal mass one offs I might use something like 340-350oC.

wraper:

--- Quote from: Mp3 on February 11, 2020, 10:45:29 pm --- i almost always have a very fine pencil tip on my iron.

--- End quote ---
I usually use 2 or 2.4mm mm (0,08" or 0.1") chisel tip even for 0603 SMT. It's best to use largest tip you can for the job. Does not matter if it's twice larger than pad. This way you can do job faster and better. I use small tips only in some special cases as they provide way worse heat transfer. If solder joint does not melt within 1 second, you are doing something wrong.

--- Quote ---and it seems that the "slower" heating of ~300C makes it less risky
--- End quote ---
If you heat for several seconds at "low" temperature, and especially if you strongly push tip onto solder joint during that time, it's actually way worse for PCB rather than soldering much faster at higher temperature.

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