I'm scared to buy a cheep one now. Mine worked fine last night and only gets to 480°f this evening. I'm going to wait on the stuff to properly tin the Hakko before trying again. I'm scared I'm going to ruin the pads.
Use the tip that's just to the left of the one that needs to be restored. You can tin it with solder. The ammonium chloride is for restoring unusable tips.
You will know within seconds if the Hakko is working as it should. Let it reach operating temperature (700°+). Put the tip on the board, feed solder between the tip and the tinned part of the board and the solder should flow freely onto the board within a few seconds (actually less than a second).
You will know within seconds if the Hakko is working as it should. Let it reach operating temperature (700°+). Put the tip on the board, feed solder between the tip and the tinned part of the board and the solder should flow freely onto the board within a few seconds (actually less than a second).
What Hakko do you have? If the tip isn't shiny you can use a brass wire brush to clean it while its hot. The dip it in Hakko tip cleaner to restore it as much as possible. Normally a good Hakko iron base unit has a standby function so when the iron is in the cradle for a few minutes it turns down the temp some to preserve the tip. Does your unit have that? Also use a Hakko brass-pot-scrubber tip cleaner as well as have a wet solder sponge available.
Do you need to remove SMD devices. If so, what types?
Do you need to un-solder T/H parts?
How small of parts do you need to solder? What tip temp do you need to use with the solder you have?
It could be that a solder iron, a hot-air machine (there is one really good fairly low cost unit I know of), and a hot tweezer tool would be best. The integrated units like the one you showed a pic of are usually not very ideal in various ways.
Do you need to remove SMD devices. If so, what types?
Do you need to un-solder T/H parts?
How small of parts do you need to solder? What tip temp do you need to use with the solder you have?
It could be that a solder iron, a hot-air machine (there is one really good fairly low cost unit I know of), and a hot tweezer tool would be best. The integrated units like the one you showed a pic of are usually not very ideal in various ways.
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