exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I got one of these to try...

Before...

Oddly it smells like fruitcake as its just come out of the oven or something.. :shrug: Probably highly toxic and reduced my lifespan by 6 months...

Afterwards...
Its sort of like solder paste but doesn't melt easily.. Its covered my tip and it look super nice again and solder sticks to it just fine.

So will see how long it lasts.. but it looks pretty good so far!

Nice! I got the exact same stuff in the mail yesterday but haven't tried it yet. I have an completely oxidised tip laying around, I could try if it's restorable.

sandord wrote: 06 Dec 2018 20:57 Nice! I got the exact same stuff in the mail yesterday but haven't tried it yet. I have an completely oxidised tip laying around, I could try if it's restorable.

I've got a really old one , not sure which iron it fits though , could be from 10 years ago :lol:

exxos wrote: 06 Dec 2018 21:28 I've got a really old one , not sure which iron it fits though , could be from 10 years ago :lol:

You could always heat it up using a blow torch :D

sandord wrote: 06 Dec 2018 21:31 You could always heat it up using a blow torch :D

True, IIRC I am banned from those things :lol: :cry:

exxos wrote: 06 Dec 2018 21:37 True, IIRC I am banned from those things :lol: :cry:

So that's how your previous two psychiatrists got burned out :shock:

Here's my completely oxidised tip:


After running it through the restoring process:


Look quite useable again.

In the second picture you can see there's still a dark cavety that didn't get restored by the process (I tried a few times though).


I really wish my phone could make decent macro shots. I'll put my handheld camera next to my computer so I can make a decent shot next time.

Funny, all I ever use is a damp sponge every time I solder, and the iron tip is always clean as a whistle, with no oxidisation.

Worst case scenario I have a pot of plumbers flux which I dip the hot iron into and it comes up lovely.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 06 Dec 2018 23:18 Funny, all I ever use is a damp sponge every time I solder, and the iron tip is always clean as a whistle, with no oxidisation.

Worst case scenario I have a pot of plumbers flux which I dip the hot iron into and it comes up lovely.

Well, in my case it was the result of improper handling. I used to solder at 430C or something, often I left the iron on unused for half an hour or so and I didn't clean the tip often enough.

Now I solder at 300C and I don't leave the iron on unused for more than a few minutes (stand by set to 5 mins). I always ensure the tip has fresh solder on it and I use copper wool instead of wet sponge cleaning to keep temperature variations at a minimum.

I usually work at 370 degrees, and if I don't use it for a little while it does oxidise a little, but the sponge always gets it looking like new.

I do want some of the copper wool for my other iron though as it has a little trough for it in the stand. Always clean before, each and every item I solder.