You can get a handheld 40W iron with a proper screw-on Hakko style tip AND internal electronic temperature regulation for about $25. I have one in my carry bag for field work.

How makes that and do you have a pic ???

. I have a very cheap ($7) 15W iron from RadioShack, and it still works great, since I tinned it at the start of the very first use.

Hope this helps!
Regards,
Matt

When I was in Votech school for telecommunications .. I used a 15 watt micro soldering iron for soldering all my through whole parts ... I forgot who made it but it was a black handle with a blue cushion and was really thin ..

 

Regardless of what iron you use, you still need to tin the tip. That's a fact. If you don't tin it the first time you use it, it will oxidize and prevent heat transfer. Sure, you can file it down again, but that causes fissures in the tip that you can't really tin, causing them to oxidize and significantly shorten the life span of the iron tip. Copper oxidizes just as the plating does, so it's very important you tin it the first time you use it. And once again, I DO NOT recommend filing it down.

I did not say you should not tin your tip. Then I start a soldering session. I tin my iron tip wait a moment to let the flux work, then I clean the tip. This process will give a tip with good wettability. On cheap irons the tip is just a copper rod with cheap plating. This plating will very often oxidize so the solder rolls off the tip. Like water off a goose's back. Have you tried to solder with such a tip? It does not work at all. And as the tip is, it is a goner. However bare copper has excellent wettability. So by gently remove the plating in the areas that should be wetted by the solder. You will again have a working tip. Until it get oxidated or the flux has eroded the tip and you have to repeat the process. So this method can prolong your tip life. As I said before I will not recommend this method on more high end tips. As they often are hollow inside. But for a cheap non temperature regulated solder iron it will work. Anyway if your solder tip is a goner. It will not hurt your solder iron. To give it a try.

 

go to Maplins-buy a decent 25 watt soldering iron-get yourself some 60/40 leaded solder off ebay and you will be soldering in no time.....when you first plug your soldering iron in tin the tip with solder and away you go.....
Heres the soldering iron
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/antex-25w-soldering-iron-type-xs-pvc-cable-fr12n
heres the solder
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270931497355?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
here is some general info on soldering....

 

I did not say you should not tin your tip. Then I start a soldering session. I tin my iron tip wait a moment to let the flux work, then I clean the tip. This process will give a tip with good wettability. On cheap irons the tip is just a copper rod with cheap plating. This plating will very often oxidize so the solder rolls off the tip. Like water off a goose's back. Have you tried to solder with such a tip? It does not work at all. And as the tip is, it is a goner. However bare copper has excellent wettability. So by gently remove the plating in the areas that should be wetted by the solder. You will again have a working tip. Until it get oxidated or the flux has eroded the tip and you have to repeat the process. So this method can prolong your tip life. As I said before I will not recommend this method on more high end tips. As they often are hollow inside. But for a cheap non temperature regulated solder iron it will work. Anyway if your solder tip is a goner. It will not hurt your solder iron. To give it a try.

I see what you're saying now, I misunderstood your original post. The cheap ($7) iron I bought from radioshack was not the type you describe. It does have a copper tip covered by the plating, but it is a higher quality plating that works quite well. Tinning it on the very first use prevents it from oxidizing (provided you keep tinning it frequently). This is what I was referring to. I have seen the irons you describe, and I just stay away from them.

 

Regardless of what iron you use, you still need to tin the tip. That's a fact. If you don't tin it the first time you use it, it will oxidize and prevent heat transfer. Sure, you can file it down again, but that causes fissures in the tip that you can't really tin, causing them to oxidize and significantly shorten the life span of the iron tip. Copper oxidizes just as the plating does, so it's very important you tin it the first time you use it. And once again, I DO NOT recommend filing it down.

You have mentioned fissures more than once....so, I have to ask what do you mean, exactly?

I've been grinding metals and other alloys for many moons, and no fissures were ever found.
Some grinding jobs had to be X-Ray ed, but they would have been rejected with any type of microscopic cracking or fissures.

Other than anal fissures, here is the definition:

Full Definition of FISSURE

1
: a narrow opening or crack of considerable length and depth usually occurring from some breaking or parting


Grinding very hard materials, with no coolant, can cause fissures, warping, and other hideous deformities.

