[Electronics] Tips for keeping soldering iron tip in a good condition? - Hardware & Software

I've just ordered a soldering iron and I'm curious what should I do to keep it in a good condition? I've soldered a few times in my life but I have always used other people's soldering irons so I don't really know what to do with it before and after I have finished working with it.

Basically, remember to keep it clean, so when you're done with it, wipe it on the damp sponge, then flood it with solder, and wipe again before unplugging iron. The idea is you want it to be clean and tinned because the solder will form a barrier to protect the tip from oxidation and shit. Basically don't excessively wipe the thing either though, like, don't scrub the tip, don't wipe it too often. Also no sandpaper, shit like that.

What iron have you ordered out of curiosity? Avoid using wet sponges, they are truly useless. Use a brass wire pot, its far less aggressive on your iron tip and wont thermally shock it every time you need to wipe it. Never leave a iron tip hot without sufficient solder to protect it from oxidising, if you need to put your iron back onto its stand make sure to leave at least some solder on it or you will end up with an oxidised tip very quickly. This can be a bit troublesome if you are working at higher temperatures as the higher your irons temperature the faster it will end up oxidising, so dont whack your temperature up to 480c degrees just because your iron can. If you do end up with a oxidised tip its not the end of the word. Dont use a file or anything aggressive to try and remove the oxidation layer as you will go straight through it and damage or completely remove the plating on your tip making it useless. Just use flux, solder and patience to clean the tip along with your brass wire. You could always spend £8/$10 on some tip tinner and it will recover the tip very quickly. (Personally I use MG Chemicals 96.5%Sn/3.0%Ag, hakko tips are expensive yo.)

I don't plan on soldering a lot so I've got one of the less expensive temperature-controlled irons (with more or less good reviews) - YIHUA 908D https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/111296/ef8589a0-1f77-4819-bb31-7ca644eb5236/изображение.png

If it's something like a hakko fx888d or another popular soldering station, i wouldn't really worry about it. It costs me £3 for a pack of 6 tips for mine though i haven't had any wear out with how i use them. Just keep them tinned and don't go nuts cleaning or with temperatures. Also using solder that isn't shit helps quite a bit too.

Yeah the yihua clones are actually pretty good, Hakko stuff can be hard to get hold of depending on where you are in the country and cost an arm and a leg in comparison. That should do you just fine for more or less anything. Stick with a fine chisel tip, the needle tips are pretty bad at applying the thermal mass but it all goes down to preference at the end of the day. Chisel for working on large pieces like DC sockets or anything with high thermal mass and J tip for working on surface mount components is my usual shindig. https://i.imgur.com/CPJH5q0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oNnfDQQ.jpg

Got any recommendation on choosing tips? Or just about any will go? I'm not really sure how much they should cost but 10 pcs for 4$ with free shipping sounds a bit shady to me.

I just grab any compatible tips from amazon, I tend to thrash the hell out of mine but getting proper ones really dosent matter in the grand scheme of things. If they work, great! If not its just 5$.

Meh, wet sponge has been used for decades and do good enough really. The brass pot is cool and all but tips are cheap as shit for most stuff, you won't really see much of a difference in my experience anyway. Like maybe if you're using a Metcal system I'd worry about this to that degree but if you've got a Metcal system then you're either working for a company who has their own proper procedures and shit (so you should be learning this from company documentation or your supervisor if you're completely helpless) or you're far beyond basic novice hobbyist problems like "how do I care for solder tips" and should honestly know how to google this info from the manufacturers/distributers. If you really want to properly care for your tips here's Metcal's infographic on the subject : http://info.okinternational.com/hubfs/2017%20Metcal%20Blog/Metcal-Tip-Care-Poster-2017.pdf?t=1535132128246 But tbh, you'll get far more use out of them than they're worth in 90% of cases.

Well, alright then. Thanks everyone for information, you guys have really helped me!

They'll be shit, but shit that you can easily use and abuse. I've had no issue using brand name tips vs whatever chinesium shit I order off Amazon, of course the cheap shit ones wear out faster, but for the price they long out live what they're worth at worst. I use the cheap shit ones for teaching people to solder, because they can thrash them and I don't have to worry about the work orders being egregious.

I treat my official Hakko tips like gold, I've got a pot on a multi draw with "Shit" written on it for good reason and another with "JESUS" in gold sharpie. If you ever have colleagues stealing your flux here is a protip: peel off one of the tube labels and stick it to the outside of your flux container, make sure to circle in red the cancer warning. No flux has gone missing since.

Also J tip, best tip.