It is used in sheet-metal work for joining parts that are not exposed to high temperatures and are not subjected to extreme loads and forces. Soft soldering is also used for joining wires and small components. You should tin the tip of your iron before and after each soldering session to extend its life. Eventually, every tip will wear out and will need replacing when it becomes rough or pitted. How To Solder Once cooled down, get a damp sponge or cloth and wipe away any debris or remaining solder on the tip of your iron.

While it’s important to keep your tips clean, you also need to remember to clean the components you will be working on. Before you begin soldering, use alcohol and a clean cloth to remove grease, dirt and oxidisation from the surface you will be soldering. More advanced tip-cleaning kits can also leave you with a fine solder layer across the tip as part of the cleaning process, which helps to prevent tool oxidation over time and improves the longevity of replaceable tips When leaving the solder station for anything over 5 minutes, turn off it off. When you leave the station turned on, the tip remains at soldering temperature, further reducing tip life. Modern soldering equipment heats up to a soldering temperature in seconds, so the time savings is not worth the reduction in tip life.

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You must wear protective eyewear when doing soldering, to protect from an accidental splash of hot solder.

Solder is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature point, used alongside a soldering iron to permanently join together two metals with a higher melting point. The majority of solder comes in the form of a coiled length of wire, or less commonly as pellets, with a range of diameters or gauges available to suit various applications and joints. Learning how to solder w/ proper soldering techniques is a fundamental skill every maker should master. In this tutorial, we outline the basics of soldering irons, soldering stations, types of solder, desoldering and safety tips. Whether you’re building a robot or working with Arduino, knowing how to solder will come in handy. Cleaning your soldering iron tips is an essential part of caring for your soldering equipment. Soldering iron tips work best when they’re clean, so you should make sure they are bright and shiny before, during and after you use them.Cleaning a Weller soldering iron tip is an important task that will keep your iron in good condition and ensure optimal performance. A clean tip will provide a better connection between the components you are soldering, making your work much more effective. Read on to learn the steps required for cleaning and maintaining your Weller soldering iron tip. Soldering irons can reach temperatures of 800′ F so it’s very important to know where your iron is at all times. We always recommend you use a soldering iron stand to help prevent accidental burns or damage. This section will explain the tools of the trade. Some of these you will need, some of these you will not. The first (and most common) apparatus is the simple yellow sponge. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about “ types of soldering” tell us in the comments. If you found this article interesting please share it with your friends.

To extend your soldering iron equipment in general, you should always avoid working at high temperatures for extended periods of time. When not in use, make sure that your soldering iron is on an ‘idle’ setting or turned off completely. There are some soldering irons that will automatically lower their temperature when not in use.Some brass cleaners have a thin coat of flux applied to the brass wire that helps to clean and tin the tip. In this two part Kitronik University resource we’re going to show you how to clean and maintain your soldering iron. Read on for a written guide or skip to the video. JBC’s Senior Tip Cleaner CLMB and Junior Tip Cleaner CLMS mean you save time and increase production effortlessly. These dry cleaning systems require less effort and increase your production. You can save up to 5 seconds with each cleaning and they are very easy to use. Its function is to prevent oxidation of the surfaces to be soldered or to dissolve oxides that settled on the metal surfaces during the healing process. Although corrosive, Zinc chloride is the most common soldering flux.