Through Hole Solder whats the best tip conical or chisel

Deadpool66

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Through Hole Solder whats the best tip conical or chisel

Ive been soldering with a fine point for awhile now but upon watching some videos it appears most use a chisel tip. What are your guys opinion on this?
 
I use either a fine chisel tip or a conical chisel tip.

The conical chisel tip is where the conical tip is cut at an angle which leaves an oval flat surface. Works GREAT for doing surface mount reflows with the hot iron.

RJ
 
Hello

Hello, your tip size should only apply to heat... A small tip at 700 degress produces less heat than a large tip at 700 degress. EXAMPLE..IF YOUR IRON IS NOT MELTING THE SOLDER AT 700 DEGREES WITHIN 3 SECONDS..USE A LARGER TIP, NOT TURN UP THE TEMP.YOU SHOULD NEVER EXCEED 700 DEGREES.Yes size of tip can be a factor in convenience. ,but really its the amount of heat and time you should be most concerned about. THE CHISEL THOUGH WILL ALLOW A LARGER HEAT TRANSFER AREA., WICH WILL MELT YOUR SOLDER QUICKER.ALSO USING FLUX DECREASES THE AMOUNT OF TIME THE IRON MUST MAKE CONTACT TO MELT THE SOLDER.THE QUICKER THE BETTER!!! HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!!
 
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It just feels like it takes the fine tip too long to heat the pad enough to make the solder flow. I read that the chisel tips have better heat transfer. I ordered some more tips for my station hoping the chisel make its
easier and faster.

@---> Peerless thanks for the info I wish I would have known this before I bought my station it only came with a conical tip and it doesn't transfer heat very well. Although it works great for intricate surface applications.
 
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I use a chisel tip on fine pitch surface mount hot-iron reflows. In my book there's no need for those super fine conical tips.

On my Pace station the tip sits at 650 degrees F, no hotter. This goes for both soldering and desoldering. If the tip isn't melting solder immediately then something is wrong. Either the solder is old and tarnished/oxidized or the tip isn't clean with a nice wet coat of solder on it.

Tips should NEVER be cleaned with wet sponges. Use the brass mesh cleaners. Wet sponges thermally shock the tip which will cause microscopic cracks and lower tip life. Tips should ALWAYS have a thin coat of solder on them when put away. NEVER wipe then immediately put them away.

If solder on the board is oxidized and hard to heat up there are 2 things you can do... 1 is to scrape it a bit with a small screwdriver to get the shiny stuff showing. The other is to use a bit of liquid rosin flux on the joint to help with the heat transfer and to burn off the impurities.
 
I'm currently using the small conical tip that came with my hakko 907 iron for my repairs and i love it, i keep my iron set a 725 tho (after reading this i'll turn it down).

I use both the sponge and the brass mesh to clean my tip (as the black mesh has been getting loaded up with solder over the past year and sometimes makes a mess of my tip (leaving leftovers).

According to the Hakko site and manual they recommend only using the sponge but i like the mesh better (it seems to do a better job of leaving some solder to protect the tip)

Only problem i've had is with burnt (black) rosin flux residue once i'm done. Not to hijack your thread but is the black burnt flux residue normal? should i buy a special cleaner to remove it?

I use Kester 951 No Clean Flux and normally clean up with some 70% isoprophyl alcohol. The alcohol doesn't take off the burnt flux tho (atleast i never scrubbed that hard), and i did some reading on the netz and many said it was normal and just to get some cleaner to take it off.

here's a pic showing what i'm talking about you can see some yellow/black from the flux by the number 9 and around the lower through hole solder joint.

100_1172resized.jpg
 
Solder

Hello, no , no special cleaner, just rubbing alcohol...just after you solder use a brush(not wire) while its still hot. Its easier to clean that way!
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR USING TO MUCH FLUX. IT TAKES MINUTE AMOUNTS..IF YOU CAN SEE IT POOLED UP ON SOMETHING, OTHER THAN A VERY SMALL DROP,WIPE IT AND START AGAIN. YEAH I TOOK A LOOK. TO MUCH FLUX BEING USED.
 
