Thread: Re-tinning Soldering Iron Points

Hello All,

Yes, Ron... I watched a youTube clip that says, 'never sand a soldering iron tip'!

I am now watching another youTube clip where someone is nickel-plating their soldering iron point via electroplating. Accessed 22nd April 2023. Fixing a Soldering Iron Tip. (The right way) - YouTube.

Might have a whirl and see how the auto parts store soldering iron tips go. Work on the expendables first as guinea pigs.


Looks like there are plenty of 'to suit' Weller replacement tip sets available on eBay for under $10 as a backup. Who knows replacement soldering tips may even be interchangeable between different brands.

Kind regards
Lionel

I didn’t say anything.

Been there. Sometimes re-tinning takes a few attempts.

Keep the temperature low when tinning. 250 deg C is about ideal which is normally well below the normal temperature on uncontrolled irons.

Hello All,

Back on youTube and I have been watching a USA trade school instructional film about soldering from 1944

Accessed 22nd April 2023 from, HAND SOLDERING 1944 SOLDERING IRON TRAINING FILM 54014 - YouTube

Kind regards
Lionel

if it wont hold at all and you can get it back to clean metal, have a go at copper plating it first using a copper sulphate solution and some clever dc electrons to make it plate up.

then try to tin it.

Hi,
I have been doing quite a bit of soft soldering making up gal guttering and downpipes for my heritage property and was having trouble keeping my soldering irons tinned. The gas torches are quite savage if the irons are left too long.
My father was a sheetmetal worker and never had any trouble keeping his irons tinned when he used the old Primus kero blow lamp and as much as I was his offsider passing the soldering irons up to him, I never took much notice of how he tinned them.
So I went looking for some old fashioned advice and found the attached.

I have used the "Brick" method of tinning my large irons and found it very simple and it works once you get the iron back to shiny copper.

See what you think. It is about page 38 of the pdf.

Oldie

Chemtools Tip Tinner High Strength 20gm - Altronics

I keep one of these handy for those times I've had the iron set to "thermonuclear" and forgotten to turn it off.

I've always used a small file to clean the tip back to clean copper and then tinned them.
Was taught to do that as a PMG appentice a lifetime ago.