Low end soldering station tip quality...

• #25 Reply
  Posted by crispy_tofu on 22 Sep, 2015 02:42
• Quote from: nanofrog on 09 Sep, 2015 17:06

  Quote from: Augustus on 09 Sep, 2015 11:58

  nanofrog, are you really sure about the flux coating? I've had brass wool from Weller and Ersa (genuine stuff) and never noticed any 

  I recall reading that somewhere.
  

  
  Yes, Dave talks about having a flux coating on the wool in his Soldering Tutorial Part 1 (EEVBlog #180) at about 4:00.
• #26 Reply
  Posted by tooki on 27 Sep, 2015 23:09
• Quote from: KL27x on 09 Sep, 2015 22:56

  I'm not even 100% sure that fully dried rosin does much as a flux.
  

  What exactly do you think the core of rosin-core solder is made of, then?!? If it relied on solvents, solder would have an awfully short shelf life...
• #27 Reply
  Posted by KL27x on 27 Sep, 2015 23:18
• I suppose so. The main active ingredients in flux are acids (abetic acid in rosin, IIRC), and I figured they would work better when dissolved in water/solvent. Maybe I was thinking about it all wrong.
• #28 Reply
  Posted by continuo on 28 Sep, 2015 08:45
• FWIW: I've just opened up a brand new Weller "T0051384099" dry cleaning wool (brass) and it's definitely not flux covered. It's just plain metal wool, nothing more.