Soldering Iron Questions

[Ika]

Is it possible to have a good soldering iron but a really crappy tip? I recently bought a $20 30W Craftsman iron from Sears because it was, in all honestly, the best balance of good-electronics-work-type iron and price. However, upon firing it up for the first time, I realized my buy... was really really bad. To put it short, the iron tip WOULD NOT pick up solder at all, despite all my efforts and flux (actually, I think the flux might've been part of the problem). After a few tries, the tip became coated in some black crap, which made soldering... difficult.

In any case, here's my question: does my soldering problem lie with the iron or the tip? I doubt 30W is a high-enough voltage to mess up my solder, though it is a possibility.

Is it possible to buy a replacement tip for my iron? Are the tip thread sizes standard or do I have to guess?

 

[FoBoT]

most irons the tip can be replaced, get a new one and replace it, it'll be cheaper to try a new tip than ditch it

 

[daveshel]

Try using some sandpaper to expose a new surface, then see if you can flow some solder over it.

 

[BoomerD]

IME, you need to go thru the "tinning" process before the soldering iron will be any good. Use a good flux and steel wool to clean the tip well, then apply solder to it. You want that tip to be nice and shiny silver when it's hot, BEFORE you start soldering.

 

[imported_Tick]

Also, get one of those soldering iron cleaner thingies, they help.

 

[Gibson486]

$20? I am thinking that it takes a while for it to heat up. I bought a cheap $15 soldering iron before and teh thing took atleast 5 minutes to heat up. You should have spent the extra $20 and got a Weller WLC100.

 

[Molondo]

I was always told to get one with 3 pins on the connector so it is always grounded.

Anyways, just use some flux and steel wool as boomerD suggested. Should be alright.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IME, you need to go thru the "tinning" process before the soldering iron will be any good. Use a good flux and steel wool to clean the tip well, then apply solder to it. You want that tip to be nice and shiny silver when it's hot, BEFORE you start soldering.

I've soldered before and I had no problems using the el-cheapo $10 Ratshack soldering iron. I used the same solder paste and solder on both irons.

I know the iron was hot enough, because I let it sit for about 20 minutes, and the shaft of the iron was glowing slightly red.

The main problem with this new tip is that without the paste, the solder wouldn't stick, and with the paste, the solder wouldn't stick (because of the black coating upon paste application).

I did end up having to use sandpaper to get my job done, but there was a problem. Originally, the tip was silver... and after using fine sandpaper on the cool tip, it showed bronze. Obviously, this was of some concern to me. Immediately after sandpapering, waiting a long while for the iron to heat up, and applying some paste on it, with some effort, solder would stick to the tip, but only for a little while. This means that sandpapering was a temporary fix and definitely not something I want to do every time I want to solder.

 

[Ika]

Anyone have any ideas where I can find a good assortment of soldering iron tips?

 

[50cent1228]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
most irons the tip can be replaced, get a new one and replace it, it'll be cheaper to try a new tip than ditch it

:thumbsup:

 

[TheGizmo]

more than likely it is the tip.. but if you plan to solder often I would really take up buying a sub $50 iron.. they are well worth the extra few bucks... again that is if you are planning to use your iron to do more than just a few jobs... just my 2 cents

 

[Lithium381]

www.partsexpress.com is where i get all of my toys

 

[Ika]

Do I have to search for a certain type of iron tip or do I have to just pull the trigger and hope it works?

 

[IAteYourMother]

what are you making?

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother
what are you making?

A DIY cable for a friend at the moment, but I do plan to use the iron on major DIY amplifier jobs ($200), so I'd really like this iron to work well. Basically, I'll be using it for small-scale electronics component soldering.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother
what are you making?

A DIY cable for a friend at the moment, but I do plan to use the iron on major DIY amplifier jobs ($200), so I'd really like this iron to work well. Basically, I'll be using it for small-scale electronics component soldering.

uhh, amplifier? headphone or speaker?

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother
what are you making?

A DIY cable for a friend at the moment, but I do plan to use the iron on major DIY amplifier jobs ($200), so I'd really like this iron to work well. Basically, I'll be using it for small-scale electronics component soldering.

uhh, amplifier? headphone or speaker?

Sorry, headphone. This is what I'll be doing: M³ Stereo Amplifier.

 

[Ika]

Okay, there has to be someone knowledgeable on soldering iron tips here somewhere.

Let's repeat:

Do I have to search for a certain type of iron tip or do I have to just pull the trigger and hope it works?

 

[FoBoT]

what are you asking? are you asking if tips are universal? i would say no, you need a tip made for the iron you have
the place you got the iron should have replacement tips available

 

[Rubycon]

Trigger suggests "gun" not iron.

This is a good starting guide for the beginner/novice.

 

[snoturtle]

You need to find tips for that iron

It sounds like the tip you have wasn't properly tinned when you got it

You can just use solder or you can get a tinning block

If your going to be doing alot of soldering invest in a nice weller adjustable one
Use one every day at work and there great

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
Trigger suggests "gun" not iron.

This is a good starting guide for the beginner/novice.

Well, "trigger" was figurative - I was talking about buying a new soldering iron tip.

On tinning the tip - when the solder is not sticking to the brand new tip, even with flux, doesn't that mean something's wrong?

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Aflac

Well, "trigger" was figurative - I was talking about buying a new soldering iron tip.

On tinning the tip - when the solder is not sticking to the brand new tip, even with flux, doesn't that mean something's wrong?

Yes. It should be shiny. Wire brush it and get it shiny and once it heats up the solder should melt and stick to it. You need to have rosin core (not solid) solder too.