[Elecraft] Hakko 808 tips

[Stephen W. Kercel]

Jerry:

I'd be very reluctant to use a soldering iron tip cleaned with sal ammoniac 
on electronic equipment. For some manufacturers, it will void the warranty.

I do not recall Elecraft's policy on sal ammoniac, but I'd check with them 
before using a soldering iron tip cleaned with sal ammoniac on Elecraft 
products.

Steve
AA4AK


At 02:35 PM 10/7/2005 -0500, Jeremiah McCarthy wrote:
>I get the reflector in digest form and did not get to read some of the 
>past week's input until this morning...There is a chemical called "sal 
>ammoniac" (ammonium chloride)...It comes in small white blocks and is sold 
>in hardware stores and tin smith supplyers...I have a block that is 
>probably 40 years old...Sal ammoniac is used to tin soldering iron 
>tips...I use my Hakko 808 quite a lot for stripping and tinning the enamel 
>coated wire in toroids, so the 808 sits cooking in the holder for 
>hours...When my 808 tips start to discolor and reject solder, I re-tin 
>them with sal ammoniac and they are restored to as good as new...These 
>tips are QUITE expensive and we don't want to have to be throwing them out 
>when they are still useful...
>
>Soldering iron tips and de-soldering tips are usually iron plated copper, 
>and they are factory tinned near the tip only...Sometimes the iron coating 
>becomes discolored and will not tin anymore...Filing it will remove the 
>iron plating and ruin the tip...This is where sal ammoniac can be 
>used...If you are not careful, it will tin the ENTIRE tip, even the part 
>that was not factory tinned...
>
>Jerry, wa2dkg
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