De-soldering issue

[Jazz Rock]

I have uploaded a few photos of the tip of my soldering iron as I am wondering if there could be something wrong with it. I lightly brushed it as there was quite a bit of residue on it, making it look completely dull, before starting this new attempt.

Is there any obvious flaws, or damages, or does it look just as it should? I would be annoyed if it was shot as I have only used it once for the installation of the boss set in the tele last year.

[Transcend]

It looks like it needs a good clean to me or a replacement tip.

If i dont have any replacements and it gets all clogged like that i clean everything off with sandpaper until its shiny again then retin it.

Its essential to clean your iron after use to stop build up

[Jazz Rock]

Hey Toe-knee, What do you mean by "retin it"?

[Transcend]

Hey Toe-knee, What do you mean by "retin it"?

Just the same as tinning it normally.

once its heated up apply some solder to the tip before working.

After i do every joint i always clean the tip off on a damp sponge and retin just to keep everything clean

[Jazz Rock]

Thanks for the tip. I have had a quick read on the following webpage http://www.elexp.com/t_solder.htm and it seems like that could be my problem, the tip probably became unwettable. Hopefully I'll be motivated enough to give it another try tomorrow evening.

3rd attempt, still 10 yards to go!

[Jazz Rock]

Right, I am now convinced that the tip of my soldering iron is shot.

I tried to re-tin it but it didn't work, there is about one spot left on the whole tip that does melt flux. So I have seen I coul dget a replacement tip from eBay. Hopefully it will be delivered before the week end so I can finally put this guitar back together.

I guess, taking another look at the manual, I haven't been very good at maintaining the tip... that will teach me.

[Transcend]

Do you not have a local Maplins?

They have a good selection of tips.

And we all make these mistakes at first.

i know i did

[Jazz Rock]

There is a maplin around, but because the construction of the iron seemed a bit peculiar (based on my limited experience with these things) I thought it would be safer to get replacement tips from the manufacturer of the station. Besdides, by ordering on eBay it arrived on Thursday, while I wouldn't have been able to go to Maplin before today.

Anyway, I am now at a complete loss. I fitted the replacement tip yesterday night, started to work on the hot connection of the jack, added a bit of fresh solder and the whole came out in a flash. That is when I told myself: this is it, I will finally have the Epi put back together tonight!!! I wish.
I then get on to the earth connection. Again, it doesn't come off with just the heat, so I start adding new flux... and that is when it starts to go weird. I managed to add flux allright, but once it was there, I had no way to get it out, not even the bit I had just added. So I tried with different temperature setting (I started at 240, and then tried between 180 to 350), in half an hour, the new tip was behaving like the one I just took out, i.e. only a couple of areas were melting the soldering material.

What I really don't understand is that I used this soldering station for the replacement of the pups and switch of the Tele, 2 years ago, and even if I have in the back of my mind this memory of feeling that it was a bit of hardwork - having to heat connections for a wee while - it did the job. So how come now I could only do one solder with the new tip and then it all went to pots? Could it be that storing the station for 2 years, in a dry and flat temp. environment, had an effect on the unit? Is it a known fact that it is not a good thing to leave a soldering station unused for too long?

Before this station, I had a cheapo soldering iron from Maplin, which worked quite well for the work I did on my LPs (which includes the Epi), until I started the work on the Tele, which is when I bought the station with temperature control. Would you recommand to go back down the route of a simple soldering iron? Doing a bit of research on this and another forum, It seemed there was a concensus on using a 40W soldering iron, with the brand Antex recommanded for the UK, for all soldering work on a guitar.

To conclude this long-ish complaint / dry out for help, I have been to the guitarguitar in Edinburgh this morning (yet another big disappointment: Dispite me contacted them by e-mail, saying I wanted to come try out some gear this Saturday, they failed to let me know that they ran out of stock on the Egnater Tweaker 15 head I wanted to buy and on the Vox cabinet I wanted to try to see if it could be suitably paired with the former). I mentionned my soldering problem and related his own experience with a bass where the soldering connection had dried out, he couldn't undo them at all and had to replace the whole wiring and pots. Is there really cases where there is no way to unsolder a connection?

Thanks to whoever has been brave enough to bear with me this long on this post and will come up with a bit of advice  PDT_014 

[Transcend]

With what you say is happening i would just snip off the wiring as close to the pot as you can

then buy new pots etc and just do a total rewire it would be cheaper and chances are now with that much heat the old pots are damaged.

And i use an antex 18w iron for all my guitar work and amp building and a 30w when im doing things like caps that have thick legs and require a bit more heat.

An 18w will do for most things though

[Jazz Rock]

Thanks Toe-Knee,

Looking at the antex range of iron I realised that even the 18W model gets hotter than the setting I am using with the station, so I'll give it another try with a bit more heat.

Wish me luck!

[Jazz Rock]

Okay, it is about time to bring some closure to this thread. In an attempt to make this experience something more than a big waste of my time, here is what I have learned. Hopefully, it will help someone around here avoiding doing the same thing:

So in retrospect, I think what I stumbled upon was a three-fold-ish problem:

1) I think this is the one that started it all. I don't quite understand how it came about as I have been using this soldering station succesfully in the past. Anyway, number one was that I was setting the temperature too low to get the job done, which may or may not be the only real problem from which all the rest stemmed.

2) Probably because of the poor maintenance regime I put it through, and the above matter, the tip of the iron wasn't wetting properly, the cleaning of the tip with a light grit sponge probably was the last straw. Having said that, as I mentionned earlier in this thread, the new tip started to behave in a similar way after just about half an hour of use... So maybe the original tip is not shot after all, and could be re-used at a suitable temperature.

3) The other real issue, was that some of the solder were dry as bone and needed a good amount of new solder to finally flow again... With the iron set too low, I had hard time getting even th enew solder to flow so couldn't really see the wood for the tree before I finally increase the heat.

With the station at about 370°C, it all worked out pretty smoothly, eventhough I managed to screw up the wiring and the re-fit of the nut. I was getting a bit fed up with the whole process - spent most of the day on the guitar - and rushed things at the end, not realising the nut was ever so slightly off to the treble side... So will have to do some more work in a not-so-distant-future. And will ask for more advice about thewiring... But that will be another thread... once I have scanned the wiring schematic I came up with!

[Transcend]

I'm glad you have it all worked out.

[Jazz Rock]

Thanks for the support Toe-Knee 

[Transcend]

No problem

[jpfamps]

Glad you got it sorted.

370degC is the minimum temperature I would use with solder used in electrical appliances. Some lead-free solder is only really workable at 425degC.

Silver loaded lead/tin solder has the lowest melting temperature of 179degC. Normal Pb/Sn is in the range 180-184 degC and  lead-free solders are start around 210, but many are around 224degC.

Having used the lead-free solder, I tend to find that it leaves a fairly resilient black coat on the tip, which I assume is oxidized flux.

I find this bit cleaner very helpful:

http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Soldering-Equipment/Accessories/Lead-free-soldering-iron-bit-cleaner/74867/kw/tip+cleaner

Also I've started using brass wool to clean the tip rather than the habitual wetted sponge:

http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fasteners-Production-Equipment/Soldering-Equipment/Accessories/Tip-cleaner/35323/kw/tip+cleaner

This is slightly abrasive so is better at removing stubborn residues, and also doesn't subject the tip to cooling/ heating.

As a final tip, make sure your iron is cleaned immediately before you start working with it. After soldering a joint don't clean the tip until you start working again.