So I've been using a 100W soldering gun for the past 15 years or so. Maybe it's my imagination or my usage mode changed, but it looks like recently the tips are basically evaporating in no time. I've just used the gun to salvage the parts from a small (7x7 cm) board and the tip is gone, was changed just before the operation.
The gun is designed to work with copper wire tips.
Is it me, is it the silver-based solder, is it too thick a wire, is it the copper that I'm using? This is very frustrating. Any fixes?
The gun is designed to work with copper wire tips.
Is it me, is it the silver-based solder, is it too thick a wire, is it the copper that I'm using? This is very frustrating. Any fixes?
When I had a soldering gun, my solution was to make my own tips from thick copper wire. They still wear out fast, but they're quite cheap to replace ;-)
If they wear out almost instantly, I'd suspect the flux being used is too aggressive.
If they wear out almost instantly, I'd suspect the flux being used is too aggressive.
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I'm buying for next to nothing or making them anyway but to have to change one after salvaging the parts on a 7x7 cm board is too much.
Silver bearing solder eats tips worse. Also, maybe the quality of the tips isn't what it used to be.
Try making a tip out of coat hanger wire.
Most commercial soldering iron tips are plated with iron but a complete tip made of iron worked for a mate of mine many years ago in e Weller gun.
Most commercial soldering iron tips are plated with iron but a complete tip made of iron worked for a mate of mine many years ago in e Weller gun.
I have used a Weller 100/140 watt gun for close to 60 years - the same one! Once in a while I buy some "real" Weller tips, but mostly I make them. Plain old copper 12ga house wire works for me. Form a loop of it about the same size as a real tip and chuck it in the gun. I never had a problem with wear, but when a tip broke, a new hunk of wire took seconds to make.
One old timer trick: a 100w gun is way too much for a circuit board, unless you don;t care about the board itself. But in an emergency, you can take an extra piece of 12ga wire wrapped around the tip wire, and the end sticking out front. Now that wire end becomes a small iron tip.
One old timer trick: a 100w gun is way too much for a circuit board, unless you don;t care about the board itself. But in an emergency, you can take an extra piece of 12ga wire wrapped around the tip wire, and the end sticking out front. Now that wire end becomes a small iron tip.
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