how to clean an oxidized soldering tip

one of our soldering irons was suffering from poor maintenance and was not heating up my solder properly resulting in bad connections and discoloration. This called for something more than a damp sponge and the foil thingy. Sand paper!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• soldering

[ilotek]

i used 150 grit sandpaper, now the solder flows directly onto the tip and doesn't pool into annoying balls.

[Ibringthetruth1]

buy tip cleaner on net. forget radioshack ripoff.

[Ibringthetruth1]

very high grit sandpaper or brass brush.

[Shazzner]

@lonesoldier33 It depends oh how you clean it. If you're using a gold-mesh cleaner, you'll want a good thermal transfer so do it while it's hot. Although I haven't heard of any problems doing so, but I feel leery about thermal shocking the iron on a wet sponge, I wait it's cooled down. You'll definitely want to clean it as oxidation won't allow a good thermal transfer, but unlike the video I wouldn't use sandpaper as some irontips have an anti-oxidizing layer and sandpaper will just remove it.

[lonesoldier33]

Hey, question relating to solder irons but not the video: what should I do when I turn off the iron? Do I clean it while it's still hot or do I wait until it's cooled to wipe off the excess stuff left over from using it? Or do I clean it at all?

[meekprize]

just to add that you should keep a wet sponge and the foil thingy (i need to learn what that thing is properly called) always close by during your work. The sandpaper is only after the iron is cold. i didn't think i had to mention that in the video but i'll say it here.