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Soldering Irons & Silver Solder

JimmyB

JimmyB

pfm Member
Alright, here's a new one on me.

Was happily soldering away at the weekend there (as you do) with the new 4%Ag solder I purchased recently but wasn't entirely happy with the joints I was getting. Kept on going but about halfway I noticed that I wasn't heating the area very well hmmmm.

Pulled back & gave my tip a wipe (careful now) and to my suprise noticed that there was a BIG hole in the iron's tip!! Basically the tip material had been leached away in the classic mechanism by the solder.

So my question is: Where do i get a decent solder tip from that can handle this without disintegrating.
To my knowledge nobody puts the material type on when their selling them so without being able to XRF them there's no way to tell except from experience.

Cheers,

J
 
Sounds like you need a solder with a less aggressive flux, expensive isn't it!

What flux is in the solder?
 
Not got a clue......quick check........

A lead free alloy solder containing a non-corrosive flux. 4% Silver 95.5% Tin & 0.5% Copper.

Looks like I need a good old iron tip or something like that, guess it's Maplin for me.

Ta,

J
 
I'm using a soldering tip that i picked up about 7 or 8 years ago in the Middle East. It was only cheap and the guy who sold it to me said it was a good one because it had some kind of 'ceramic' coating on it, (he didn't speak very good English, but I'm sure he said Ceramic). I've also never had to clean it aggressively with abrasives, etc it comes up good with a wipe on a damp cloth. Like i said this tip has seen quite a bit of use over the years and I'd love to get another if anybody knows where i might find one.......( The tip had a kind of dull mottled zinc colour to it when it was new).
 
Hello Sids

The solder iron you bought most probably was made in Japan. I have bought a few Japanese made solder irons which all have a ceramic coated stem, but the end of the tip is shiny. When I was in Hong Kong in Feburary, I bought a 20W iron made by Goot from Japan which cost me Hong Kong $70, about 5 quid. They last a long time. The last one (25W) only burnt out after I used it for over 10 years. I still have my first solder iron made by another Japanese firm called Hakko, it is well over 15 years old!

Goot makes very good solder iron and the price is very reasonable. I saw a temperature controlled one which costs less than HK$350, that's only 26 quid!

Hon
 
Was happily soldering away at the weekend there (as you do) with the new 4%Ag solder I purchased recently
Click to expand...

Is it the Maplin lead-free solder?

If so there's two possible issues - the lead free needs a higher temperature to solder properly and this tends to lead to shorter tip lives. Couple this to the corrosive nature of tin and you're entering the brave new world of lead free processes, courtesy of WEEE and RoHS regulations!

Many companies are having their wave solder baths converted, which have to be ceramic coated to prevent the tin from destroying the bath and the impellers. One company didn't do this and ran the bath for a month or so without a hitch, then came in one morning to find a solidified lake of solder on the factory floor :)

Most plated tips should be reasonable robust though, Antex, Weller and Metcal's seem to cope OK.

I wonder if the tip had some damage to the plating, which has been exacerbated by the new solder?

Andy.
 
hifienthusiast said:
Hello Sids

The solder iron you bought most probably was made in Japan. I have bought a few Japanese made solder irons which all have a ceramic coated stem, but the end of the tip is shiny. When I was in Hong Kong in Feburary, I bought a 20W iron made by Goot from Japan which cost me Hong Kong $70, about 5 quid. They last a long time. The last one (25W) only burnt out after I used it for over 10 years. I still have my first solder iron made by another Japanese firm called Hakko, it is well over 15 years old!

Goot makes very good solder iron and the price is very reasonable. I saw a temperature controlled one which costs less than HK$350, that's only 26 quid!

Hon
Click to expand...

I actually bought the solder tip as a seperate item, the shop i bought it from was also an electronic repair business ( it looked like a bit of a sweat shop out back, IIRC). The tip was unbranded and cost something like £4-£5 so wasn't the cheapest on sale but the guy really was insistant that i bought it.... I use a cheap Draper 25watt iron for most of my stuff and use a Maplins Butane Gas powered Iron Kit for more heavy stuff as it has a good selection of heavier tips. The gas iron isn't so good for use inside boxes though.....
 
My Weller's about 30yrs old - knicked from the IBA in 1979! It's had a few tips though ...

I wouldn't mind a Metcal. Should have knicked one from my company before I sold it.
 
i use a seperate flux...not sure if it helps the tip last longer ...some cheap tips can develope crators (as the peeps have mentioned)...maybe thermal shock advances the wear???

ill send u some to try jimmy...but u got to promise and come back and tell the guys here if it helped u

and cleaning the tip regualy will help -i clean the tip every time i do a new wire...so i get to see it a lot in a arm rewire(i dont use the wee spange and water ...just a dry cloth)

best wishes
j7
 
I have 3 Weller soldering stations and one of them is a hot air solder station and I haven´t had any problems with any of them, very good quality in all of wellers products. So it is wise to spend some extra money for a good teperature controlled iron or even better a complete soldering station then it becomes less expensive to buy different soldering pens for it and you allways have the exact temperature and you have the power to be able to solder big loudspeaker wire like Naca 5.
 
Thanks John, not sure with my lousy soldering skills on anything other than brand new PCB's it'd improve things but I'll give it a go......

....and that's just clicked that I didn't get that flamin' Helius Orion in the post....Aaarrrggghhh.

Never mind, maybe secured myself a job back in Fife I'll be able to visit Post Offices a bit more regularly!

:D

J
 
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