Soldering Question

[Chris60601]

Hey folks -

Here's another from the Chris' Silly Question Department:

I have the Weller WC100 (I think, not at home) While not the best, I rather like it. Anyways, I have been going through the tips faster than I care to.
So, what I do normally, after several solder joints, I'll clean off the tip via the damp sponge.

I read that this promotes corroding of the tip thus the premature demise of the tip.
So my silly question; is there a tip that is not so prone to corroding (or burning up) or is the use of the wet sponge really the cause of this. It seems that a tip may last from one to three projects (depending on the size of the project of course).

And, if the wet sponge is the cause, what is the alternative? I suspect that many of you might say that copper looking ball of whatever it is, is the way to go.

Thanks in advance, and cheers!
Chris

[rocket88]

Not a silly question at all chris. What I do is I clean the tip, but I use one of the scrubby copper ball things after the sponge. After I do that us either coat the tip with flux or I burn some solder on the end to prevent oxidation. I've heard that some of wellers new tips are not that good, and don't last, but I've had good luck with them. By taking care of my tips I haven't had to change tips something like 30 projects. My dad taught me to do it this way, and I do it too. I was using his old weller soldering iron form the 70's that if I'm not mistaken has the original tip, that works perfectly. It defies logic, but that's what I do and it works well.

[Chris60601]

Thanks Rocket!

I kinda thought that might be the answer. So, I appear to be missing a step then. But heck yeah!
I know the iron (Well, perhaps gun in my case). It weighted maybe 2 pounds and is an actual gun maybe.
That's the one I learned on also back in the day when there were channels like On-TV and some places would sell de-scramblers. I made a whopping $10.00 a kit and on average it took me about 1.5 hours to build.

LOL, the first bunch were horrid but dad still paid me and I know, he had to rework the boards - but after about 20 boards, I was pretty proficient using that gun. But I digress, that WAS a long time ago.

Thanks for the tip!

Cheers.

[inefficiency]

I've had terrible luck with them. I can basically make 3 pedals before I need a new tip.

I've tried using the sponge, I've tried using brass wire stuff and now I've got some flux to see if it works.

If I don't manage to make at least 10 pedals with the tip I just put on today I'm smashing it and buying a Xytronic.

[Silver Blues]

Yeah the metal wool ball is the way to go, sponges are awful. Mine is brass. I have almost exactly the same experience as Rocket, I kind of stole my dad's early 90s Weller WP35 and it's had the original tip on it since, and it's still in amazing condition. We're hams too, so he did A LOT of work with that iron before I got it. It doesn't even make sense that it's still going, and it's the only tip I've ever used that doesn't oxidize instantly. It's beautiful.

[Frank_NH]

Hmmm...I've been doing the wet sponge cleaning and my tip is still OK (...I have a Radio Shack digital soldering workstation  ...it works great for these vero projects but I wouldn't assemble circuit boards on a production line with it).   I suppose I'll invest in few new tips but I'll check out the copper wool ball cleaning method too, especially before starting a project.

Here's some useful info:

Soldering Iron Cleaning

[Lee Oswald]

I just bought the exact same Weller model, and am having the same problem. I tinned the tip the first time I fired it up, before using it on anything. It hasn't helped.

The flip side of this is that I had an Elenco EL-5 i bought last January, and the station itself just died (hence the Weller) yet the Elenco iron itself hasn't needed a new tip yet. An dthat's after countless hours of use.

I wonder if there's any problem using the Elenco iron with the Weller station. They're both 40 watts, but I was afraid the Elenco iron might somehow burn the Weller up. The Elenco tips seem to last forever.

[Chris60601]

Yup - sounds about right. I picked up a cheapo Craftsman at Sears for 9.00 just to get me by untill the Weller WP35 got here. But during that wait, I found that Mouser has the replacement irons for that WC unit for 19.99

Either way, I figured I could use a better iron and so far the WP35 seems nice. I'm hoping it just ended up being a bad set of tips I got before - then again, the water I have here at home is well water and I'm pretty certain that contributed to the demise of the tips :)

[Lee Oswald]

Possibly so, not being a chemist or a metallurgist I can't even suppose. But I do not have well water here, and I'm having the same, or similar issues.

I'm hoping someone here can address my donkey headed question about being able to mix and match irons. I can't think of a reason why it would be a problem, obviously the iron only uses what it is supplied. But I also recognize that what i don't know could fill libraries.

If this isn't an issue, you can find Elelnco soldering irons, without the station for cheap on eBay and Amazon.

[Chris60601]

Oh heck - I don't know why I didn't catch that. I used that cheapo Craftsman plugged into the Weller base. Didn't seem to be an issue. In fact, I used that same Weller base with a Radio Shack iron.

I didn't experience any adverse issues. I intend to use the Craftsman as a backup using the Weller base when I need to replace (I hope not so soon though).

Hope that helps!

Cheers

[Lee Oswald]

That does help. I had expected one of the experts to chime in, but I'm glad you had some experience with the matter that you could relate. That counts for everything.

Is that your cabin in the photo?

[Chris60601]

Na - its a goal (albeit, perhaps unobtainable) but some day I would like to move away from society. Then, knowing that society moves on with technology, the Cylons take over the technology of the day and I somehow get called in to save the world because I still have a Dell laptop and I build analog pedals and somehow pull off the miracle of all humanity ... Then, I wake up  

[Lee Oswald]

You're not the only one. I've had a desire to check out on mainstream society for two decades. As to Cylons, I've had this nagging suspicion that AI is already here and has been quietly watching. The only way to get free of that might be to live without an electricity, totally off the grid.

Great goal, and it's not unobtainable. I've known a few folks who've pulled it off.