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Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2001 22:51:00 -0500
From: "David A. Belsley" <belsley at bc.edu>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Cleaning solder-iron tips

Clair:
  Your tip is either still tinned but oxidized with junk or it has become 
untinned.  If the former, then you should be able to clean it by wiping it 
while hot very quickly with a paper towel or damp sponge or by dipping it 
in a tinning compound (available at RadioShack).  The result should be a 
shiny, silvery tip.  If the latter, then you must clean the tip back down 
to bare metal and retin.  Note, however, that the WTCPT tips come with a 
coating, so you shouldn't have to do this. But if you do, while the tip is 
cool, use steel wool or fine emery paper to clean the tip to bare metal or 
coating, whichever comes first.  In very tough cases, you can scrape the 
tip lightly with a dull knife blade, but this should be avoided if 
possible. Then heat it up and retin as soon as possible with solder or a 
tinning compound.  In future, it is a good idea to be sure the tip is clean 
and coated with solder when you turn the iron off.  A good solder coating 
protects the tip and prevents oxidation.

best wishes,

dave belsley, w1euy

- --On Sunday, December 9, 2001 8:08 PM -0600 ni9x <ni9x at charter.net> wrote:

> Hello,
>  What's the best way to clean solder-iron tips? Mine have turned blackish
> and don't seem to be doing the best job anymore. The iron is a Weller
> WTCPT.  Many thanks.
>
> Clair (NI9X)

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Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2001 21:53:33 -0600
From: Tom Hammond =?iso-8859-1?Q?N=D8SS?= <n0ss at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Cleaning solder-iron tips

Claire:

>What's the best way to clean solder-iron tips? Mine have turned blackish
>and don't seem to be doing the best job anymore. The iron is a Weller WTCPT.

First, NEVER file it! Most 'modern' tips are iron plated, to last a LONG 
time. Any chink in this armor (no matter how wmall) will result in the iron 
plating loosening and peeling off.

Often, soldering iron tips become 'nasty' as you describe because they are 
allowed to set, unused, at a very high temp, for long periods of time. This 
is a way to allow oxidation to build up on them. And it doesn't take much 
'idleing' time for them to become both oxidized and caked with burnt rosin 
residue.

What you need is something which can first CLEAN the tip, and then, if 
required, re-tin it.

To clean the tip, you can use some steel wool when the tip is first heating 
up... allow it to get just to the point of melting the solder and then, 
using only light to moderate pressure, brush the blackened residue off of 
the tip, and IMMEDIATELY flow fresh solder onto the tip. Allow the rosin 
from the new solder to have its way with any remaining 'crud' and if the 
new solder doesn't completely cover the previously tinned portion of the 
tip, unplug the tip, allow it to cool a bit and as it's cooling, take the 
steel wool to it once again. Reheat and apply more solder.

Kester makes a tip retinning product. I believe that Radio Shack may also 
sell something similar, though I've not tried either product.

In order to keep my soldering iron tips clean, I keep a kitchen scrubbie handy:

   http://home.earthlink.net/~n0ss/soldering_iron_tip_cleaner.pdf

Before I use the tip for soldering a joint, I plunge the tip of the iron 
into the scrubbie which cleans off all burned-on residue and readies the 
tip for the task at hand.

You can also use a damp cloth or sponge to clean off the tip of your iron, 
however, anything which is DAMP to begin with will not only clean the tip, 
it will also COOL it off quite a bit as you drag it across the wet surface. 
The scrubbie method doesn't do this.

There are any number of re-tinning (and cleaning) methods, and I suspect 
you'll now read of several of them. Pick the one you like and make it your own.

The important points are:

1) ALWAYS solder with a clean tip. Clean it before EACh joint,
    if the joints are more than 60 seconds apart.

2) When your iron must sit idle for longer than 5 minutes,
    either turn it off, or at leat REDUCE the temperature to
    c. 300 degrees F.

3) If your iron tip tends to get nasty, clean it before you
    put it away following each use. Wipe it clean AFTER you
    have turned it off, but before it gets so cool that the
    solder has hardened. And then flow on a small amount of
    fresh solder onto BOTH sides of the tip before it cools
    off too much. The intent here is to clean it of residue
    and then getr fresh solder onto it while it's still warm
    enough to melt the solder, BUT not hot enough to badly
    burn the rosin.

Good luck,

Tom Hammond   N0SS

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