Pete Jenner, a Field Application Manager from Weller with over 30 years of experience in the soldering industry, provides guidance on how to prep your brand new soldering iron tip to maintain the best performance and maximum soldering tip life.
Whether you solder at home or you manage a 100+ soldering stations in a manufacturing facility, soldering tip preparation and maintenance are key for ensuring quality work and long life of the product.
The working soldering tip is coated with iron plating while the inside is all copper, allowing it to transfer heat effectively. The tip has two different layers of chromium plating. Since solder naturally wants to wick toward heat, this plating design will help keep the solder at the end of the soldering tip. Your job as a solderer is to ensure the soldering tip is wetted properly during the soldering process for effective heat transfer and overall to keep this iron plating intact as long as possible.
Oxidation is the biggest enemy of soldering tips. When you unbox a brand new soldering iron, the first thing you need to do is tin the iron plating on the tip to help protect it from oxidation. Keep in mind you should lower the temperature down to about 500°F for this process. It is not uncommon for a brand new tip to be oxidized out of the box. This tinning process allows the flux in the solder to do its job and remove that oxidation, creating a good inter-metallic bond.
Following a quick demonstration on how to tin a brand new soldering tip, Pete continues with a highlight and demo of the various soldering tip cleaning methods. Dry soldering tip cleaning processes are now used more frequently because of the advent of lead-free solder. Lead-free solder actually eats the plating off of a soldering tip at a much faster rate than lead-based solder. Every time you take a break from soldering and set the iron in its holder, the best practice is to re-tin the tip to encapsulate it in solder and prevent rapid oxidation. When it comes to the sponge cleaning method, be sure to use de-ionized water to prevent contamination as well as a sponge specially-rated for soldering so it is sure to withstand the high temperature.
Tune in soon for another video from Pete and Kristen on the best techniques for soldering tip maintenance and troubleshooting.