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Soldering

version:2.2020-03-18
history:
1.2020-02-28 initial version
2.2020.03-18 included photos

author: Joey van der Bie (j.h.f.van.der.bie@hva.nl).

Good practices

  1. Always take in regard the safety rules: wear protective glasses, gloves, no long hair, sweaters with laces, a clean table, etc.
  2. Keep your tip tinned to minimize oxidation 3
  3. Use the lowest possible temperature for your tin. Do not turn your iron to high for your tin 3
  4. Do not turn your iron around or on the maximum temperature for a long time, you might break your station and it is almost always a to high temperature for your material.
  5. Alway use ventilation

Soldering steps

  1. First take in regards the safety measurements and good practices
  2. Gather your parts and material

Cleaning

"Tips will also accumulate a layer of black 'goo' after being used for a time. This 'goo' is flux residue, and result from partial combustion of the flux during soldering. This residue is a barrier to both effective heat transfer and proper wetting. Proper and frequent cleaning will keep this residue from building up."3 Dirty tip 1. Make sure your iron is cold. 2. Clean with dampened sulfur-free sponge. Steel wool and sponge

Wet sponge Clean tip with sponge and steel wool

  1. Clean with dampened steel wool until your tip is clean. Use gloves to protect your skin from the steel fibers. Steel wool Glove

  2. Next to protect your tip from corrosion tin the solder iron tip. Dirty tip Tinned tip

Tinning the solder iron tip

  1. First make sure your iron is clean, see section Cleaning. Clean tip with solder iron

  2. Turn your iron on and wait until it is warm. Correct temperature for tin

  3. Put a layer of solder spread evenly on the tip. This will protect the tip. Tinning the tip

  4. Clean the tip shortly with a dampened sulfur-free sponge.

  5. If step 3 and 4 are not sufficient in one try, or the solder does not want to stick properly to the tip, try to clean the tip again shortly with a sponge and brush the tip a little bit with some steel wool. Then repeat steps 3,4 and 5 until your tip is properly tinned. Tinned tip

  6. Turn your solder iron off. See here also the difference between dirty tips and cleaned tinned tips. Dirty tips Tinned tips

References

https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Solder-Iron 1 https://www.circuitspecialists.com/blog/soldering-station-maintenance/ 2 https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/datasheets/hakkotips.pdf 3