Soldering iron issue :(

[Jazz Rock]

I am trying to rewire my Tele with a 4-way switch and I am having serious trouble!

It seems like the iron is not getting hot enough. I am just enable to unsolder any soldered joints and when I try make a new joint, the solder forms a bubble and rolls away. Never had this issue before.

It is a cheapo iron I bought about 2 years ago. Could it be shot already?

[Philly Q]

Are you using lead-free solder, or could the Tele already have lead-free solder? 

It behaves a bit differently than regular tin/lead solder (and smells horrible).

[Jazz Rock]

I am using lead free silver solder from Maplin. I have been using this on my LPs and it worked fine... so far.

[Oli]

An under-powered soldering iron can do more damage than a hot iron-- with an under powered unit, you have to leave the iron in contact for a long time for the joint to heat up enough, but which time the heat can potentially have been conducted into/through the component being soldered, which generally isn't good, considering they run at 200+ degrees Celcius. A hotter iron will heat the joint quicker, so the component itself is not subjected to the heat, but the joint is.

Cheaper irons will obviously not last as long as they're not made to the same quality as a nice temperature controlled unit. Tin/Lead solder is the way to go, to hell with RoHS!

[Philly Q]

I am using lead free silver solder from Maplin. I have been using this on my LPs and it worked fine... so far.

AH, OK.  I've only encountered lead-free a couple of times and it freaked me out, I'm used to the old fashioned tin/lead stuff.

In that case, +1 to Oli's post.

Maybe your iron is kaput, but I'd expect it to fail altogether rather than get less efficient.

[Jazz Rock]

Temperature controlled unit?

Would something like this do the trick, see link below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZRMOJI/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A2STM0D6PMSDGV

[Philly Q]

That should do it. 

I have an adjustable-temperature 50w iron (without the "station" bit), I set it quite low for soldering individual wires, much hotter for soldering grounds on pots.

[Elliot]

There was a similar one in Maplin recently on special offer - half price I think.

[jpfamps]

The key is making sure you have enough power to maintain the iron temperature so that you can heat the work to temperature as quickly as possible.

I routinely use fixed temperature 50W iron for all soldering jobs.

As most people have found, the lead free solder is a bit of a pain to use as it melts at a higher temperature, and as you are not manufacturing anything to sell (which should be RoHS compliant) then I would use 60/40 leaded solder.

[Afghan Dave]

There was a similar one in Maplin recently on special offer - half price I think.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35016&C=MS&U=storage

£9.99!!

Edit - I just looked again and it's out of stock

[FELINEGUITARS]

I have owned a couple of both of th soldering irons mentioned here
Sadly the one Afghan listed at £9.99 is a bit rubbish - we had 3 go wrong before we eventually bit the bullet and bought the more expensive one  - which has been great ever since

Another thing to do is have several types of solder available
Sometimes for some stupid reason a component just wont take a particular type of solder (and recently that includes the old fashioned Lead/tin) - so we temporarily reach for one of the other types


JPF mentioned a silver content solder a while back and I am keen to give that one a try

[jpfamps]

Although I generally avoid soldering to pots (I don't as a general rule do guitar electrics repairs if I can avoid it) I've found some pots don't take solder very well and may need abrading. From other posts on this forum this seems a common finding.

Trying to get a decent solder joint with a cheap, under powered soldering iron is hard work.

Unfortunately the maxim "buy cheap, but twice" is very true for most tools; however if you don't do much soldering it's very hard to justify the expense.

If you do any appreciable amount of soldering you will now encounter a variety of different solders, and so if you can afford it I would recommend getting a 50W temperature controlled iron.

We use 50 W Weller Magnastats. These have the advantage of a very simple temperature regulation mechanism (different tips give different temperatures), and you can get a full range of spares. They are quite expensive though (over £100 new), although you can save a bit of money if you want to build your own 24V power supply.

A bit cheaper option would be a Weller W61 60W mains temperature controlled iron. The advantage of using a 24V supply is that the element lasts longer and current leakage is lower, but if you aren't doing that much soldering then a mains iron will be fine.

I don't have any experience of Antex or Xytronics irons, although there seem to be plenty of people who recommend them.

As another "top tip", with the advent of higher melting temperature RoHS compliant solder, I was recommended to use low abrasive brass wool for tip cleaning rather than the wet sponge. This has the advantage of not lowering tip temperature which can cause the tip to crack and reduces tip life.

Regarding the solder Feline mentioned, this is 62% Tin, 36% Lead, 2% Ag. It costs about £14 for a 250 g roll from Rapid (see link below). It has the advantage of a low melting point and a very narrow temperature of phase transition, so your chances of a dry joint are very much reduced. I use this for all our repair work.

This solder is not RoHS compliant, so obviously I would not recommend it is use in new equipment......

http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Soldering-Equipment/Solder-Fluxes/Future-HF-low-melting-point-halide-free-no-clean-cored-solder/60030

[Oli]

At work, i'm using a Weller WTCPS iron, and a Xytronics 968 desoldering station. Im using both for at least 5 hours each day, and the Weller produces very nice results, i'm going to be getting a temperature adjustable model for home use. The Xytronics is good, but gets clogged up quite often, but i'm not sure whether it's because it gets so much use-- I have to take it apart almost every day to un-clog it. Tip care is something that should be paid attention to, making sure that the iron can deliver heat optimally, and help create a solid joint. Echoing jpfamps, a brass wool tip cleaner is great, and visibly leaves the tip in a better condition than pushing it into a sponge... also means you don't have to go and get a cup of water before you start soldering too! :)