Soldering Iron
== Soldering Iron: ==
The solder sucker's six-shooter
Few things are as useful as a durn good soldering iron. At MakeICT we have a few different kinds of irons, they are used for a few different kinds of things.
Digital temperature control soldering iron : Now this is James' go to iron. You mess this iron up, and he is going to know about it. These are nice because you know exactly what temperature you are at, the soldering iron servos it to that temp, so they have a fast warm up, and a steady temperature. If it has a digital readout on the front, you know it's a digital temperature control. Analogue temperature control irons exist, but we don't have one at MakeICT at the time of this writing. I'm not going into an in-depth explanation of the differences.
Colour temperature control soldering iron: These are from Harbour Freight, and is a perfectly capable iron. These have a colourful dial going from orange to red, typically James turns them down, and Tom turns them up. They have a slow warm up time. Generally about 2 – 3 cookies. Breaking one will cause James to grumble about not having nice things, avoid this.
Fire-stick: These are great for burning the crap out of yourself, your device, the carpet, the drapes... the living room... they have a varied warm-up time, and generally are measured in watts. More watts, more heat. We have a few floating around and are perfect for wood-burning. James considers them slightly dangerous.
How to keep from screwing up an iron: The most damage to an iron is to it's tip. The biggest eater of tips is air. Oxygen reacts with the metals eats it away and/or makes them blackened and that sucks because that has less heat transfer,and more James grumbling. When you are done with the Iron, tin the tip. Take a bit of solder, and put it on the metal tip so that it protects the tip while it's cool. As an added benefit the next time you pick it up it already has a bit of solder on it. Win win really.
Solder like the Fonz. Just because the iron can reach 550C doesn't mean it should. Keep the temperature in the range of the solder you are working with. James bought some really nice solder. So just keep cool.
It is not a prybar. James intentionally bought a hot air rework station so to make part removal a piece of cake. Do not use the iron to pry off a component. I've seen people do it. Ya think 'ug the solder isn't melting' and push harder, turn up the heat when all you needed... was to clean the tip, add a dab of solder, and lightly touch the spot.
Clean the tip. There are no family friendly jokes for this one. For a long time we used wet sponges, but they had the unfortunate requisite of having to get water to make it wet. James got us some very nice brass sponges. They don't need water, but they only keep the tip clean when you wipe the tip on them. Make sure you clean before, during, and after soldering. When you are done with the iron, clean the tip, put a dab of fresh solder or tinning compound on the tip, and volia, irons will last for years, with no James grumbling.
The requisite for soldering is showing us you can, but doing dangerous things like FLICKING SOLDER OFF OF THE TIP will cause you to go through a remedial course and a 3-5 page safety paper before being let back on the irons.
