Ok g/ im learning to solder and last week i got a cheap soldering kit to get gud at it.
The first time i used it solder melted beautifully, i could solder a test board easily it went so smooth, but today im having trouble with soldering melting and sticking to the pins.
I cleaned the tip of the iron with a brush, but is there any other recommendation to make it work like the first time? i have flux but that doesnt seems to be doing the trick.
help please.
i cant even tin the tip of the iron, solder just refuses to stick...
Probably wrong temperature.
when you say cleaned the tip with a brush
do you mean like a steel wool brush
is it oxidized?
yes a copper sponge, its black yes, i suppose from the burnt flux, but i clean it with a wet sponge, then apply some flux and solder isnt sticking to the tip.
well, thats something that happens if you use wet sponges and cheap tips and irons unfortunately.
Scrubbing it down with steel wool also removes the iron coating that the solder sticks to, so youre kind of digging yourself in a hole.
consider this acid flux which helps you re tin blackened tips.
youtube.com
and use this to dispose of solder on the tip, not wet sponges. Your tips will last alot longer.
amazon.com
does it look like its completely fucked ?
doesnt look good.
did you tin the tip as soon as you turned on the iron when you first got it?
You gotta tin it asap or else it'll be impossible to tin it later.
This is what it should look like. This is my iron after months of use
do you have temperature control on this iron?
Do you have an actual soldering station with temperature control, or just a cheap soldering iron? Cause you need a soldering station to solder, those things you stick directly into an outlet are absolute garbage.
>did you tin the tip
yes i did, you can actually see it here
so in order to learn how to do it, i need to drop $80 on a soldering station... is this your advice really
i see that you did it, im asking if you tinned it the second it turned on
also it really is near impossible soldering with a plug into wall iron more than the first time you get it.
with no temperature control and not wanting to spend alot, I think you should look into the stuff that allows you to re tin your tip.
>so in order to learn how to do it, i need to drop $80 on a soldering station... is this your advice really
More like 60, but yeah, that's pretty much it. You won't learn how to do it on a shitty soldering stick cause you can't get a proper temperature to do so. It will either be too hot burning out your flux or too cold for solder to stick properly.
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wew lad
I got my soldering iron for the equivalent of ~$5 and it works well enough for my purposes. Has been for over 7 years now. It doesn't have to be expensive.
And yes, it has temperature control.
>im asking if you tinned it the second it turned on
yes, the very first time i plugged it in, i waited for it to be hot and melted some Kester 44 on it, it went nice the first time i used it.
Soldering isn't hard. It's barely even a skill. Jobs will put being able to solder as a requirement just to filter out people with shaky hands.
Why don't you do something actually interesting?
Really you have to get a good iron. Cheap no-name brand ones will corrode extremely easily. MY Hakko fx-888d's tip hasn't corroded at all, and I never bother to tin it.
What are your purposes? picking your nose?
No, I'm waiting for the right user to stick it into his ass. Want to come to my house for a bit?
They should switch hats.
Use rosin. Sold as violin rosin on amazon.
> it went nice the first time i used it.
Cheap irons with cheap tips have plating that literally lasts only a day or two (especially on an iron left plugged in and at full temp), or worse, is intended only for a specific solder; other alloys will dissolve the plating.
...and once the plating on the tip is gone/damaged, it will never wet again.
I agree with most of the user's here, it's probably an issue with your tip plating being fucked up. Anyway, a $5 iron can be fine - I've used them reasonably successfully in the past for light duty. If your tip is fucked just buy a bunch of new tips on ebay, or even return the iron as defective if you want...
What kind of solder are you using? If it's lead based solder, I disagree with the soldering station advice. I've had my cheap 30$ Weller Iron for years, and it's still going strong. As long as the tips are easy to replace and source, a cheap iron is fine.
If you're using lead-free solder, you're a faggot that needs to move to France and cuck yourself already.