I don't see any proof where a guy using a bench grinder, could cause any type of fissures.
Especially off hand grinding.
Of a particularly soft metal.

Unless he was a Dummy, and did not quench the tip every so often.

I've also done a ton of copper, brass, gold, silver, bronze, forming, turning and grinding; nope, no cracks or fissures.

 

You have mentioned fissures more than once....so, I have to ask what do you mean, exactly?

I've been grinding metals and other alloys for many moons, and no fissures were ever found.
Some grinding jobs had to be X-Ray ed, but they would have been rejected with any type of microscopic cracking or fissures.

Other than anal fissures, here is the definition:

Full Definition of FISSURE

1
: a narrow opening or crack of considerable length and depth usually occurring from some breaking or parting


Grinding very hard materials, with no coolant, can cause fissures, warping, and other hideous deformities.

I don't see any proof where a guy using a bench grinder, could cause any type of fissures.
Especially off hand grinding.
Of a particularly soft metal.

Unless he was a Dummy, and did not quench the tip every so often.

I've also done a ton of copper, brass, gold, silver, bronze, forming, turning and grinding; nope, no cracks or fissures.

Perhaps "fissure" wasn't the best word, but when you sand or file down anything metal you will always have microscopic "trenches". These trenches can prevent solder from completely tinning the tip of the iron. The un-tinned metal on the inside of the microscopic "trench" will oxidize and burn, reducing its effectiveness.

Now, on some (usually older) irons it doesn't make as much of a difference--perhaps the metal is a higher-quality, with fewer impurities. I have no idea, to be honest--I'm not an expert when it comes to metals--but I do know from experience that filing or sanding the tips of newer irons can and will cause it to burn out much more easily. I still have my old Weller from about 20 years ago and it has a much higher-quality tip on it, but I once had a radio shack iron that I tried filing once and it killed it. I did some research to figure out why it caused issues on this iron and not any of my other ones, and this was the only thing I turned up.

 

Thanks everyone for the great replies I bought new tips and a 60/40 solder and was really surprised that the thing basically just solders itself

I am still not sure if i tinned the tip correctly. This is what the tip looked like after 20 minutes of soldering (compared to a new tip):



Am i supposed to leave the tin on the tip after i'm done? Also how much tin is needed to tin the tip correctly? I feel like i used too much and had a blob of tin sitting on top of my tip (whenever i tried to wipe it off it would just float around on the tip).

 

Hello,

Have a look at the following page:
http://et.nmsu.edu/~etti/fall97/electronics/solder.html

This is one of the pages on the EDUCYPEDIA page on soldering techniques:
http://educypedia.karadimov.info/electronics/soldering.htm

Bertus

 

Hey guys,

The soldering iron i bought draws ~25 watts and i'm using Sn 99.3% Cu 0.7% lead-free solder.

Can anyone give me advice on what i'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance

Using lead free solder!

AFAIK - you are allowed to use lead-tin for hobby purposes, provided you do not produce non-compliant items for sale in the EU.

The reliability issues with RoHS solder are well known - that's why certain safety critical products are exempt.

 

Thanks everyone for the great replies I bought new tips and a 60/40 solder and was really surprised that the thing basically just solders itself

I am still not sure if i tinned the tip correctly. This is what the tip looked like after 20 minutes of soldering (compared to a new tip):



Am i supposed to leave the tin on the tip after i'm done? Also how much tin is needed to tin the tip correctly? I feel like i used too much and had a blob of tin sitting on top of my tip (whenever i tried to wipe it off it would just float around on the tip).

That looks fairly reasonable. Just make sure you get a wet sponge to wipe it down and ensure you don't have any globs of solder or whatnot left on the tip. You'll find, though, that when wiping a tinned tip on a wet sponge some of the solder will stay on the tip, and it will be a nice smooth coating. That's what you want. You NEVER want the tip to be un-tinned, so yes--there should always be some solder left on it. Just make sure it's a clean, even coating.

