soldering iron maintenance / tip tips

[darron]

okay. who here has cooked a soldering iron tip?

this has happened to me a few times now. end of the day and you accidentally leave the iron on. other than wasting heaps of power, when you come back in the morning to turn it on of course the tip is screwed. i think it's beyond repair, so replace the tip.


if the iron is looking a bit crappy i like to brush it clean with steel wool and then tin it heaps to seal it in. is this good practice or bad practice?





since i last cooked the tip on a new ironing station i've had to turn the iron up significantly to get the same heat dissipation results. the ceramic heater element looks okay. this is with a new replaced tip.




so here's my idea. would it be a bad idea to put some silicon thermal paste between the tip and the ceramic? seems like only good things can happen...




any other tips? i googled termal paste and soldering iron quickly and it didn't help me heaps.

thanks.

[nexekho]

My iron sometimes exhibits a dull finish (I use lead-free and it's a cheap iron) but while it's hot if I get something metal with an edge (usually the included basic stand) I can just scrape the top layer off exposing beautiful shiny solder beneath, and the collected stuff on the edge is usually decent solder if I'm running out.  Professionalism--;

As for destroying tips, I've only done that by melting holes in things.  Sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose ;]

[Mark Hammer]

I keep a small container of Kester Ultrapure Tip Tinner handy, since it is virtually inevitable that something or someone will distract me from soldering at multiple points and the iron may get left on.  The sponge is wet wet wet, so a quick dip in the tinner, and a quick cooldown on the sponge, and the shine is back.

I might note that one the negative side-effects of desoldering pumps is that you have to hold the tip of the iron near the area you're desoldering, and when you hit the release button, it sucks away not only the solder on the joint, but some of the protective layer of solder on the tip.  I've found that since I switched to dedsoldering braid that my iron tips last longer.

[Perrow]

I bought a one hour timer to turn my iron off should (read when) I forget it. That was after having left it on for a few days (three or four) and when I got back to it the temp sensor had failed so it was heated to the maximum temp the station could muster (about ~450C, ~840F), the oxidation on the tip was so beautiful I regret not having a camera handy. Thankfully, when the station had cooled down it worked again (with a new tip).

So a timer is my tip tips.

I only regret not getting one with a shorter (or even settable) on time, fifteen minutes to half an hour would be better I think, preferably with an audible signal to tell me when it shuts down.

[darron]

timer sounds like a great idea! i can imagine some frustration too...





well... i put some thermal paste in there. it smoked up a bit, so i stayed away from those fumes. didn't use it for long but looking good. the end of my ceramic was a bit black. i must have forgotten about that...

is there any reason why people don't use thermal paste though?

i'll keep an eye out for a timer... hmm (:

[caress]

weller WES51 automatically shuts down in 99 minutes (i think that's the right time) when not in use.
has definitely saved my tip when i've forgotten and left the iron on...

[a soBer Newt]

like the timer idea but instead a power bar for your iron that has a bright light on the same circuit that way I just kill the power bar and the light and soldering iron go off, very good visual reminder.

[artifus]

^ top tip! simple and effective. kudos to you sir.