Tim Raymer's comment is correct. The most common mistake made by a soldering apprentice is try to have one tip perform all soldering -- that will shorten tip life. Match the iron's thermal MASS and profile to the joint size.
Hakko, in fact, also adds that placing heavy pressure on the soldering joint with the tip -- will create micro cracks in their plating -- shortening its life. I have some PTA 700 degree tips -- that I am still using through hundreds of repairs / kits. I also have found that the first run of the RoHS / no lead tips from many manufacturers were not as good (~2002 / 2003) as their earlier tips -- but that problem seems to have been resolved. Greg w9gb --------- > ... working on the KPA100 and have noticed soldering is tougher than > it was on the K2. Heat transfer from the top to the part/board is hit & > miss. When I clean and re-tin the tip of the iron I see it has a bit of > a golden hue and doesn't take solder well. Switching back to the larger > (OEM) tip things get better. I'm wondering if the tip or maybe the > sponge are just warn out and need to be replaced? > > The Weller was new when I started the K2 and I used the small tip for > the K2. Since then I've built a few mini-modules but not much else. > > How long do these tips last? > > - Keith N1AS - > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