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Hello, no , no special cleaner, just rubbing alcohol...just after you solder use a brush(not wire) while its still hot. Its easier to clean that way!
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR USING TO MUCH FLUX. IT TAKES MINUTE AMOUNTS..IF YOU CAN SEE IT POOLED UP ON SOMETHING, OTHER THAN A VERY SMALL DROP,WIPE IT AND START AGAIN

thanks great info, last night when i replaced an Xtal it was strange the No Clean flux evaporated really quick and didn't leave the board wet at all, i normally only use 1 drop from my eyedrop bottle and that's all. I was thinking that it might be the solder i'm using as it's 60/40 rosin core light duty electronics solder from radio shack as some of the info on the burning of the flux said that could be the case. i did pick up some acid brushes from the local ace hardware the other day :D
 
Flux

Ok...if you apply flux and you have a flux core rosin, you are doulbling up !!!
Just keep in mind to clean while still hot!!! TRY USING A SN63 SOLDER...ALSO SOMETHING TO KNOW...SOLDER HAS THREE STAGES...THE MIDDLE STAGE BEING CALLED THE PLASTIC STATE..YOU MUST NOT MOVE COMPONENTS WHEN IN THIS STATE..WICH LAST ONLY A FEW SECONDS..SN63 HAS NO PLASTIC STATE..BETTER TO USE IF YOUR HAND IS NOT ROCK STEADY.LESS CHANCE OF BAD CONNECTION!!!!!!
 
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I use SMT Knife tips on pretty much every iron I use (Hakko 937 Clone & Weller WD80 w/ WPS80 irons). The fine point is great for getting in small spaces, and you can use the additional width to pull a cap in one shot rather then holding a pencil/cone/chisel tip at some rediculous angle. Just a personal preference, though. My job is primarily SMT soldering (repair), so I've taken a liking to these iron tips.
 
Chisel tip for most through hole jobs. To me it's the most versatile as you can use the fat side for good heat transfer or angle it 45 degrees and touch the pad with just the corner of the tip. The key for me is to make contact with both the component lead and the PCB pad at the same time when soldering, that way both are hot and you get good solder flow filling up the through-hole sleeve then covering the pad and the component lead.

A soldering discussion is like discussing religion and politics. Best is to find a technique that works for you and stick with it. The key is finding that "sweet spot" of technique, temperature, and equipment by trial and error.


Bill
 
A soldering discussion is like discussing religion and politics. Best is to find a technique that works for you and stick with it. The key is finding that "sweet spot" of technique, temperature, and equipment by trial and error.


Bill

Amen to that. My first few jobs looked like I flicked boogers all over the back of the board. Now my joints are nice & shiny. Took some serious practice though.

Man I sure made a mess of things back in the days when I was using a 40watt gun, 1/4" flux-free solder, and wick. WTF was I thinking.
 
I use both conical and chisel. Just depends on what I am working on. Conical works the best for me when dealing with SMT parts that should have been in the oven longer.

Good old Chisel is best for working with thru hole components.

I have used both on both kinds of parts. Just need a Hot iron and Fast hand and flux remover.

as for flux remover I tend to brew my own. Depending on the kind of flux that is used.
 
Amen to that. My first few jobs looked like I flicked boogers all over the back of the board. Now my joints are nice & shiny. Took some serious practice though.

Man I sure made a mess of things back in the days when I was using a 40watt gun, 1/4" flux-free solder, and wick. WTF was I thinking.

My first soldering iron (I got started early like 8 or 9) was an old wood-burning pen (those were real kid-safe, weren't they:rolleyes:?). My dad would bring home busted radios that were thrown away and I would try to take them apart and remove the components without destroying them. After awhile I was able to do that successfully then solder them back together.

Bill
 
Wow used the chisel and results were far better. Solder flows so smoothly compared to the fine point even at lower temps.
 
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