Korishan
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- Joined
- Jan 7, 2017
- Messages
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I have a Weller soldering iron with the 3 leds on it (tho, the leds don't properly light up the actually area that's being soldered). I've destroy the original tip quite some ago and decide to look up making my own tips.
I found several examples online on what to do. Take a piece heavy gauge copper wire and cut it to length, shape the end(s) to what you need. For the weller, I had to get a piece of copper tubing to take up the slack space since the gauge larger wouldn't actually fit inside the iron.
It works for the most part, but I find that the tips load up with junk quite often and becomes difficult to keep solder sticking to the tip. I have to take my wire snips to scrape off a layer to get back to clean copper. I do have a ball of copper brillo to help keep the tips clean.
I do that about once every hour or so of use. Obviously, not an hour straight of usage, since at least half that time the iron is just sitting there smoldering in the holder.
So, has anyone else made their own tips and how did you make them? Is there any way to prolong the tips life? Is there a tinning technique that I'm missing?
I found several examples online on what to do. Take a piece heavy gauge copper wire and cut it to length, shape the end(s) to what you need. For the weller, I had to get a piece of copper tubing to take up the slack space since the gauge larger wouldn't actually fit inside the iron.
It works for the most part, but I find that the tips load up with junk quite often and becomes difficult to keep solder sticking to the tip. I have to take my wire snips to scrape off a layer to get back to clean copper. I do have a ball of copper brillo to help keep the tips clean.
I do that about once every hour or so of use. Obviously, not an hour straight of usage, since at least half that time the iron is just sitting there smoldering in the holder.
So, has anyone else made their own tips and how did you make them? Is there any way to prolong the tips life? Is there a tinning technique that I'm missing?