Just beginning to learn soldering, and have gotten in the habit of tinning the tip with fresh solder.
I have a Weller 40W and a Weller 35W (grounded) constant-temperature iron with conical tips.
I have a lot of trouble with getting solder on these tips, and I believe neither tip is heavily used or abused (no filing or sanding). Solder would just blob up and drip to the floor or table. The tips do seem to oxidize quickly, as they start turning all sorts of colors on the spectrum. I'm using distilled water on the sponge.
Colleague hooked up a device that essentially turned my constant-temp iron into a variable-temp soldering station, or at least turned down the temp enough to let solder stick to the tip. I can't name that device now. The iron would plug into the device, and the device was plugged into the wall. I would like to get one for use in the United States.
I'm performing basic through-hole tasks on circuit boards for PC power supplies and LCD monitors. I'd like to graduate up to surface-mount sodlering. Im assuming my irons are at an appropriate wattage.
Any thoughts on correctly tinning the tip with my irons? What's that device called? Should I get an iron at a lower wattage?
Thanks for reading!