Restoring Soldering & Desoldering Iron tips?

[nevetslab]

I'm getting around to the never-ending tool maintenance chores. As much as I like my Pace MBT-250 Soldering/Desoldering station, keeping the tips in good shape is always a challenge. And, the bloody tips are EXPENSIVE!.....typically $55 per 5-pk, whether desoldering or soldering tips. The Desoldering tips are the ones that drive me nuts....infamous for NOT conducting heat after sitting idle, even when the system powers down your iron, once you wake it up, and you've been flogging those tips for a few months, with the air path cleaned out, the solder joint doesn't heat up. I do continually use the Tip Tinning compound and brass bristle brush to get back to what looks like a good conductive surface, but it seems like the iron always want's a brand new tip before it will accommodate me.

Does anyone have any luck with restoring the conductive surfaces on tips as they age and oxidize? I don't have a solder pot to try dipping them into the pot after fresh cleaning at their aged state. I've read NOT to sand them down, though with a growing collection of retired tips, I'd sure try that.

I then moved on to restore my Weller EC2002A Base Unit that powers the EC-1201A iron....the Triac in the base unit was out, as was the Temp Display. Replaced the Triac, so the iron can be set again, heats up fine, but the Display is out. That uses a CA3162E A/D converter driving a CA3161E BCD-7-segment Display driver, and my first go-around with a replacement A/D chip didn't fly. New chip didn't work (ebay purchase), and trying again, though not willing to spend $50 for the IC. So, waiting again for parts....like to get that base unit working again, having a good collection of tips for it.

[drewl]

Funny how I forget the name of ours at work, but I've kept them going for 20 years!
Some of the parts aren't available anymore so I've had to improvise and make my own.

Like my desoldering gun has no thermal limiter, I have to use it for like ten minutes at a time before it goes thermonuclear.
Guitar strings work great for cleaning the solder flow, an .024 D string is the perfect size to clean the tip flow.

[nevetslab]

Funny how I forget the name of ours at work, but I've kept them going for 20 years!
Some of the parts aren't available anymore so I've had to improvise and make my own.

Like my desoldering gun has no thermal limiter, I have to use it for like ten minutes at a time before it goes thermonuclear.
Guitar strings work great for cleaning the solder flow, an .024 D string is the perfect size to clean the tip flow.

Ah.......funny how something that surrounds me at our equipment rental depot would escape my imagination.....Guitar Strings as throat cleaners! I LOVE IT!

[Chuck H]

I've also used guitar strings as fishing leaders for toothy fish. Way tougher than the steel leaders available at the sporting goods store

[Chuck H]

As to soldering iron tips... I don't have much trouble with them. But then, I'm not using the hell out of them so they don't get the same wear on my bench. But here's a tip that I've been using for awhile and have found impossible to live without. I curve my tips. It makes it much easier to get to joints that are a little buried by components and lead wire. In eyelet boards and PTP construction it's common to not have a straight shot at a solder joint.

[Helmholtz]

Apart from the wet sponge, I use these (sparingly):

Made up of thin metal (stainless steel?) bands, kind of rough steel wool.

Weller tips are steel coated for improved wetting. Over time the thin steel plating gets dissolved in the molten solder and scaling increases. Then it's no fun anymore and time to replace the tip.

[nevetslab]

Pace MBT-250 Station & Irons

Apart from the wet sponge, I use these (sparingly):
[ATTACH=CONFIG]51303[/ATTACH]
Made up of thin metal (stainless steel?) bands, kind of rough steel wool.

Weller tips are steel coated for improved wetting. Over time the thin steel plating gets dissolved in the molten solder and scaling increases. Then it's no fun anymore and time to replace the tip.

I have those currly tip cleaners on one of my iron stands, though only back at my apt, and haven't added that to my Pace station. Those do a good job in getting that last bit of solder that clings to the tip after wiping on the sponge.

After I posted the first thread, I dug thru my Pace maintenance bag to see what I had left in new tips for both the PS-80 Soldering Iron and the SX-70 Desoldering Iron. I did find a good stash of new/unused tips for both that I wasn't recalling, so that was a relief. At least the MBT station will cycle down the applied power to run them at around 350 deg F instead of 750 deg where I usually run. If left unused for any length of time, it will shut them off altogether, so while it's a small annoyance when you need the hot iron, you have to wait.

Here's a shot of new to various degrees of use aging on the Desoldring tips...new one (0.031" ID) on the left, 0.040" ID next to it. The far right looks like it would still do the task, but actually doesn't conduct heat well at all....even after applying fresh tip renew compound. Hence my wondering if there's any tricks I haven't tried to extend working life.



The MBT-250 Station, with a TJ-65 Thermojet hot air tool, PS-80 Soldering Iron, SX-70 Desoldering Iron



What does work, though not always suitable, is placing the the Soldering iron tip on the desoldering iron tip when it's not conducting heat, to melt the solder pad's solder and vacuum out the molten solder. Only do that on known quality PCB's where the solder pad won't just lift off, as found on Fender Hot Rod series, and even the 65 RI Twins and Deluxe Reverbs.