Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

I will avoid cutting and pasting from every response, but will just respond.

I have three solder irons and no tips seem to last long for me. I have an
Ungar and just bought two Craftsman solder irons (30W and 45W) because I
wanted to try nickel plated tips. The 45W is too hot for PCB work, I figured
I would try it on heavier wiring. I have been using the 30W for PCB work.
All my irons work fine as far as soldering. Two of them are brand new
afterall. Just the tips desolve away too fast. The tips only cost about
$1.20 each, so it is no big deal if I need to replace one everyday. It is
just not very fun trying to solder small details and via holes when the tip
isn't pointy, plus I have depleted Radio Shack's stock on tips.

As far as sponges go, I wet mine then squeeze it out so it is not very wet.
I will try wetter sponges and tinning more often and see if that helps.
Seems like a lot of people are using soldering stations and those tips are
lasting longer. I would think the Weller WP35 would be similar to what they
have on their stations, although every model of station uses a whole
different type of tips. However one response said his tips last for about 3
to 4 modules, so who knows.

-Elhardt