I am very new to soldering but since 3 weeks I practice. After every solder I use the sponge to clean the tip of the iron and I melt some tin in the tip of the iron before doing a soldering. Here is the [modelI have.
Since few hours (after 1 hour of soldering + 3 hours break), I tried to solder again BUT nothing happen. When I sponge the iron I see some evaporation so I know it’s hot but when I try to melt some tin on the iron tip, nothing happen. I have noticed that the iron tip is a lot darker than usuall too…
What should I do to me able to solder again with the soldering iron? I have tried to clean it more with the sponge without any success.
Here is a picture once the iron is cool. It’s a lot less darker of when I put the current on and heat it back (around 650C). Any idea why it doesn’t solder?
650C seems to be way too high for these tips. I run mine at around 350C.
The darkness is probably due to contamination of the tip. My son once fouled a tip by using it to melt plastic. But even so, the tip continued to function, although I believe I had to use a little steel wool or a wire brush to clean the tip.
I can’t tell what kind of iron that you have. It appears that the tip is removed by unscrewing the collar near the end. I had a temperature controlled Weller that looked like this. The end of the tip that went into the iron was magnetic and it would occasionally bind in the tube causing the iron to get way too hot or not heat all.
About the temperature, in the Elenco manual I see that they recommend 600C or more for lead solder and 700C or more for lead-free. HUmm this is very away from 350C…
I will try to clean it up with something and redo a test. Thanks for the info. If anyone have any other information, feel free.
Yeah you are right 600F! Oops, the iron doesn’t go at 600C
I have noticed that I have that problem since I tried to solder from a old remote control and to add wire on it… maybe it’s because I try to sold on old solder and it dirt the iron tip? :roll:
