How to sharpen a soldering iron tip correctly? — Metals, equipment, instructions
It is impossible to do without a soldering iron in the household. It is necessary when repairing household appliances, and when repairing radio equipment, and in many other cases, a soldering iron comes to the rescue of any home craftsman. Before use, the soldering iron should be prepared (tinned) in a special way to ensure high-quality and durable soldering.
Sharpening the soldering iron tip
Before you start soldering, you should prepare a new soldering iron for work, or rather, sharpen the tip to a certain shape and cover it with a thin layer of solder on top. It is necessary to sharpen the tip with a file at an angle of 30-40 degrees, so that the result is a wedge.
The sharp edge of the tip should be blunted so that as a result we have a flat edge approximately one millimeter wide; new soldering irons already have a sharpened tip with a wedge, but it is covered with a layer of patina - greenish oxide of oxygen and copper. It is necessary to remove this oxide with fine-grained sandpaper or a metal file.
In addition to the wedge-shaped “classic” shape, you can give the tip another shape, everything here will depend on what you will be soldering. For soldering small parts, for example, you can make its shape like an elongated cone with an edge width of 2-3 millimeters. Or make a cut in the edge so that you can solder SMD resistors with one touch.
Immediately after the tip has been sharpened, it is necessary to install it in the soldering iron itself and tin it. If this is not done, the copper surface of the tip will oxidize in air and you will have to sharpen it again!
How to tin a soldering iron tip?
Then we need to tin the soldering iron tip, that is, cover it with a thin layer of solder. To do this, turn on an electric soldering iron and wait until the rod warms up to a certain temperature. When the tip warms up, it will become noticeable by its reddish tint; the copper will become orange-reddish in color. Do not delay warming up, otherwise the tip will burn. As soon as the sting acquires a slightly reddish tint, it is leaned against resin or lump rosin.
There will be a lot of smoke emitted. Cover the entire sting with melted rosin. Next, a small piece of solder is melted, achieving uniform coverage of the tip with solder. You can rub the tip on a wooden board, this will help the solder spread over the surface of the copper tip.
The copper tip should be covered with an even layer of solder. If there are uncovered areas on the surface with solder, it would be better to repeat the process. This is how the soldering iron is prepared for use. The process must be repeated as necessary, but it is not at all necessary to do it often.
We tried everything in sufficient detail, so you should succeed.
A soldering iron, like any other tool, needs care. The tip of the soldering iron burns out from time to time, and irregularities and potholes appear on it. Burnout is eliminated by sharpening the tip and tinning it. It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that the rod becomes covered with scale during prolonged use, which prevents the tip from heating up quickly.
Why does the soldering iron tip burn out ? The point is that copper, when heated, partially dissolves in the solder, and the edge of the tip itself is subjected to, albeit a small, but still mechanical effect.
It should also be noted that when the soldering iron is not used, the tip becomes very hot and this contributes to the oxidation of copper. Therefore, it is recommended that when idle, either turn off the soldering iron or reduce the temperature of the tip.
An ordinary electric soldering iron does not have temperature control, so it is better to turn it off when not in use.
Scale is removed as follows . Use pliers to remove the copper rod from the soldering iron. Scale is removed from the rod using fine-grained sandpaper.
You can coat the rod with a small layer of graphite by rubbing it on the lead of an ordinary pencil. This will prevent rapid scale formation in the future.
Lightly tap the heating element of the soldering iron to remove the scale from the heating element where the copper rod was installed. The copper rod is installed in its original place.
You should check the insulation condition of your electric soldering iron from time to time. To do this, measure the resistance between the soldering iron tip and the power plug. On the ohmmeter it is necessary to set the megaohm measurement limit (1-10 MΩ).
It should be remembered that you should not touch the metal screws of the multimeter with your hands when measuring the resistance. Otherwise, the device will show the total resistance of the measured circuit and your body. The device should show an infinitely large resistance.
This will be evidence of good insulation between the electrical network and the soldering iron tip.
Tinning
Tinning is the process of covering the solder surface with a thin layer of solder - it can be either an independent, final operation, or a preparatory and intermediate stage of soldering. When this is the preparatory stage, in most cases, successful tinning of the part means that the most labor-intensive part of the soldering work (connection with the solder metal) has been completed; soldering the tinning parts to each other, as a rule, is not particularly difficult.
Tinning the ends of electrical wires is one of the most common procedures. It is performed before soldering wires to the contacts, soldering them together, or to ensure better contact with the terminals when connecting with bolts.
It is convenient to make a ring from a stranded tinned wire, which provides ease of attachment to the terminal, as well as excellent contact. Wires can be aluminum and copper, single-core and multi-core, varnished or not, new and clean or old acidified.
Depending on these features, their service varies.
If the conductor does not want to tint - due to the presence of varnish (enamel), then ordinary aspirin will help you. Knowing how to solder with a soldering iron using an aspirin tablet (acetylsalicylic acid) can be very useful in some cases. It is necessary to place it on a plate, press the conductor to it and heat it with a soldering iron for several seconds.
At the same time, the tablet begins to melt, and the resulting acid destroys the armor. The wire is then easy to tin.
If there is no aspirin, then vinyl chloride insulation from electrical wires, which when heated releases substances that destroy the varnish coating, also helps to remove the varnish that interferes with tinning from the surface of the conductor. It is necessary to press the wires to a piece of insulation with a soldering iron and drag it several times between the soldering iron and the insulation. Then tin the wire in the usual manner.
When removing varnish with a knife and sandpaper, cuts and breaks of thin wire strands are common. When stripping by firing, the wire may lose strength and break easily. It should also be taken into account that melted aspirin and polyvinyl chloride release substances harmful to human health into the air.
Also, for wires coated with varnish (enamel), you can buy a special flux that removes the varnish.
How to properly cut metal with an oxygen propane cutter?
New stranded copper wire is as easy to tin as solid wire. The only peculiarity is to rotate it in the direction in which the wires will twist and not unwind. Old wires may be coated with oxides that prevent tinning. The same aspirin tablet will help to cope with them.
You need to untwist the conductor, put it on aspirin and heat it with a soldering iron for several seconds, moving the conductor back and forth, and your tinning problem will disappear. To tinning an aluminum wire, you will need a special flux - for example, the one that is called “flux for soldering aluminum.”
This flux is universal and is also suitable for soldering metals with a chemically resistant oxide film - in particular stainless steel. When using it, you just need to remember to clean the connection of all flux residues afterward in order to avoid corrosion.
If excess surf has formed on them when tinning the wires, it can be removed by placing the wire vertically with the end down and pressing a heated soldering iron to its end. Excess solder will drain from the wire onto the soldering iron.
Tinning a large metal surface
It may be necessary to tinning the surface of the metal to protect it from corrosion or to subsequently solder another part to it. Even if a completely new sheet is tinned, which looks outwardly clean, there can always be foreign substances on its surface - various contaminants, preservative grease.
If a sheet that is covered with rust is tinned, then it needs even more cleaning. Therefore, tinning always begins with a thorough cleaning of the surface. Rust is cleaned with a metal brush or emery cloth, oils and fats are removed with acetone, gasoline or another solvent.
Then, using a brush or other tool that matches the flux, flux is applied to the surface of the sheet (this may not be an ordinary paste-like flux, but, for example, a solution of zinc chloride or other active flux). A soldering iron with a relatively larger flat tip surface is heated to the temperature you need and solder is applied to the surface of the part.
It is desirable that the power of the soldering iron be approximately 100 W or higher. Then apply the soldering iron to the solder on the part with the largest plane and hold it in this position. The heating time of the part depends on its size, contact area and soldering iron power. The boiling of the flux, melting of the solder and its spreading over the surface indicate that the required temperature has been reached.
The solder is gradually distributed over the surface. The metal surface after tinning is cleaned of all flux residues with soapy water, gasoline, acetone, and alcohol (depending on the chemical composition of the flux).
If the solder does not spread over the metal surface, it may be due to poor cleaning before tinning the surface, poor heating of the metal (due to the fact that the soldering iron is not powerful enough, insufficient heating time for the metal, small contact area), or a dirty soldering iron tip. Another reason may be the wrong choice of solder or flux.
It can carry out tinning by applying solder from a soldering iron and distributing it over the surface with a “tip”, or by supplying solder directly to the pad itself - the solder melts when it touches the heated metal of the part.
Overlapping sheet metal soldering
In the process of repairing car bodies and all kinds of various tin works, the need arises for soldering sheet metal overlay. There are two ways to stack sheet parts on top of each other: by tinning them first, or by using soldering paste that contains flux and solder.
In the first case, overlapping areas of parts after mechanical cleaning and degreasing are pre-tinned. Then the parts of the connection are applied to each other with degreased surfaces, fixed with clamping devices and heated from different sides using a soldering iron to the melting temperature of the solder. Evidence of successful soldering is the flow of molten solder from the gap.
After preparing the parts in the second method, the contact area of one of the parts is coated with a special solder paste. Then the parts are fixed in the desired position, tightened with clamps and, as in the very first case, the seam is heated on both sides with a soldering iron.
When purchasing solder paste, you need to pay attention to its purpose, since many solder pastes are intended for soldering electronics and do not contain active fluxes that allow steel to be soldered.
