Advice on soldering

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Deathquake
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:32 pm

Advice on soldering

Post by Deathquake » Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:03 pm

I’m a novice with a soldering iron.
I have a cheapo job off amazon.
I’ve been working through the 8x8x8 kit, after a couple of hours or so i’ve Worked my way through two of the tips supplied with the iron.
This seems wrong to me.
Assuming it is.
How can I tell if it’s me not looking after the iron properly. (I watched many videos).
Or have I bought rubbish?
Should I be looking at better quality tips or do I need to get a better quality iron too?
TIA for any advice.

andrew
Site Admin
Posts: 1374
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:15 pm

Re: Advice on soldering

Post by andrew » Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:42 am

There is a lot of soldering to be done for the 8x8x8 cube kit but I certainly would expect you to be getting trough several tips. If you're using very fine tips it wouldn't be unusual to wear a tip out but not several.

Does your soldering iron have an adjustable temperature? If so you'll want to set it around 350oC. If it's set too high that could cause a problem.

Do you find that you have to clean the tip often? That could also be a sign that your iron is too hot. Also how are you cleaning it?

Another thing to check for is that when you put the iron back in its holder your not knocking the end of the tip when you do so. It's particularly easy to do with the coiled spring type holders and fine soldering iron tips can easily be damaged in this way.
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