http://www.thermaltronics.com/
Compatible tips along w/ options that Metcal doesn’t have
http://www.thermaltronics.com/
Compatible tips along w/ options that Metcal doesn’t have
There are tons of possibilities, but I suggest we standardize on two tips for all of the soldering irons. A narrow (<=0.8mm) chisel tip and a slightly wider (say 1.5mm) chisel tip.
For heavier applications we have the well 100W gun, but IMO the above two tips are suitable for 99% of applications and the other 1% should supply their own as needed. Oh and of course replacement tips for the Metcal soldering tweezers for SMD packages…
This has been a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to add to the knowledge base of DMS
The # 1 error I see when watching someone solder: not having any flux on the joint. The # 2 error is not having a shiny, tinned tip. Your soldering iron can’t fix those, no matter how fancy it is.
I have had a great deal of trouble getting the newer Weller tips to take solder and stay tinned. Had to resort to making my own tips …
They are designed for no-lead solder.
You need a more aggressive flux to get the solder to stick. I have to find the label for one particular brand of solder that has an aggressive flux that works wonders on solder sticking to sockets designed for lead free solder. I’m almost out of that type and need to find some more of it.
Lead-free solder == evil.
63/37 == mmm. Tasty.
Well that brings up another PSA
The ELab has standardized on 63/37 rosin core solder (there may be some 60/40).
There is some lead free solder in the Lab - however all soldering tips have been used w/ leaded solder.
Lead free solder requires higher temps and is more difficult to work with.
If you need/want to be totally lead free on your project, you will need to bring in your own tips or soldering equipment.
Sorry chiming in late here, and I don’t profess to the soldering guru, but there are two situations I keep finding myself dealing with soldering and I thought it to be worth mentioning here:
I like the idea of stadardization of tips, but with the follwoing in mind:
We need tip options that transfer a lot of heat into the targeted region quickly. I think this means head with large application surface. Often I need two at the same time to deliver enough heat to make solder flow, even in great flux situations. I notice this issue on surfaces such as shielding on cables (heat gets drawn away by conductive shield metal, sometimes these are a real pain to solder). I also notice this when soldering to ground/power planes with many via connects to other parallel layers. It smooth sailing with thermal reliefs in place, but just wait until you have to solder where they are not…lol
We need options for soldering to TINY. You can use a tiny tip to solder something larger, but you can’t go the other way. Yes I agree some standardization is in order, but I would like to see some tiny tips in the house usable with the better metcals.
My $0.02 is that I like Walter’s standardization of tips for metcals, but wanted to keep supplies for these all-too-common cases as well.
But even more important than the solder tips at the moment in electronics lab: STEREO OPTICS WITH RINGLIGHTS!!
Chain them down, do whatever it takes for the security and safety of the elab. But for sure: STEREO OPTICS WITH RINGLIGHTS!!
lol
One other thought, and this may just be superstition: I have full confidence in Metcal. Every time.
The Chinese company, well, I just don’t know. Its sort of like the Fluke multimeters. The fluke is solid 100% of the time. And some of the other companies may make some models that are as awesome as the Flukes.
STTC-137 has never let me down. If your solder ain’t flowing with that tip and a MX-PS5000, you’re doing something wrong.