Source: https://spb-metalloobrabotka.com/kak-pravilno-zatochit-zhalo-payalnika/
How to sharpen a soldering iron tip?
Constant use of a soldering iron leads over time to partial or complete wear of its main working part.
How to sharpen a soldering iron tip, which is subject to destructive effects due to the need to constantly heat up to high temperatures, as well as as a result of interaction with parts of the chemical composition of the solder and materials being soldered? After all, all these actions lead to the fact that the tip loses its original shape, whatever it was at the beginning: gradually the adhering parts of metal and alloys make the tip semicircular. This is due to both irregular cleaning and other factors. The shape of the soldering iron tip also changes due to overzealous cleaning, which gradually grinds down the surface of the tip.
How quickly you need to sharpen the soldering iron tip depends on the material from which it is made. Copper is a wear-resistant option that holds its shape best. Other materials are not so suitable and require additional processing much more often. Unburnt tips cannot be sharpened at all, as they will simply be damaged.
The need for sharpening most often concerns a tip made independently from copper wire. Similar manipulations may also be required if the factory form is not suitable for further use. The third reason is contamination and dullness of the tip as a result of various works.
Sharpening the soldering iron tip
Soldering iron tip sharpening tools
When figuring out how to sharpen a soldering iron tip, start with the tools that are useful for the task. Among the main ones:
- file;
- sandpaper;
- coal or pencil.
Files for sharpening
When people don't know how to properly sharpen a soldering iron tip, they often think that it is a difficult process. In fact, this is not so, because the main difficulty lies not in the availability of special tools or the use of special technologies, but in the precision of manual work. A minimal set of tools is enough for this.
Some people use sharpening machines and similar equipment for turning, choosing the appropriate tool depending on how the soldering iron tip should be. All this only increases the accuracy and speed of processing, while the principle itself remains the same.
Types of possible sting shapes
Before sharpening the tip of a soldering iron for soldering, you need to figure out what kind of soldering process the tool will be used for, and what shape will be suitable for this. For example, options for sharpening a soldering iron for soldering microcircuits and wires can vary greatly. There are various ready-made models on the market, but if you have to do everything yourself, you need to plan your choice in advance.
The main forms include:
- Needle. A difficult option to process, but very common in use. It is especially often found in sets of tips for soldering stations. It is used for soldering small parts from microcircuits. It has little heat dissipation, but for its purposes this form of tip is irreplaceable.
- One-sided cut. The tip, which has a bevel, is a universal variety; it is the one that most people choose. It is relatively easy to sharpen and does not require any special skills. It is used for soldering radio components and wires. Large diameter tips are suitable for massive components.
- Wedge. This variety is a version with a double-sided cut. In terms of its operating principle, it is not much different from a one-sided cut, but this is mostly a matter of personal preference. Most often, such tips have a large diameter. There are no difficulties with how to properly sharpen the soldering iron tip to a cone.
- Knife-shaped. This is not the most comfortable tip to use. It has a fairly specific scope of application. Useful for cleaning contact surfaces. To create this type, the tip must be made in the form of a knife blade.
- U-shaped. This variety is used for SMD components. The specific shape allows you to heat two contacts at once, making soldering much easier. However, it is necessary to guess with the correspondence of the tip and the size of the parts involved in the work.
- Tunnel. It is used mainly for powerful models, from 100 W and more. It is also used in soldering stations. It is quite difficult to make such a form yourself. It is used for large heat-intensive processes such as copper soldering and so on.
Types of soldering iron tips
The process of sharpening a soldering iron tip
The forms for different operations may vary greatly, but the very principle of the process, how to sharpen a soldering iron tip for soldering microcircuits or desoldering, remains unchanged.
First of all, take an ordinary soldering iron; if a complex shape is required, then there can be several of them. First, everything is ground down by hand in a rough preliminary stage, using a coarse-grained surface of the tool.
For more detailed work and to give a smooth surface, you should additionally process everything with a fine-grained soldering iron.
An alternative is to use a sharpening machine. Everything will go faster on it, but here you need to ensure a reliable fixation for the tip, since there is a risk that it will jump out upon contact with the machine.
At a further stage, the surface is treated with sandpaper. It should not be perfectly flat, as then problems with tinning may arise. The main thing is that there are no seriously deformed places that would be noticeable and interfere with further work.
At the last stage, the surface should be treated with charcoal or pencil. This will prevent fading since it will be protected by an additional layer.
Conclusion
There are many shapes for soldering iron tips, but the principle of operations on how to sharpen a soldering iron for soldering small parts and large components will be very similar. The main thing is to choose a suitable shape and practice turning, which will help you do everything much easier and faster in the future.
Source: https://svarkaipayka.ru/oborudovanie/payalniki/kak-zatochit-zhalo-payalnika.html
