I’ve just received the Simon Says soldering kit with soldering tools included (KIT-13708).
Everything worked fine, and I managed to solder on the resistor and two capacitors. But then the tip of the iron started to oxidize and I couldn’t solder on the microcontroller. I think I was doing everything as supposed to, using the sponge after every joint, so I’m not sure why this happened.
Trying to remedy the problem I purchased a tinning flux:
I tried to clean off the oxidation with that. The result is that a small patch got cleaned nicely, but I couldn’t really clean the rest. See picture:
Using that partially cleaned tip, I did two legs of the microcontroller, which made the tip fully oxidized and unusable again.
What could be the problem? Something clearly went wrong, because I don’t think it’s normal that the tip oxidizes after just a few joints. Where could I go wrong? As I said I did use the sponge in the kit.
One thing I noticed was that the solder smokes a lot when I apply it on the tip. Could that mean that the tip is too hot? Although, I’m not sure what to do with that since it’s a fix temperature version.
Are you cleaning the tip of your iron with the damp sponge between every joint? Also, are you plugging the iron into a U.S. 120 volt outlet or a 240 volt outlet with an adapter?
It’s possible the iron is running too hot, especially if you have it connected to a 240 volt outlet.
Yes, I think I did that after every joint, though I might have forgot to do it sometimes in the excitement of the first few joints. I do use it in a US 120V outlet.
Maybe I should just properly clean it and try again while making 100% sure I clean it after each joint. What’s a good way of cleaning the oxidation off without damaging the tip? I tried a tinning flux (see pic in previous post), but it didn’t do much with ~10 times putting the hot tip into it.
It’s tough to get the oxidation off once it’s on there. Try dipping the hot tip in flux followed by a wipe with a damp sponge. (It could take many tries to get everything clean again.) We carry some tip tinner that has a mild acid in it that can eat the oxide layer off, but if it’s coming back within a minute or less, the iron might be running too hot.
If you’re still having trouble, send me a private message with your order number so I can look into this for you.
