Soldering iron tip

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Nanik

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May 30, 2012, 9:33:48 PM5/30/12
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Luke Emrose

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May 30, 2012, 9:36:02 PM5/30/12
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By "not that good anymore" can you elaborate?
If you use a lot of flux or cleaning acid for your work then you can generally "get it good again" with a liberal sandpapering, to strip it back to the metal again.
I clean mine in this way each time I use it and it seems to last a LOT longer.
L


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Ada Lim

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May 30, 2012, 9:40:08 PM5/30/12
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Goot sells a tip refresher product (available ultrakeet +- jaycar)
which isn't bad.

None of those tips look like they will work, btw. one of the things
about cheap soldering irons is it's hard to get replacement tips.

Nanik

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May 30, 2012, 9:49:47 PM5/30/12
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I notice the part near the tip is like 'rusted' it's my fault too as I didn't clean it properly everytime I've used it, so I was thinking of replacing it

Luke Emrose

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May 30, 2012, 10:11:09 PM5/30/12
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Still might be a good idea to sandpaper it back and see if you can extract a little more life out of it.
If you can't, it might be a better idea to just invest in a new iron.
L

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Nanik

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May 31, 2012, 12:54:57 AM5/31/12
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Cool...will try that and see how much more life I can extract out of it :)

Terry Dawson

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May 31, 2012, 1:31:49 AM5/31/12
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On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 2:54 PM, Nanik <nani...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cool...will try that and see how much more life I can extract out of it :)

Nanik,
If it is really pitted or blunt then don't be afraid to take a small
fine-grained file to it. Sandpaper will clean it up, but won't do much
to restore its shape.

Tips in these sorts of soldering irons are passive, they're just
appropriately sized/shaped pieces of metal with a corrosion/abrasion
resistant coating. In practice, while you'll lose some coating by
filing it, if you tin (cover it in molten solder) soon after filing
it, it will work ok. My first soldering iron was similar to yours and
while the tip ended up quite short after a few years it quite happily
survived filing to clean it up.

regards
Terry

Nanik

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May 31, 2012, 10:36:01 PM5/31/12
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Thanks Terry, will head to Bunnings this weekend to find some sandpaper, any suggestion on sandpaper or any will do fine ?

On Thursday, May 31, 2012 3:31:49 PM UTC+10, Terry Dawson wrote:

Ada Lim

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May 31, 2012, 10:38:18 PM5/31/12
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come to the space tomorrow, bring your iron.

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Jason Ball

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May 31, 2012, 11:17:38 PM5/31/12
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I'll be dropping in at some stage and can take a small tin of tip cleaner.

Ada Lim

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May 31, 2012, 11:27:05 PM5/31/12
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is this the goot tip cleaner?  that stuff is awesome but it will eat tips if you misuse it.

(I turned a conical tip into a hook the first time I used the goot refresher).

Luke Emrose

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May 31, 2012, 11:33:38 PM5/31/12
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? Really ? how.
I use it all the time and the tip (excuse the pun) is to use the goot refresher, then clean the tip quickly on brass wool cleaner (at least I think that's what it is that I have....), then cover the tip in solder after that for each clean.
Doing that things seem to be lasting quite well.

L

Ada Lim

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May 31, 2012, 11:51:33 PM5/31/12
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yeah, I was young and stupid;  I didn't wipe it off straight away and the flux in it ate the tip off my iroda gas iron.  I don't know if it was that particular iron or just my stupidity.

I also have lots of solder paste which is essentially the tip refresher without as nasty a flux.

-A

Luke Emrose

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May 31, 2012, 11:55:10 PM5/31/12
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Wow, that's quite impressive ;-)
I often watch it bubble away in wonder, but I won't do that any more....
Yeah it seems like extremely nasty stuff while active.

Jason Ball

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Jun 1, 2012, 12:13:53 AM6/1/12
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This is basically a super flux...  Works on everything ive tried it on.

Nanik

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Jun 2, 2012, 6:06:52 PM6/2/12
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Thanks all appreciate all your help, will try to swing by the space next Saturday.

Cheers
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