I have a lenk 40 W soldering iron. Here you can see the tip that I started soldering with and the new tip that I am about to switch to. The tips are the same but I never used my first tip properly. I would never tin it after soldering and I even remember a few times that I used an exacto knife to clean the tip.
So hopefully I will treat my new tip better. I remember that lately I tried to tin it when I learned that it was good practice to do so but the tip wouldn't even tin anymore. In other words it would melt tin but the tin would not stick to the tip. I am also planning on getting a temperature controlled soldering station soon.
You should get a temperature controlled soldering iron; I use old (older than I am - the kind with the ugly greenish case) Weller soldering irons - even the magnetic temp control ones are fine - and they are absolute tanks, nigh impossible to destroy. I have never had to replace a tip (only swap to a different one because I needed a different size or something), despite at times appalling mistreatment (leaving irons without auto-shutoff on over the weekend, using the irons to burn marks into stuff or chew through plastic).
I know its just that they dont sell good ones here in Honduras. I have to get them from the US. Most of the time stores are out of stock and when they have them they are cheapos. Found a Yihua and researched on the internet on how its a cheap Hakko clone and Im thinking ill hold off for a Weller.
I think the tip on the right has life left in it. I have filed new tips on when they get crudded up like that.
But less often now that I have a good station set up.
Soldering iron tips are copper with a thin plating of iron.
Once that iron plating has oxidized its hard to get it back to a solder-wettable state - the black
iron oxide formed is tough and protective (its what stops woks from rusting, for instance!)
So always keep the tip covered in solder, and don't let that solder oxidize too much (ie clean
and re-wet the tip often, or switch the iron off). A good iron controller will automatically
switch the iron off if you leave it by mistake.
Only use the mildest finest abrasive to clean oxide off the tip - once you are through the iron
layer the copper will rapidly dissolve in solder (in days/weeks), rather like tooth decay when
there's a hole in the tooth enamel, but faster!
When first using a tip play attention to wetting the tip properly as soon as it heats up, getting it
off to a good start. Never clean the tip and put the iron back in the holder without re-wetting the tip
so there's enough solder to keep it wetted for a while (solder oxides at a fairly quick rate).
Chisel-tip bits are much easier to keep wetted than conical tips, and transfer heat better (so you
can dial the temperature lower which helps).
If you bend or abuse a tip you've likely cracked the iron plating and its going to become junk quickly.
And as you can guess a wet sponge is much better for cleaning a tip as it cannot scratch the iron
plating off like the brass sponges will. Awful idea that, its got to reduce tip life noticably - tips basically
last till the iron layer is damaged.
Actually the soluability of metals in other metals is very important to know for various
applications - some metals dissolve in others slowly at room temperature, for instance,
by diffusion. I believe tin and copper is an example, so very thin tin plate on copper
will diffuse into the copper and "disappear" eventually!
MarkT:
Once that iron plating has oxidized its hard to get it back to a solder-wettable state - the black
iron oxide formed is tough and protective (its what stops woks from rusting, for instance!)
I find oxalic acid to be an effective rust remover .
Not sure if it would work on ironII oxide which i think you are describing.
I love my new tip. It makes a huge difference because now I can actually do what all the videos say. I can simply touch the solder to the tip and it'll melt and flow down to the hole-lead.
Before because the tip was so messed up I had to put the solder down on the hole-lead and squeeze down hard with the tip of the iron in order to get the solder to melt. But this meant the hole pad and lead wouldn't heat up and so solder wouldn't stick to them.
The only problem I still had is running the tip after soldering. I dipped the tip onto a wet sponge and the took the solder wire and touched it to the tip of the iron. Only a bit stayed on the tip, I thought more would stay on. So I kept putting it on and I ended up with a big blob. I tried waiting for the Ron to cool so the blob would sort of harden but I ran out of patience, that can't be the proper way to do it.
I primarily use a couple cheap temp-adjustable irons with legit Hakko tips. I also use a brass mesh scouring pad type thing in a tin for cleaning the tip (used to be a damp-sponge user).
Corroded tips have little to do with your habits and more to do with the quality/construction of the tip in the first place.
I was able to salvage the other tip, I think. I figured I was going to throw it away anyway so I took a file and I filed off all around tip until it was copper shiny and the heat distribution was a lot more even and I was able to solder quite well. I was still unable to tin the tip.
So I still have that issue with both the old tip and the new tip. I cannot get the solder to stick to the tip.
Thanks for the suggestion that muy old top still had some life in it.
I've been using it quite well lately. It was more of matter of technique. Although now the top is indeed worm out from the tip. It looks like the top of a volcano.
