[Elecraft] Soldering tip

[Tom Hammond]

Ken:

>There has been alot of soldering how-to on the reflector.  No matter 
>what I do my soldering station tip does not stay shiny.  It seems 
>that I must retin it after every connection...  What could cause this?

The following comments are from my personal experience from 40+ years 
of building. I DO NOT FANCY MYSELF  TO BE AN EXPERT ON SOLDERING... 
particularly in the company of some of the folks here on this reflector...

HEAT will cause the tip to develop a thin coating of oxidized lead in 
a very short period of time, as will burnt flux. DO NOT EXPECT the 
tip to remain bright and shiny when it's sitting, waiting for the 
next joint. And be sure to set your tip temperature at a level which 
is appropriate for your soldering operations. Generally 700-725 deg. 
F seems to work pretty well for most kit soldering. If you leave the 
iron setting for long periods of time, TURN THE TEMP DOWN... or OFF.

There's little (if any) need to clean the tip AFTER you complete a 
soldered joint... the solder remaining on the tip will help to 
protect it from excessive  oxidation of the iron cladding on the tip. 
However, keep a 'cleaning pad' of some sort next to your soldering 
station and wipe the tip on the pad each time JUST BEFORE you solder 
that next joint.

There has been some discussion with regard to what type of 'wiping 
pad' to use. Some prefer to use a dampened sponge, others a damp rag, 
and I personally prefer to use a coiled stainless steel kitchen 
'scrubbie'... similar to those offered by Hakko for its line of 
soldering stations.

 From experience, I've found that rubbing the tip of my soldering 
iron against a damp pad of any type does a nice job of cleaning off 
the crud which has built up on the tip of the iron, but it also cools 
down the tip just at the instant I'm wanting to use it... never quite 
rang true for me... cool the tip just before you use it... but I 
found that merely inserting the tip of my iron down into the coils of 
a stainless steel kitchen scrubbie...

   www.n0ss.net/soldering_iron_tip_cleaner.pdf

will produce a nice clean tip with minimal tip cooling. And any 
'dross' scraped off the tip filters down to the bottom of the 
enclosure I'm using to hold the scrubbie, so I can pull it out once a 
month and dump out the crud into the wastebasket. I've used this 
cleaning method for the past 15-20 years on all sorts of soldering 
iron tips and have never experienced ANY evidence of excessive tip 
wear or abrading of the plated-on iron coatings of any of my tips.

>Now once I get this soldering tip matter cured,  then I'm ready 
>to  start the KX1

Hope these suggestions might help a bit.

Now, I'll wait for the rebuttals from those who know what they're doing. <G>

73,

Tom Hammond    N0SS