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Soldering iron tip advice


Rustee

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Hi DIYers,

I have an old Weller SP-40-D soldering iron which has a 6mm chisel tip which I've used for years for general soldering and has worked well.

I'm looking at making some interconnects for myself and guitar leads for my son and was looking to change the tip to a smaller conical/pointed tip but it seems they are no longer available for my iron.

Can I modify my existing tip or buy something from another brand, or am I stuck with what I have?

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers,

Russ

 

Edited by Rustee
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1 minute ago, Rustee said:

Hi DIYers,

I have an old Wello SP-40-D soldering iron which has a 6mm chisel tip which I've used for years for general soldering and has worked well.

I'm looking at making some interconnects for myself and guitar leads for my son and was looking to change the tip to a smaller conical/pointed tip but it seems they are no longer available for my iron.

Can I modify my existing tip or buy something from another brand, or am I stuck with what I have?

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers,

Russ

 

Your Weller is not a good choice (regardless of tip) for fine electronic work. If you modify the tip, then the plating will be useless and the tip will rapidly deteriorate due to the way solder reacts with copper. 

 

There are a lot of choices available to you, including:

 

https://www.jaycar.com.au/40w-temperature-controlled-soldering-station/p/TS1620

https://www.altronics.com.au/p/t209-micron-economy-40w-soldering-station/

 

Either will do what you want. Both are temperature controlled, which is very important for electronic work.

 

 

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23 minutes ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

Your Weller is not a good choice (regardless of tip) for fine electronic work. If you modify the tip, then the plating will be useless and the tip will rapidly deteriorate due to the way solder reacts with copper. 

 

There are a lot of choices available to you, including:

 

https://www.jaycar.com.au/40w-temperature-controlled-soldering-station/p/TS1620

https://www.altronics.com.au/p/t209-micron-economy-40w-soldering-station/

 

Either will do what you want. Both are temperature controlled, which is very important for electronic work.

 

 

Thanks @Zaphod Beeblebrox, if I did go down the path of a new iron, is it worth me considering a more powerful unit or is the 40W units plenty for RCA's etc..?

 

Thanks @Batty, yep that's the tip I was after. My chisel tip has no shoulder like the one in your link, and is about 6.3mm / 1/4" all the way through.

Like this one.

Cheers.

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18 minutes ago, Rustee said:

Thanks @Zaphod Beeblebrox, if I did go down the path of a new iron, is it worth me considering a more powerful unit or is the 40W units plenty for RCA's etc..?

 

A 40 Watt iron should be plenty adequate for that purpose. However, if you plan on soldering speaker cables, more power will be required.

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4 hours ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

A 40 Watt iron should be plenty adequate for that purpose. However, if you plan on soldering speaker cables, more power will be required.

I did try soldering some speaker cable a little while ago and didn't have much luck. So what would be a good wattage to enable me to solder speaker cable ? If I'm going to buy one, I want it to be decent so I don't have to buy another for a while.

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On 08/10/2018 at 7:48 PM, Rustee said:

I did try soldering some speaker cable a little while ago and didn't have much luck. So what would be a good wattage to enable me to solder speaker cable ? If I'm going to buy one, I want it to be decent so I don't have to buy another for a while. 

I've used both 80W and 100W irons successfully for speaker cable.

These were not expensive or temperature controlled irons.  Thus I would let it warm up, solder, then switch off, not leaving an iron on for long periods.   A nice and bulky chisel tip also helps for thicker cables.

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6 minutes ago, Rustee said:

Thanks for all the advice guys.

What do you guys think of these?

https://www.mektronics.com.au/hakko-fx888d-digital-soldering-station-esd-mat.html

 

Or is there something else around that price that you recommend?

Cheers,

 

Excellent choice. Possibly more than you really need to spend, but Hakko is a great brand and, importantly, is well supported and there are lots of different tips available for different purposes. The cited price is excellent for that model. 

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2 minutes ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

Excellent choice. Possibly more than you really need to spend, but Hakko is a great brand and, importantly, is well supported and there are lots of different tips available for different purposes. The cited price is excellent for that model. 

Fantastic, thanks!

