Soldering tip erosion

[Graham Bowers]

I bought a £12 soldering iron yesterday, 60 Watts as I had some XT90 plugs and sockets plus 4mm bullets to solder up to LiPos, ESC and charging leads. My old 25 Watt one isn't up to that. Taking each XT connecter as 2 joints and the bullets as 1, I did a total of 20 joints. The conical tip virtually eroded away in front of my eyes and is now looking quite second hand - see pic.

 

I've had my 25 Watt iron for about 40 years I guess, and am still on the original tip.

 

I'm using leaded solder I've had for ages and have used with the 25 Watt iron.

 

I'm wondering two things:

 

1) Why this tip would erode so quickly? It's 5.6mm diameter which I guess is a shoddy 6mm as a 6mm drill bit goes in the hole!

 

2) What to do to put it right. Short term I could file the tip to an angle, then replace with a new tip. But what indicates a replacement tip wouldn't suffer the same fate?

 

Cheers

 

Graham

[RottenRow]

23 minutes ago, Graham Bowers said:

 

I bought a £12 soldering iron yesterday,

 

Graham,

 

The first line of your question probably sums up the reason for the tip’s early demise. A new soldering iron costing £12 isn’t going to be of any quality whatsoever.

 

Tips are normally made from copper (for good heat conductivity), coated with iron or nickel (for longevity). Yours might just be tinned copper.

 

Your best option is to return it for a refund then buy a better quality one.

Other than that, you could make your own tips from 6mm copper rod, they won’t last very long either though.

 

Also, don’t leave the iron powered for long periods between uses as it won’t be temperature controlled so will get too hot.

 

Brian.

[Shaun Walsh]

I believe that the saying is "buy cheap,  buy twice.

[J D 8]

 I bought a new one last year, copper tipped it said, yea right just the last 1/4 inch of the tip 😡

  Tip on a tip. Grrr had again.

[Philip Lewis 3]

Buy a solder station, best thing I ever did, it wasn't an expensive (e bay purchase) one either, but temperature controlled, came with six tips and takes the standard tips available pretty much anywhere in all sorts of shapes and sizes so replacement tips (not that in two years I've needed to) is mere pennies.

[David perry 1]

I agree.  Cheap soldering irons equal bad news.  Having said that my old weller station failed and I couldnt stomach the cost so bought a midrange unit.  No where near as good, no where near, but it works fine.

 

I wonder whether your flux is acidic or maybe cored solder with acidic flux?

 

My weller heat gun that i bought aged 16, 44 years ago is still going strong and has soldered tens of thousands of joints.  I try to buy quality tips as i use it almost everyday and they last long enough for me to forget where i bought them.

 

 

[Graham Bowers]

Thanks for comments thus far, it'll be replaced with something better. 

 

I'm taking this as a learning opportunity, with the hope of understanding specifically what physical attributes make a soldering iron "better". I'm afraid I'm innately inquisitive and equating "more expensive" with "better" may well be the case. I'm unfortunately blighted with the wish to know specifically why.

 

Probably stems from my past life in "quality", where product failure analysis boiled down to "what part had what defect" in the parlance of Global 8D.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_disciplines_problem_solving

 

 

 

[Denis Watkins]

Have a look at Antex Soldering Irons Graham.

 

[Shaun Walsh]

My son was taught to solder to defence industry standards using a Metcal soldering station. I bought one a while ago, 60 Watt with Smartheat self regulating heating system which adjusts the power output according to the thermal load. Not cheap but a quality piece of kit.

https://uk.farnell.com/metcal/ps-900/soldering-station-60w-240v-eu/dp/1560738

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I was just looking at my cheap soldering iron, the tip is badly burnt out, having no copper pipe to make a new tip, would a brass one do the job?.

[RottenRow]

9 minutes ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

I was just looking at my cheap soldering iron, the tip is badly burnt out, having no copper pipe to make a new tip, would a brass one do the job?.

If you’ve got a suitably sized piece of brass to hand then you have got nothing to lose by trying. It will probably be almost as good as pure copper.

 

Brian.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

It's an old 22mm boat propshaft not in the boat, luckily,,,😃I will turn one down tomorrow on my lathe.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

3 hours ago, David perry 1 said:

 

 

My weller heat gun that i bought aged 16, 44 years ago is still going strong and has soldered tens of thousands of joints.  I try to buy quality tips as i use it almost everyday and they last long enough for me to forget where i bought them.

 

 

I’d love to know where you get your long lasting tips.  My even older Weller gun (which I’ve had for @53 years) goes through the modern (supposedly genuine) coated tips in just a few sessions - always failing just under the tip where the bottom leg terminates.  Can you still get the original plain copper ones?

[EvilC57]

I’ve always used Weller TCP series soldering irons. After a 45 year career in the electronics industry I’ve found them to be the only ones consistently reliable, although I admit they are expensive. As far as I know the tips are nickel coated and last well, but certainly not forever.

[RottenRow]

Yes Weller TCP for me too, plus the gas powered version for use when not close to an electric socket.

Both are fine for soldering LiPo and ESC connectors, and will also manage piano wire undercarriages upto about 8 swg.

 

Brian.

[Martin McIntosh]

I can understand your frustration. If the tips are iron coated you must never file this off; always use a damp sponge to clean them after making every joint.

Antex are old hat and not temperature controlled but can be used for PCB work. Wellers with or without a soldering station are pretty good but in my professional days it had to be Metcal ( look at £250+ though). The temperature is controlled by the size/type of tip used. With a high temperature one of just 3mm width I can easily solder two pieces of 6 swg wire together using some extra, non corrosive flux.

[Graham Bowers]

Thanks all, I'll digest and probably procrastinate ;-)

 

 

[Don Fry]

Solder stations allow precise heat control. Nothing destroys stuff as fast as heat. Ask a fireman. 

[Andy Stephenson]

Instead of trying to make soldering bits, I would recommend adapting a good quality bit to your cheap soldering iron, this way you will at least get some quality soldering time before it corrodes. Always use a proper soldering sponge to wipe the bit. Don't use an ordinary bath sponge as it will melt and make a mess.