Tool Tips

For years I've used solder sponges for cleaning my tip.

They work perfectly every time, clean and shiney and helps the solder melt quickly again, they're cheap~ish to replace and they last a while.

They cost £3 from Maplin usually an Antex one, but £3 really?
All you need is a Cellulose sponge as far as I could tell they are the same, and indeed after trying one they are...
These ones cost me £2, and I made 8 solder sponges out of them and cut the hole in the middle for catching bits of solder, that's 25p each. Trust me they are definitely Cellulose sponges they use, don't waste money on one cut to size with a hole in it. Each single pad quartered fits perfectly in my solder station.
Result!
Go buy yourself some Moppets

I use a steel brush to clean the tip of my soldering iron. Though not sure how healthy that is for the solderingtip.
Does not matter really, it is a shit soldering iron anyway, barely gets hot enough for soldering electronics, only 250C max.

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barely gets hot enough for soldering electronics, only 250C max.

Wow m8,you do very well with that temp to get the quality you do,you must have a
natural talent for it.
I can`t solder a thing unless I`m using 400c or more sometimes.

SPONTEX   

I use one of those steel sponge things in a plastic cup

muckyman wrote:

Quote :

barely gets hot enough for soldering electronics, only 250C max.

Wow m8,you do very well with that temp to get the quality you do,you must have a
natural talent for it.
I can`t solder a thing unless I`m using 400c or more sometimes.

Thanks, I hear that more tbh, I do have many talents, but only for the things I like doing.   

Though the temp is a actually a bit too low, it may have helped with not destroying any fragile electronics, because I did not have much soldering experience when I started building quads about a year ago.

Quote :

SPONTEX   

I use one of those steel sponge things in a plastic cup

I also use a steel sponge sometimes to clean quickly, but if there's a lot of crap on the tip I use the steel brush for a good cleaning.

Steel sponges, steal brushes, lots do use those but I don't see the point, they scour away and damage the tip.
Seriously, try a wet spontex or cellulose or Antex sponge, my tip is perfect, it never ever gets tarnished and always comes up shiney with a sponge, and they last for a fair few years before I need to replace em....

As for 200c, man, this is barely enough to melt solder, you should get a better one mate, IMHO, it will remove possibility of bad joints, and as you know you don't want a bad joint hehe.

I think soldering cooler at 200ish makes for bad and possible dry joints, high temp will melt quickly, and there's less contact time, even though the temp is hotter you won't potentially cause other things to slowly heat up too.
You don't want your quad crashing unexpectedly because of a bad solder joint and this can happen, please watch a guide/video on soldering, a good temperature controlled soldering iron is well worth the investment.

I solder at 425c, Muckys right around 400c is about right for soldering good joints. I have and Antex 660TC it comes with the TC50 24v soldering iron with a silicone wire which is great for not being too stiff, quick heat up within 20 secs ish and job done, once soldered always wipe tip afterwards

I've looked at Antex equivalents to the one I have their 660a which is similar to mine is £191, wow, I'm sure mine cost around £60 when I bought it may years ago, and it's still perfect.
I got Antex because they were fairly cheap at the time, and very good, also the tips were widely available, if you are tempted by something new, check you can get tips that are not too expensive.

It's best to have a TC one too, you may need cooler temps for other things, plus it always keeps the exact temp for you as opposed to direct mains ones, which are a bit pants.

I can't recommend highly enough that you get a good iron mate.

Something like this should be similar, you'd have to check around though, perhaps check some reviews.
http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-digital-esd/dp/SD01738

P.S. I'd go for a minimum of around 50w to 60w iron, much lower won't be able to maintain high heat level.

Also,

Just came across this page, The Weller WES51 seems pretty good ($99 ish, UK price I saw was higher), I'd skip a digital one, you only need a dial, they've been making soldering irons for years BTW...
It also has some useful tips I thought might help you...
https://wiki.ezvid.com/best-soldering-stations

Unfortunately I'm less talented then expected.  Just read on the soldering iron the dial goes to 450C, but I doubt it actually reaches that temp. The specs say it's a 60 watt iron, but seems not very efficient at using those watts.

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Something like this should be similar, you'd have to check around though, perhaps check some reviews.
http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/21-10115-uk/soldering-station-digital-esd/dp/SD01738

That's a very nice one, and quite cheap, would buy it if I had some money atm.

Good quality soldering irons conform to certain standards, as do Weller ones...
I should imagine they're as effiecient as they need to be TBH and pretty accurate temperature wise, the Wellers are very good to within + or - 6°C
Do you mean the one you have isn't very accurate maybe, I wasn't so sure what you meant?

Sorry to bombard you with info, but if I'm recommending one I want it to be good so I did some reading up so my info was reliable...
This is a good guide on soldering from Farnell, the bit on soldering irons lower down is interesting, it's where I got the info about standards etc, and the Weller WES51 seem to stick to those standards.

Farnell Guide.
http://uk.farnell.com/solder-and-soldering-guide
Weller WES51 Specs...
http://www.weller-toolsus.com/weller-wes51-station-50-60w-120v-wes51.html

If I were you, and had the cash, I'd go for the Weller over the other one...

More soldering tips, if you can avoid the annoying fecking pronunciation of Sodder, it's got a fecking "L" in it you muppet!!!!
This is a good video on the correct way to sodder, I mean SOLDER!

Don't worry if the solder piles on a little too much, but moving the solder around the back is important for a good joint.

I'll also leave this here for reference, soldering tiny SMD fine pitched joints...
Rather clever use of Flux, BTW if you need Flux, Bakers No.3 is great stuff, water based..
Flux is awesome stuff....


OK, enough already, onto the Plastic Parrot, or Yellow Gravity build...

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Do you mean the one you have isn't very accurate maybe, I wasn't so sure what you meant?

Yes I meant mine. The point of the tip stays so cold, sometimes the solder solidifies the soldering iron stuck to what I am soldering. Only about half centimeter from the tip gets hot enough to melt the solder. Really need a better one, but no money for that atm.

CANNER wrote:

Yes I meant mine. The point of the tip stays so cold, sometimes the solder solidifies the soldering iron stuck to what I am soldering. Only about half centimeter from the tip gets hot enough to melt the solder. Really need a better one, but no money for that atm.

OK, that doesn't sound good at all, I'd get one ASAP, money allowing of course...

This is also worth a look too, can be used out in the field, might get one myself at some point...
Temperature controlled, goes up to 450°C too, seems perfect, nice and thin too for holding properly and costs around £40 from BangGoods warehouse of dreams ...

Would love to have one of those TS100's, but any soldering iron better then what I have now would do.

Will get a new one as soon as I can yes, soldering doesn't have to be difficult, but the iron I have now makes it almost impossible at times. Plus as you mentioned the solderjoints are bad quality if the solder is not melted hot enough. Also it takes too long if the solder won't melt. Really need to improve that. I could try to buy new soldertip for my solderingiron, but they are not cheap.



Found this tip, going to try it tomorrow.  

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-repair-your-worn-out-solder-tip/

Ah yes, sorry I should've have spotted and recommended you try a new tip, it's so obvious, doh...

Be very very careful sanding the tip, they do wear down, and the metal maybe very thin from heat over the years as they are hollow inside.
Use fine sandpaper lightly at first, then wet sponge, if it's not good enough do it a bit more.
In fact if you have some, try wire wool first, it's much less abrasive and maybe enough to bring it up a bit cleaner.

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