Soldering Tip Cleaning

Weller offers a wide variety of soldering tools and accessories. Pete Jenner, Field Applications Engineer at Weller provides us with some useful tips and tools for cleaning and maintaining your soldering tips.

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[jeremywiest]

Are you telling me that neither Arrow or Weller could pony up for 24-50mm lens so we can see the oxidized tips or some close up shots? Proper soldering in all about the details. Otherwise a good video and I appreciate you making this. Great collaboration and I love my Weller 1010. Just please put a back light in the display and it would be perfect!

[johnl]

As a telecom technician I occasionally had to do soldering repairs/upgrades in the field. I found the best/easiest way to clean my Weller soldering tips was to use a small piece of cardboard and insert the tip into one of the cardboard edge holes and rotate it in there. Very little tip heat loss (unlike a cold/wet sponge) and almost always took only one insertion in the cardboard to totally clean the tip. Of course on my office workbench I used the proper tip cleaning methods.
Also, we had bins full of extra solder tips so replacement when necessary wasn't an issue.

[gregp]

What a great video, thank you! I was the guy that just turned up the heat and made it worse. Thanks again for a very helpful video!

[SuperHandyMan]

Soldering is so easy when you know what you are doing and miserable work when you don't. It looks so easy when you watch a skilled person.

[TBSxDRUMS]

Maybe I was using too much tip tinner... didn’t know it was an acid and would eat up the tip. That must explain why my last soldering session went so wrong lol. Not to mention I use lead-free solder and a cheap iron with no temperature controls. Thankfully getting a better iron (a whole station) soon and learning more about tip care. Thanks for these videos.

[jhnnyknxvlle]

i pretty much made every mistake mentioned in this video this weekend and destroyed the tip of my new weller. #LiveAndLearn

[judkiewiczj]

With all this precautions you presenting here, I want to ask you a question:
In 1985 i was working for electronic company. We have used Weller irons 24/7, never off. Nobody took care of them ever and each tip was good for at least a year before change.
How come?

[lucashearne]

Quality video. As a beginner hobbyist, I was only interested in what the cleaning paste does. But watched the whole thing just because it sounded interesting.

[suzannebigras]

Great info for me as a person who is learning on my own. Thank you

[newzealandhoris]

Sponges from home and no good I can vouch for that I just went and got a high-temperature one for soldering and it's awesome big difference thank you my man

[Impulse_Photography]

What's your opinion of Ammonia blocks?

[sunnyeh]

Thank you Mr. Pete and Kristen very well explained, the video is very informative and Helpfull.

[jimmiemack]

Great video but wish he would have mentioned what temperature would be ideal for soldering.

[geirtjelta]

Is Weller flux LW25 safe to use on fine electronics, such as PCB boards when soldering? It has Zinc Chloride in it, and it is said that it is acidic and may corrode and destroy PCB's.

[freeNode]

can I use an emory cloth or a very fine knife block? I don't have a special bar

[virathiyam]

Love your tips.. supported 👍.. Qs. Do you also suggest cleaning a tough oxidised soldering tip with WD 40? Won't WD 40 prevent corrosion too?

[marshwiggleme]

How do you wash/clean the soldering sponge?

[reinaldopuig]

Hi, many years ago I met a man who coated the tips of his soldering iron with a silver plating, they were always shining, no oxidation. What do you think about it ?

[jrsomers]

years and Very helpful and interesting video. I've been an electronics hobbyist for years, and I still learned a lot.

[noracharles]

Does anyone think a soldering gun can be used to fuse plastic? Thank you. Great video!