I have an antex xs 25 iron but cannot seem to get enough heat to desolder lead free solder. is this normal?
do I need a bigger iron?
lead solder no problem.
thanks

 

I have an antex xs 25 iron but cannot seem to get enough heat to desolder lead free solder. is this normal?
do I need a bigger iron?
lead solder no problem.
thanks

RoHS solder does have a higher melting point.

You can buy special low melting point solders to dilute the existing solder, its sold mainly to make it easier to unsolder large multi-pinned ICs.

Make sure you don't get a surplus batch of NOS cadmium low melting solder though - cadmium is toxic.

The iron I use is the Antex 50W TC type, its adequate for reworking RoHS solder except in winter if the room temperature gets low.

You can dilute RoHS solder with ordinary leaded solder, but there are all sorts of regulations you can fall foul of if you're charging for repairs or selling a product in the Euro Zone.

 

Hi Treeman,

What's your tip temp? Do you need to maintain RoHS compliance.

 

Hi Treeman,

What's your tip temp? Do you need to maintain RoHS compliance.

Whatever scale was printed on temp pot was vague to start with, and has rubbed off altogether. These days I only do hobby stuff, so no regs for me.

The old industry standard was the Weller TCP-1 and 24V base unit. The Curie point magnetic sensor tips most common types were calibrated as 700F or 800F, most people used the 700F tips for lead/tin solder - I expect a few people might've switched to the 800F tip when RoHS came along.

 

700F should melt either type. Try adding more solder to help heat transfer. If that doesn't work, might need higher wattage iron; or your heating element might be bad.

 

^^ yep add a bit more solder.. it will help with the thermal transfer by allowing more contact from tip to solder

 

Thanks guys. I added solder and got there eventually. I'll buy a bigger Iron too as this is not the first time Ive nearly taken to to a pair of sidecutters to desolder! No ROHS compliance here unless by happy error.