exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I got one of these to try...

That stuff is magic! It's really just NH4Cl mixed with solder paste but it works a treat

sety wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 8:57 am That stuff is magic! It's really just NH4Cl mixed with solder paste but it works a treat

Wait, what? That's the stuff that goes in many kinds of candy. That makes it almost edible

I had the same one that Exxos got a few years ago under some random Chinese brand, its ok for a long time, then it starts to get all brown and gummy after a few 100 uses still seems to work though, just smokes more :p

At some point I lost it, then had to use a brass ball that was ok but not perfect.

I don't know if anyone else does this, but after replacing my last ruined iron a few years ago I heard this advice, which I've been following since... after turning the iron off each time I use it, I coat the tip in solder to protect it from oxidising.

By the way, soldering iron tips aren't solid iron, they're iron-plated copper (at least all of mine have been), so if that tip restorer doesn't work *at all*, the iron coating might be completely gone.

What do you gutys think of lead free solder, I had some and my friend said it is no good for electronics, said he had some leaded stuff for me to use, and my soldering iron tip is completely oxidized too.... I will have to get either a new tip (which I have been told is non replaceable) or a new good soldering iron. Any suggestions?

rcamp48 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:17 am What do you guys think of lead free solder, I had some and my friend said it is no good for electronics, said he had some leaded stuff for me to use, and my soldering iron tip is completely oxidized too.... I will have to get either a new tip (which I have been told is non replaceable) or a new good soldering iron. Any suggestions?

My suggestion for you is to throw that soldering iron in the bin!!!

If you genuinely want to learn to solder, then buy a temperature controlled iron similar to this: https://www.newark.com/tenma/21-10115/s ... dp/56T2208 from a reputable supplier. (A lot of eBay ones are Chinese knock offs and not that good). They are relatively inexpensive and will get you started. The temperature adjustment give you a lot more flexibility.

Whilst practising on old boards is ok for desoldering techniques, unless you build something and verify it works ok, you won't know how good your techniques are, or if you are overheating components and destroying them. So find videos on soldering techniques on the web and watch them. Then use those techniques to build small things such as radios and clocks etc from cheap kits (eBay is fine for this sort of thing, very cheap and disposable).

If you can't get the hang of soldering and desoldering after doing this, then hang up your iron and find somebody who can do these jobs for you.

I personally don't use lead free solder, so can't comment from that perspective.

rcamp48 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:17 am What do you gutys think of lead free solder, I had some and my friend said it is no good for electronics, said he had some leaded stuff for me to use, and my soldering iron tip is completely oxidized too.... I will have to get either a new tip (which I have been told is non replaceable) or a new good soldering iron. Any suggestions?

There is a long thread on leaded and lead-free soldering https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =35&t=1263

Also one on soldering irons https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=35&t=338

4 months later...

It still seems to be going good!

TTC-LF - great stuff,
A mate of mine swiped one of those from the YTS ITeC we were at back in 1989, he has repaired countless electronic items since then and the tin is still going strong!
Recently refurbished my vintage Weller TCP-1 soldering iron (A brown coloured one!) Ive had it at least 25 years and it was easily that old when I bought it off the same mate
Wonderfull that you can still get elements, outer tubes and all manor of magnestat tips for them.
The Iron and the tin of TTC I have will probably out-last me!

juz400 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:36 pm A mate of mine swiped one of those from the YTS ITeC we were at back in 1989...

Where was that at ?