My soldering tip has been getting a bit worn and not soldering as well recently.
However I continued to use it.
I built up a class d 2092 amp and it immediately fried the 2092.
I couldnt see anything obvious so built up another which immediately did the same thing !
I inspected both and couldnt find anything obvious and I checked every resistor for value and they were ok.
I started to suspect poor chinese pcbs but they looked fine on close inspection.
Anyway after some long and hard inspection with a magnifying glass I spotted two resistors shorted together with the slimmest of solder slivers which poked 45 volts into teh 2092 input pin.
On the other board a transistor looked as if it was soldered but it wasnt making contact with the pcb. I redid the joint and then it was fine.
So for the price (£2-99 a set) of a solder tip I lost a couple of hours having to fault find and a piar of irs2092's.. Needless to say I will bin poor performing bits a bit sooner next time.
However I continued to use it.
I built up a class d 2092 amp and it immediately fried the 2092.
I couldnt see anything obvious so built up another which immediately did the same thing !
I inspected both and couldnt find anything obvious and I checked every resistor for value and they were ok.
I started to suspect poor chinese pcbs but they looked fine on close inspection.
Anyway after some long and hard inspection with a magnifying glass I spotted two resistors shorted together with the slimmest of solder slivers which poked 45 volts into teh 2092 input pin.
On the other board a transistor looked as if it was soldered but it wasnt making contact with the pcb. I redid the joint and then it was fine.
So for the price (£2-99 a set) of a solder tip I lost a couple of hours having to fault find and a piar of irs2092's.. Needless to say I will bin poor performing bits a bit sooner next time.
Bummer. I never appreciated how much difference a soldering iron makes (not just the tip) until I bought my Hakko. Wished I'd shelled out the money years earlier.
Goes with any tools, its amazing how much quicker and easier everything is with the correct tool for the job.
Good tip Nigel
Tony.
Goes with any tools, its amazing how much quicker and easier everything is with the correct tool for the job.
Good tip Nigel
Tony.
I havent had that much luck with soldering irons, they dont seem to last long. Had 3 Maplin soldering stations and they all died in the power supply and went through bits very quickly.
My current iron is an Antex which has been pretty good despite only costing £7 and teh bits last a lot longer.
I find it a bit of a juggling act getting the right size bit. If the bit is small enough for IC's then it wont solder lugs on 10,000uF capacitors. Its annoying having to keep changing bit sizes.
My current iron is an Antex which has been pretty good despite only costing £7 and teh bits last a lot longer.
I find it a bit of a juggling act getting the right size bit. If the bit is small enough for IC's then it wont solder lugs on 10,000uF capacitors. Its annoying having to keep changing bit sizes.
Bummer. I never appreciated how much difference a soldering iron makes (not just the tip) until I bought my Hakko. Wished I'd shelled out the money years earlier.
Goes with any tools, its amazing how much quicker and easier everything is with the correct tool for the job.
Good tip Nigel
Tony.
exactly the same experience here too. A quality soldering station may cost some money but if you solder a lot (or build many kits) it will pay for itself in no time.
I use the "K" series tip (see attached pic) for my hakko. I find it nice for working on both SMD and large through hole parts just fine. Also great for removing solder bridges with the right technique.
Attachments
yes changing bits is a pain (especially if you haven't let them cool down enough )
My hakko is an 80W temp controlled iron, I've had it now for maybe 8 years (and cost me $199.00) (I probably spent almost that much on cheap irons and tips the previous 15 years leading up to the purchase, and none of them came close to it for performance. Its a lot to spend on a soldering iron (which is why I didn't do so for a long time) but after I did spend it I felt it was worth every cent
I'm still using the original bits that came with it. No pitting at all, one though the inner sleeve has come loose and it doesn't transfer heat as well as it used to. All I generally do when soldering something big that sinks a lot of heat is to turn the temp up to about 450 deg and it cruises through
edit: interesting bit djQUAN!! looks like it could double as a hot knife too!
Tony.
) My hakko is an 80W temp controlled iron, I've had it now for maybe 8 years (and cost me $199.00) (I probably spent almost that much on cheap irons and tips the previous 15 years leading up to the purchase, and none of them came close to it for performance. Its a lot to spend on a soldering iron (which is why I didn't do so for a long time) but after I did spend it I felt it was worth every cent
I'm still using the original bits that came with it. No pitting at all, one though the inner sleeve has come loose and it doesn't transfer heat as well as it used to. All I generally do when soldering something big that sinks a lot of heat is to turn the temp up to about 450 deg and it cruises through
edit: interesting bit djQUAN!! looks like it could double as a hot knife too!
Tony.
Last edited:
I'm terrible at soldering, got a Stahl temp controlled iron/station (Weller knock off), made a huge difference:
Stahl Tools TCSS Temp Controlled Soldering Station ESD Safe 374-200
Stahl Tools TCSS Temp Controlled Soldering Station ESD Safe 374-200
Just sand the tip down once in a while.
My $30 Weller works fine, with the original tip, it has corroded down to 1/4 of it's original size. lol
The connection between the tip and the gun needs to be reset once in a while, turn it in and out a few times to renew the contact.
For big metal, I bring out the big Weller gun style iron, same thing here, the connections have to be redone once in a while or it does not get hot.
I would like a fancy soldering station too, aside from being adjustable, it's not any "better" as far as how it works.
