Soldering iron tips

What temp do you set it at?

Yeah, this is a problem. Our research gear still uses tin-lead solder, not real bad. The commercial stuff uses SAC305 or 405, and requires constant fooling with the tip to keep it tinned. Still don't have a good solution to that problem.

Jon

The metcal's we had were fixed temperature defined by the tip. That was 22 years ago, so I can't recall.

You'd think that a thermostatically controlled Weller at the same temperature would be the same. As I recall, the Metcal just did a much better job with less board damage. I have no explanation for the difference other than tighter coupling between the tip and the control mechanism.

I picked up a huge pile of Metcal tips at a garage sale. If I found a cheap handpiece, I'd probably build an RF source and use 'em.

I've had 14 wrecks on the street, four involving cars. Hundreds in the dirt, only a few with trees. Nobody gets rear-ended by a tree. The drivers here keep getting worse, running stop signs and red lights and generally being stupid. Time to quit while I'm ahead, namely still alive.

If I have to die from stupidity, I'd rather do it skiing.

On a sunny day (Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:29:54 -0700) it happened mike wrote in :

For 60/40 I use a temp controlled soldering iron at 270 °C. The old wellers had 370 °C tips, and were much to hot. I would not want any RF heating near my stuff.

A small tip is the worst thing you can use for soldering SMD. Soldering SMD is all in the flux. Also forget about soldering one pin at a time and you'll be OK.

The only use I have for a small tip is soldering really thin (like hair) wires.

I should clarify that just the tip was bought new for the purpose - the iron is an old warhorse. 1/32" multicore solder (which you can feed through a 0.7mm mechanical pencil if you want to be silly and have a handy solder feeder - just don't melt it all the way back to the pencil.)

Sounds good - if you're having fun, you're doing it right.

Today, "regular sized" is 0402 form factor.

Your name is not "notbob" it is "noteducated".

Keith R. Williams is AlwaysRetarded.

Dear AlwaysWrong, my reel of leaded solder says 60/40. I could take a picture and post it somewhere.

Ditto here. Ersin multicore 60/40, real fine stuff for SMD soldering.

How about taking a picture, printing it out, and stapling it to his unibrow?

I'd bet yours is years expired too.

Oh, and "multicore" is banned in all mil spec standards.

Good job of keeping up with modern times. NOT!

A few years ago because the old reel ran out. And if it runs out I'll just order a new reel:

The Metcals we have use 400kHz sine wave for the induction heating system. The amount of 400kHz signal getting out from the tip is very low unless you remove the tip while the iron is on.

Yup, the Wellers are 24 V SCR-controlled, I think. The EC1302 was the best tip/handle design, I thought. The tip was partially hollow, and the temp sensor was shoved up inside the hollow tip and held against the end of the cavity with a spring. The heating element was on the outside of the tip. But, the parts for the iron are incredibly expensive now, if you can even get them.

The new Weller WMP has a design where everything is inside the tip, which has a threaded stainless tube to attach it to the iron body. It does a great job of keeping the handle cool, and is quite small. I'm not sure it keeps as tight a control over temperature, though. Also, the micro tips have mediocre heat flow. They have apparently redesigned them with steel cores instead of copper. Great for robustness, not so good for thermal conductivity.

Jon

On a sunny day (Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:47:53 -0500) it happened Jon Elson wrote in :

So, 270 C is 518 F, and I never run that cool. I generally run at 650 - 690 F or 343 to 365 C for tin-lead solder, and rarely have a problem. Of course, I try to solder a connection and get off it quickly to avoid board damage. I don't know what temperature the traces on the board actually reach working like this.

Jon

On a sunny day (Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:41:57 -0500) it happened Jon Elson wrote in :

My old Weller was the magnestat, it had a little magnet with a curie point (where it loses its magnetic properties) at the desired temperature, and it attracted or released a micro switch. click click click. It was reliable, but a bit flimsy. Since I have this one, I never longed back for the Weller for one seond.

OK. So, I have an ancient Weller WTCPS station, with a handle that says, "For use with TC202/PU120" (?) on the blue handle and "Use HTR EC234" near the tip shaft. I have #7 fine conical tip in it, now, but I have a couple new #7 chisel tip, somewhere. What's all that parts code mean?

I know it works great for thru-hole soldering on PCBs, etc, cuz I been doing it for yrs, but I'd like to do some SMT stuff, too. I eventually plan on getting a Hakko 888, but this will hafta do for now. Can I get this Weller rig down to 270°C for safe SMT?

nb

OK, to partially answer my own question, I jest found a full tech pdf for that entire rig, with all part numbers and specs. Cool! With it, I discovered I can still buy a PTR6 1/16" narrow screwdriver tip which runs 600°F (#6). That's approx 315°C. Is that low enough to do SMT, safely? The entire Weller station is in excellent condition. nb