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On ‎8‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 10:27 AM, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

Your Weller is not a good choice (regardless of tip) for fine electronic work. If you modify the tip, then the plating will be useless and the tip will rapidly deteriorate due to the way solder reacts with copper. 

 

There are a lot of choices available to you, including:

 

https://www.jaycar.com.au/40w-temperature-controlled-soldering-station/p/TS1620

https://www.altronics.com.au/p/t209-micron-economy-40w-soldering-station/

 

Either will do what you want. Both are temperature controlled, which is very important for electronic work.

 

 

I totally agree.  This Weller model you have has a tip temperature way too high for soldering electronics with normal Pb/Sn/Cu or Ag based alloys.  From the specs for the Weller it states "Develops 900°F/482°C" which is about 200°C more than what is required for normal soldering using the alloys recommended for electronics work.  ?

 

Both of the models ZB has recommended cost less than the Weller you have.  The Micron has a good tip selection available for under $9 each.

 

You are far better off with even a relatively inexpensive temperature controlled iron.  Heavens, even an old Weller TCP-W series with the Currie point magnetic temperature controlled tips would be better IMHO.

 

Just some food for thought.  Tip size is relative to the size or mass of the thing you are trying to solder.  Too small a tip will have trouble transferring enough heat to the joint, meaning you will have to heat the tag or connection for longer to get the solder to flow correctly.  This can result in several problems, including dry joints, damaging the connection or in the case of connectors melting the insulating material before the metallic connection is actually soldered.  :(

 

BTW, forget the wet sponges supplied with most irons.  IME and IMHO they are next to useless.  They lower the temperature of the tips and often cause them to develop an oxide layer which impedes soldering.  Use a wire one instead to remove excess solder from the tip.  Something like this is a good choice.  https://www.altronics.com.au/p/t1330-solder-tip-cleaner-and-holder/#fancy-inner

 

Cheers,

Alan R.

Edited by Monkeyboi
typo
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6 hours ago, Monkeyboi said:

I totally agree.  This Weller model you have has a tip temperature way too high for soldering electronics with normal Pb/Sn/Cu or Ag based alloys.  From the specs for the Weller it states "Develops 900°F/482°C" which is about 200°C more than what is required for normal soldering using the alloys recommended for electronics work.  ?

 

Both of the models ZB has recommended cost less than the Weller you have.  The Micron has a good tip selection available for under $9 each.

 

You are far better off with even a relatively inexpensive temperature controlled iron.  Heavens, even an old Weller TCP-W series with the Currie point magnetic temperature controlled tips would be better IMHO.

 

Just some food for thought.  Tip size is relative to the size or mass of the thing you are trying to solder.  Too small a tip will have trouble transferring enough heat to the joint, meaning you will have to heat the tag or connection for longer to get the solder to flow correctly.  This can result in several problems, including dry joints, damaging the connection or in the case of connectors melting the insulating material before the metallic connection is actually soldered.  :(

 

BTW, forget the wet sponges supplied with most irons.  IME and IMHO they are next to useless.  They lower the temperature of the tips and often cause them to develop an oxide layer which impedes soldering.  Use a wire one instead to remove excess solder from the tip.  Something like this is a good choice.  https://www.altronics.com.au/p/t1330-solder-tip-cleaner-and-holder/#fancy-inner

 

Cheers,

Alan R.

Thanks for the valuable info, I'm definitely looking at getting a temp controlled unit and will now also look at a wire tip cleaner. 

I'm surprised I had problems soldering speaker cable if my iron is that hot and has a chisel tip. Maybe it was more due to poor technique. 

Cheers,

 

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The Weller tips have a numbering system 5, 6, 7 & 8 - different heat ranges plus different size tips for different purposes - all is not lost, altho the Hakko's are a nice unit indeed if you're doing more than the occasional joint.  

 

As A-t-m says "the experience driving those tools"  means your old Weller, like mine, is still a quite useful iron, despite the lack of temp control, and I think Rockby (in Clayton) still have a whole range of tips for these irons at quite reasonable prices

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Cheers guys.

Had a quick look at the Rockby site and he does have quite a few tips. Will be worth giving him a call even if I do get a new one.

Thanks again.

 

Edit: Oh and my cable and connectors are ordered so getting excited. Also making some guitar leads for the young bloke. 

