soldering iron care:- when to wipe the tip clean?

can i confirm that whislt soldering, it is totally wrong to wipe a soldering iron tip clean just before replacing the soldering iron into the holder?


It should only ever be wiped clean just before its about to be used....i.e., just as you remove the iron from the holder to solder a joint.

If we wipe it just before replacing it into the stand, then the tip lacks a protective coating and will oxidise quicker, since the iron is hot?

you can keep a damp sponge to wipe the soldering iron while using it.. there is nothing harm in that, but you have to swipe it within few seconds and make sure that you dont drastically lower the temperature of the tip of trying to wipe or press it to wet sponge for a longer time...
Soldering Iron Tip Care & Maintenance

Whenever you are going to remove a tip or you are done working with the soldering iron you should flood the tip with solder to protect it from oxidation and corrosion.
I usually wipe it clean then apply some solder on the tip and turn it off.

Alex

Alexan_e....usually after you've used it, the tip is covered in solder and burnt flux etc anyway, so there is surely no need to wipe that off and re-tin the bit.?..just leave it like it is....it looks dirty but its well protected.

Hi,
Just one addition to Alex, what I did is attached a Micro switch in the stand and as the soldering iron is inserted in the stand it causes the switch be activated and this switch inserts a DIODE in series with the Soldering iron. The philosophy is that this diode cause some voltage drop while the iron is Idle reducing heat and when it is taken out of the stand the switch bypasses the diode and full line voltage is applied to the iron to get it quickly back to its temperature. In general the line voltage must be in plus/minus to the rated Soldering Iron volts.
Wishing you relax technically :smile:

grizedale said:

can i confirm that whislt soldering, it is totally wrong to wipe a soldering iron tip clean just before replacing the soldering iron into the holder?


It should only ever be wiped clean just before its about to be used....i.e., just as you remove the iron from the holder to solder a joint.

If we wipe it just before replacing it into the stand, then the tip lacks a protective coating and will oxidise quicker, since the iron is hot?

Click to expand...

That is my understanding. I clean the tip often (especially when working on tiny SMD parts) and always retin the tip immediately. Recently
I've purchased a brass wool tip cleaner. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but others swear by it. Two nice features are that it captures the little bits of solder inside, and that since it uses no water, it doesn't wick away the heat like a damp sponge will.

Why guess. Here is the gospel from Weller:

Very often, an operator will wipe the tip clean before returning the iron to the holder and will not retin the tip until starting the next soldering task. This will cause rapid burn out.

Click to expand...

Full pdf attached.

John

Jpanhalt:

excellent reference paper.

I agree with all...but suspect its too much of a pain to keep cleaning and retinning the bit when one stops soldering.......so i would recommend using rosin-flux cored solder, and simply leaving the tip covered in the solder/grime filth that it gets covered in..that will stop it oxidising as rosin flux wont oxidise the bit.

an army of government payed enforcers should be sent round each electronics company and ensure they follow that paper...the number of companies that dont follow it and constanlty have oxidised tips.........