A new tip won't do anything for a sloppy soldering job, no offence.
I bet you find that removing an old tip and putting it back in pretty much makes it work as new again.
My $30 Weller works fine, with the original tip, it has corroded down to 1/4 of it's original size. lol
The connection between the tip and the gun needs to be reset once in a while, turn it in and out a few times to renew the contact.
For big metal, I bring out the big Weller gun style iron, same thing here, the connections have to be redone once in a while or it does not get hot.
I would like a fancy soldering station too, aside from being adjustable, it's not any "better" as far as how it works.
A new tip won't do anything for a sloppy soldering job, no offence.
I bet you find that removing an old tip and putting it back in pretty much makes it work as new again.
...that wasn't my experience, i tried a pencil stick Weller from Lowes and couldn't keep the solder flowing because it was always to hot or to cold. For me the temp controller regulator helped tremendously there.
I bought a $3 eBay made in China soldering iron just for big joints. It gets way too hot for normal use and I suspect will not last very long if really used often.
For the always on iron I used to use a diode in series with the AC line. It drops the temperature enough that the tip lasts a long time and it is still warm enough to solder properly.
The way you know you have the right temperature is when it takes 3 seconds per joint. Less and you are too hot, more too cool for words!
Be sure you know the difference between a constant temperature and a variable temperature soldering station. Both can be useful, but constant temperature requires less skill.
For the always on iron I used to use a diode in series with the AC line. It drops the temperature enough that the tip lasts a long time and it is still warm enough to solder properly.
The way you know you have the right temperature is when it takes 3 seconds per joint. Less and you are too hot, more too cool for words!
Be sure you know the difference between a constant temperature and a variable temperature soldering station. Both can be useful, but constant temperature requires less skill.
Love my Hakko, but remember that tips are a consumable item. They last way longer if you get in the habit of reducing the heat between operations. It only takes a few seconds to come back up to temperature when you need it. Somewhere I saw a chart of tip life vs temperature, and it's a real eye opener. Something else that takes its toll is if you do a lot of service and use the tip to pry up bent over component leads. If all you do is build new boards, the Hakko tips last near to forever.
...actually, you got me with the terminology but as i had thought when i purchased and confirmed by the 4/12/2012 review i'm good there:
Stahl Tools TCSS Temp Controlled Soldering Station ESD Safe 374-200
"The temperature control seems to work smoothly. There is a red LED that indicates when power is applied to the element. As the temperature approaches the setpoint the LED starts flashing as power is applied/removed to the element to regulate the temperature. This is a nice feature as you can see when the iron is ready to solder."
I did just fine with a $6 25W iron for nearly 6 years. My only real complaint was that I could barely make it through a soldering session before having to remove and re-sharpen the bit (put it in a cordless drill and file it to a point).
I finally invested in a good station (GOOT RX-701AS) and it's been fantastic. I've been using the same fine point SMD bit for months and it still looks new! I've even forgotten to turn it off a couple of times and come back to find the tip blackened, but it cleaned right back up to like new condition.
BTW, does anyone else here use the brass tip cleaner balls (coarse brass wool). I use this instead of a wet sponge as the sponge seems to make the tip oxidise faster after I wipe it.
I finally invested in a good station (GOOT RX-701AS) and it's been fantastic. I've been using the same fine point SMD bit for months and it still looks new! I've even forgotten to turn it off a couple of times and come back to find the tip blackened, but it cleaned right back up to like new condition.
BTW, does anyone else here use the brass tip cleaner balls (coarse brass wool). I use this instead of a wet sponge as the sponge seems to make the tip oxidise faster after I wipe it.
Last edited:
Well sometimes I use a piece of coarse sandpaper on a block to clean and sharpen the tip.
I do find the sponge corroded it faster, although I still use it to remove globs from the tip occasionally when de-soldering stuff.
Good idea with the drill.
I would think that most stations use a better alloy in their tips as well.
I do find the sponge corroded it faster, although I still use it to remove globs from the tip occasionally when de-soldering stuff.
Good idea with the drill.
I would think that most stations use a better alloy in their tips as well.
Me! it came with the station. Before that, I used the brass bristle wire brush which did the same job. I never liked using the sponge as it breaks the end of the tips due to thermal shock.
yep, wouldn't have it any other way, i haven't used a sponge in years. i still have the tip that came with the iron over 3 years ago. obviously I've bought more as well, but the old one still works just fine. sanding a quality tip is actually a bad idea as it removes the protective plating
I use it too, very easy to make the tip shiny.
Some people claim the brass scratches the tip. But the way I see it, if it doesn't scratch my finger, it doesn't scratch anything that's harder.
Last edited:
If you have some $ to spend on a soldering station take a look at JBC advanced. These are digitally controlled soldering stations with a warm-up time of ~2sec (yes 2 seconds), and the soldering tips can be swapped on the fly, no need to let thing cool down / warm up, all without any tools. they have multiple hand pieces of various power that can plug into the base station.
I've used these at work for the last 7 years and I must say it's simply the best I've worked with so far (before anybody asks, I don't own stock in the company or have any affiliations with them).
Just my 2c!
http://www.jbctools.com/stations/stations/soldering
I've used these at work for the last 7 years and I must say it's simply the best I've worked with so far (before anybody asks, I don't own stock in the company or have any affiliations with them).
Just my 2c!
http://www.jbctools.com/stations/stations/soldering
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.