Weller blog

Care about the Environment?
Weller does and we want you to work with us to make it better.

Weller is a committed supporter of actions that help to protect our environment and to conserve its natural resources. 

To this end, Weller is launching a recycling initiative for old, used soldering tips. By recycling the copper and iron from used tips, we can make a real contribution towards helping the environment and preserving its natural resources.

How will it work?
We want you to collect your worn out soldering tips, all types from all manufacturers, send them to us and we will arrange for their environmentally safe recycling.

This will benefit the environment but it will also benefit you because for every 2 lbs. of worn out tips you send to us you will receive a $75.00 voucher to be used against your next purchase of Weller Brand tips.

Please send the full Tip Recycling Box to the address on the box or to:
Cooper Tools
1000 Lufkin Road
Apex, NC 27539 USA

Cooper Tools Canada
164 Innisfil Street
Barrie, Ontario, Canada L4N 3E7.

SMT Online Article

1. Turn the temperature on your soldering pencil DOWN. Most users operate at a much higher than needed temperature, thinking they will be able to work faster (hotter = faster, right?). To be safe to your components and to extend tip life, reduce the temperature at which you work to the lowest possible level.
   
2. Do not dwell on the pad or connection for too long. An average solder joint should be completed in 5-7 seconds, even when using lead free solder. Dwelling on the joint too long can cause damage to your component, and create an inferior connection.
   
3. Preheat whenever possible when reworking or removing a component. If you have access to a bottom side preheater, use it to slowly increase the temperature of the circuit board, so that you can spend less time on the joint with the soldering tip, not tweezers, or concentrated hot air. This is more efficient and much safer.

CARI Company is a small subcontractor in France.  They recently switched to lead free solder, and experienced a decrease in soldering tip life to just one day.  They are soldering wires in box assemblies for printers, about two joints per minute at 400°C.  They were using the traditional damp sponge cleaning method, and were leaving the tips untinned after use, which resulted in rapid oxidation, and very shortly, an uwettable soldering tip.

Disappointed with these results, they switched to a dry cleaning method, using the Weller WDC dry tip cleaner.  Mrs. Riou Nadine reports that tip life went from one to seven days instantly after making this change.  The dry cleaning solution does not shock the tip thermally, and it leaves a fine coating of tin on the tip, which protects from rapid oxidation and degradation.   In addition, CARI reduced their operating temperature to 380°C.

In a lead free environment, this is one strategy that will help protect your investment in production supplies.

By Volker Munz and Dr. Werner Kruppa

The switch from lead based solders to lead-free solders gave us many surprises.  In addition to having a high melting point, lead-free solders are very agressive towards metallic materials.  Adapting the soldering parameters to the process conditions required for lead-free soldering often results in degradation of the tools which come directly in cotact with the solder.  In addition to technical problems, economic aspects are a key factor.  The destruction of the soldering tip during lead-free solder was tested.

Read more......

Water-soluble fluxes typically used with lead free solder can quickly wear a soldering tip to the point of unwettability. This is especially true when using thin solder wire with little flux content. The intensive cleaning that is necessary with lead free solder reduces the amount of tin, exposing the tip to oxidation. Black oxide layers that form on the surface of the tip must be removed, or the tip will soon become permanently unwettable.

In addition to the use of a traditional wet sponge for cleaning, Weller now offers a solution for gentle tip cleaning - the Weller Dry Cleaner WDC (order no. 0051512499). The WDC uses a special metal wool ball. Dry cleaning is performed in a two step process. First, excess solder is removed from the hot tip by tapping the soldering pencil lightly on the soft rubber edge of the solder collection box. Second, pushing the tip into the metal wool ball and turning cleans the tip. After cleaning, there is still a fine layer of tin on the tip, which will help avoid fast oxidation of the iron layer.

In addition, use of the WDC will not shock the tip, because the temperature remains constant during the cleaning process.

The sturdy plastic and rubber housing of the WDC is ESD safe.

The oxidation of the soldering tip is a growing issue due to the increased use of lead free solders.  The fluxes typically used with lead free will agressively attack the iron plating of a tip, resulting in decreased tip life.  Follw these steps to help extend the life of your tips:

• Use a  Weller WPB1 polishing bar to remove surface oxides. You may need to follow this procedure frequently if you are using fine point tips.  While the tip is cold (never use the WPB1 while the tip is heated), lightly rub the polishing bar on the tip until clean. If the surface oxide is heavy, more pressure may be needed.
• The tip should be immediately re-tinned as soon as it reaches the melting point of the alloy being used in the application.
• Tip Tinner's may also be used to restore the tip, especially when surface contamination (darkened appearance) is present.

Key Points to Remember:

1. Always keep the tip coated with a thin layer of solder.
2. Use fluxes that are as mild as possible but are still capable of properly cleaning the tip and the metals being soldered.
3. Keep the soldering iron temperature as low as possible while maintaining enough temperature to quickly solder a joint (5 seconds maximum for Eutectic or low melting point alloys / 8 seconds maximum for Lead Free alloys)
4. Use as large of a tip as possible to perform the application for maximum heat transfer.
5. Use a tip with the shortest reach possible for the best thermal performance.