Something I forgot to mention, ONLY use sponges designed for soldering. If you use a kitchen sponge, for example, you run the risk of burning it, creating toxic fumes, and ruining your iron. It's worth spending a bit more to buy a sponge designed for soldering irons.

 

I have used sponges at work because they are supplied with the soldering iron system.

I prefer to use, and do at home, a copper wire 'pot scrubber'. I use it exactly the same way as one would use a sponge to clean the tip of the iron. I never have to add water or clean the little solder blobs out of it, and when it gets ragged and worn, I either turn it over and continue, or buy a new one.

I also add solder to the tip when it begins to cool off after I have finished using it. This leaves a slight excess 'drop' on the tip which hardens after a few minutes and protects the tip from scratch damage. I do this because I had a tip damaged by a scrape on a sharp edge while it was in transit inside my tool kit. (TSA screeners are suspects in this incident)

I too, have never liked lead free solder. It does work in those situations where one can use a solution of zinc chloride as a flux, but that is a no-no on circuit boards. It is considered an 'acid flux'. I've got a large enough surplus of 60/40 and 63/37 'eutectic' type solder to not worry about the toxic material! nazis and their battle to remove lead from all aspects of life and save the planet from incandescent bulbs by polluting every single domicile in the world with mercury from new florescent type lamp bulbs.

Down with metallic lead and onward with the mercury contamination agenda.

(insert a red faced, heavy breathing, rant face here)

Okay, all better now.

 

That looks fairly reasonable. Just make sure you get a wet sponge to wipe it down and ensure you don't have any globs of solder or whatnot left on the tip. You'll find, though, that when wiping a tinned tip on a wet sponge some of the solder will stay on the tip, and it will be a nice smooth coating. That's what you want. You NEVER want the tip to be un-tinned, so yes--there should always be some solder left on it. Just make sure it's a clean, even coating.

Something I forgot to mention, ONLY use sponges designed for soldering. If you use a kitchen sponge, for example, you run the risk of burning it, creating toxic fumes, and ruining your iron. It's worth spending a bit more to buy a sponge designed for soldering irons.

On the Antex you have to tin the exposed part of the tip PDQ or an oxide layer forms that's difficult to remove without damaging the iron plating.

Usually I dip the pointy end in some fairly lively flux and literally press some cored solder onto the tip while it heats up for the first time.

The Antex tip is hollow and fits round the outside of the element - all but the tip of the pointy end is flash chromed and won't take tinning.

 

well there is a bit of a problem in using lead free solder sometimes due to the higher temp required to get a decent soldered joint-some of the older irons don't seem to work very well with it,my 25w antex doesent seem to like lead free solder very much....another reason to buy a decent temperature controlled iron i suppose

 

well there is a bit of a problem in using lead free solder sometimes due to the higher temp required to get a decent soldered joint-some of the older irons don't seem to work very well with it,my 25w antex doesent seem to like lead free solder very much....another reason to buy a decent temperature controlled iron i suppose

Or not use dodgy RoHS solder.

 

i dont use lead free have a good supply of ordinary leaded solder which bought from ebay which works quite well-heres a bit of info...

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/232

 

Well I note the largest electronic component supplier in Europe has 60/40 tin/lead solder reels at a respectable price so you don't have to buy from unknown suppliers. You have a choice of their own brand or Ersin Savebit

 

As note, at least in CE area. It is still legal to use solder with lead. To service equipment that is older than the RoHS directive took effect (July 2006). That is one of reasons that solder with lead is still on sale

 

Well I note the largest electronic component supplier in Europe has 60/40 tin/lead solder reels at a respectable price so you don't have to buy from unknown suppliers. You have a choice of their own brand or Ersin Savebit

As I mentioned elsewhere, the reliability/safety issues with RoHS solder are well known and some critical systems products are exempt - therefore it must still be possible to obtain 60/40.

AFAIK - hobby use is among the exemptions - just don't produce anything non-compliant for sale in the EU.

 

The whole idea of banning lead, is crazy.

When are they going to ban nuclear energy?

Or, automobiles?

I prefer to use 60/40.

 

Hello,

The banning of lead and hazardous substances has all to do with the RoHS stuff.
Read this wiki for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Directive

Bertus