Edited by Rustee
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On 11/10/2018 at 8:16 PM, Rustee said:

Thanks for the valuable info, I'm definitely looking at getting a temp controlled unit and will now also look at a wire tip cleaner. 

I'm surprised I had problems soldering speaker cable if my iron is that hot and has a chisel tip. Maybe it was more due to poor technique. 

Cheers,

 

As Alan explained, there are two, separate, issues to deal with when soldering:

 

1) The temperature of the iron. For normal, fine, soldering, 300 ~ 350 degrees C is about right. Use a fine tip for fine work and a larger tip for larger work.

2) The size of the tip matters, when soldering stuff that 'sucks' heat rapidly. That is, when you are soldering big lumps of copper. Copper sucks heat away from the iron quickly. That's when you need a big tip, so it can 'hold' a lot of heat in reserve. You may even need to crank the iron's temperature up to around 400 degrees C (but no higher!). 

 

Additionally, the type of temperature control and the power of the iron comes into play as well. I use a very nice (and expensive) ERSA 80 Watt iron. It does everything. From very fine surface mount stuff, all the way up to stained glass. It has superb temperature control. I have 8 different tips for different jobs. 

 

FWIW: I also use a Hakko desoldering iron. I quite like Hakko irons. I moved away from Weller about 30 years ago, as they are expensive to keep going, unreliable and their temperature control is/was not as good as more modern irons (like Hakko, ERSA, Metcal, etc). 

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Just now, Rustee said:

Thanks @Zaphod Beeblebrox that answered a lot of questions in my head about temperatures.

I didn't have much luck with Rockby so I think I will bite the bullet and buy that Hakko.

 

The Hakko will serve you very well. Wagner also sell Hakko, along with a selection of bits and accessories, should you have difficulties in the future locating specific items. I should also mention that the temperatures I specified are related to leaded solder. Lead free solders will require higher temperatures. However, we techs do not like lead free solder and, fortunately, it has not yet been banned in Australia. Provided you don't put the solder in your mouth and wash your hands after using leaded solder, the risk is minimal. 

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Yep I currently use leaded and intend to continue using it, i really should get myself a little desk top fan though...

 I have a roll of 1mm wire getting closing to finishing and was thinking about something thinner like around the 0.5mm, is this too thin for general purpose?

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9 minutes ago, Rustee said:

Yep I currently use leaded and intend to continue using it, i really should get myself a little desk top fan though...

 I have a roll of 1mm wire getting closing to finishing and was thinking about something thinner like around the 0.5mm, is this too thin for general purpose?

Solder isn’t chicken feed, unless you have very fine stuff such as SOIC or and SMD  I stick to the average 1mm that you currently have.    

I have serval sizes on different rolls and alternate depending on the what is required.  

Yes any fan will help to otherwise it starts to effect you.

Id stick to lead too,  I have projects here that I’ve built in my teens and early 20s that still going strong!  

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1 hour ago, HdB said:

... and try to avoid breathing it too. 

As long as you keep soldering temps low, there should be no problem. 300 ~ 350 degrees C is fine. 500 degrees C is very risky, which is why non-temperature controlled irons are a really bad idea..

Edited by Zaphod Beeblebrox
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On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:21 PM, HdB said:

The Weller tips have a numbering system 5, 6, 7 & 8 - different heat ranges plus different size tips for different purposes - all is not lost, altho the Hakko's are a nice unit indeed if you're doing more than the occasional joint.  

 

As A-t-m says "the experience driving those tools"  means your old Weller, like mine, is still a quite useful iron, despite the lack of temp control, and I think Rockby (in Clayton) still have a whole range of tips for these irons at quite reasonable prices

Unfortunately the Weller SP-40D has no temperature control.  IMHO it limits its uses.

The Weller tip numbers you are referring to are the nominal Curie point temperatures of the tips in question.

The tip numbers correspond to the first digit of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

  • 6 = 600 deg F
  • 7 = 700 deg F
  • 8 = 800 deg F

Pictured is a selection of tips used in the Weller WTCPN series soldering irons.

 

Cheers,

Alan R.

 

DSCN0096 cropped.jpg

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