Translation: Wipe on a wet sponge before use. 73 de Alex NS6Y.
On Apr 23, 2006, at 7:35 AM, Tom Hammond wrote:
Ken:
There has been alot of soldering how-to on the reflector. No matter
what I do my soldering station tip does not stay shiny. It seems
that I must retin it after every connection... What could cause
this?
The following comments are from my personal experience from 40+ years
of building. I DO NOT FANCY MYSELF TO BE AN EXPERT ON SOLDERING...
particularly in the company of some of the folks here on this
reflector...
HEAT will cause the tip to develop a thin coating of oxidized lead in
a very short period of time, as will burnt flux. DO NOT EXPECT the tip
to remain bright and shiny when it's sitting, waiting for the next
joint. And be sure to set your tip temperature at a level which is
appropriate for your soldering operations. Generally 700-725 deg. F
seems to work pretty well for most kit soldering. If you leave the
iron setting for long periods of time, TURN THE TEMP DOWN... or OFF.
There's little (if any) need to clean the tip AFTER you complete a
soldered joint... the solder remaining on the tip will help to protect
it from excessive oxidation of the iron cladding on the tip. However,
keep a 'cleaning pad' of some sort next to your soldering station and
wipe the tip on the pad each time JUST BEFORE you solder that next
joint.
There has been some discussion with regard to what type of 'wiping
pad' to use. Some prefer to use a dampened sponge, others a damp rag,
and I personally prefer to use a coiled stainless steel kitchen
'scrubbie'... similar to those offered by Hakko for its line of
soldering stations.
From experience, I've found that rubbing the tip of my soldering iron
against a damp pad of any type does a nice job of cleaning off the
crud which has built up on the tip of the iron, but it also cools down
the tip just at the instant I'm wanting to use it... never quite rang
true for me... cool the tip just before you use it... but I found that
merely inserting the tip of my iron down into the coils of a stainless
steel kitchen scrubbie...
www.n0ss.net/soldering_iron_tip_cleaner.pdf
will produce a nice clean tip with minimal tip cooling. And any
'dross' scraped off the tip filters down to the bottom of the
enclosure I'm using to hold the scrubbie, so I can pull it out once a
month and dump out the crud into the wastebasket. I've used this
cleaning method for the past 15-20 years on all sorts of soldering
iron tips and have never experienced ANY evidence of excessive tip
wear or abrading of the plated-on iron coatings of any of my tips.
Now once I get this soldering tip matter cured, then I'm ready to
start the KX1
Hope these suggestions might help a bit.
Now, I'll wait for the rebuttals from those who know what they're
doing. <G>
73,
Tom Hammond N0SS
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
