[sdiy] solder questions

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Friday 10 September 2004 04:44 am, KA4HJH wrote:
> >I do NOT recommend a sponge for cleaning (I use a brush see the previous
> >thread).
> >Water will waste the tip rapidly.  I usually get about 1-2 years from a
> >single tip...
>
> Are you talking about copper or Weller's plated tips? (I assume the
> former). In production use the Weller tips lasted us six months to a year,
> and they got sponged constantly 16 hours a day, five days a week.

Yeah,  plated tips are the only way to go...

I've gotten several years work out of some of mine.  Less when I do a lot of 
scrapping,  the solder sucker seems to have an adverse effect on its 
longevity for some reason.