Weller soldering iron tips?

[Fred]

For general soldering including surface mount, FQFPs etc what's the best
temperature tip to use?

Also should I opt for screwdriver shape or long conical?

Does the number on the tip signify temperature in 00 degrees F?

 

[Myron Samila]

For general soldering including surface mount, FQFPs etc what's the best
temperature tip to use?

Also should I opt for screwdriver shape or long conical?

Does the number on the tip signify temperature in 00 degrees F?

Well, it kinda depends on the type of iron you have. Do you have a station??

Yes, generally speaking, certain tips have certain temp characteristics (I guess their
size ie: conical, limits the amount of heat that can be transferred to the tip).

A sharp conical tip would work for most SMT re-work, SMT ICs, caps, etc.... It isn't
easy, I swear to you!! I usually use a special iron for SMT, with a really small barrel
for the pencil.

Also, without it being a soldering station (being temperature controlled), temp won't be
very accurate. I have a very good 35W Weller iron that I use for my briefcase (mobile
work), and places a station is cumbersome to work with. But the temp is all over the
place, bleah.... I prefer a station, the best you can afford. (the pencil being the most
important factor in your purchase, after all, you're holding it and you want to be
comfortable, otherwise, how will you solder SMT very well without bridging all kinds of
joints!!!)

My opinion anyhow, I'll see if I have a chart of all the tips available for every Weller
application.

 

[Mjolinor]

If you have a Weller "WTCPN" station then the tips are temperature
controlled, and the single digit is the temperature in degrees F. Having
used it I could never go back to a non-controlled temperature iron.

Which temperature and size you use will depend on what your job is.

For soldering surface mount I use a sharp conical tip at either 600 or 700
degrees. For soldering through-hole I use a 700 degree conical or small
blade tip -- the conical tip is a bit small for most jobs but it gets down
into a forest of leads nicely. For soldering point-to-point wiring in
antique radios I have some mondo-big tips (I think they're named Crabb and
Goyle).

Can we have soem Fs and Cs here, I thought this guy must be back sodlering
at 700c then I realised he was from the wrong side of the Atlantic

 

[Myron Samila]

* The OP mentions F here first


* The reply mentions F here.

Can we have soem Fs and Cs here, I thought this guy must be back sodlering
at 700c then I realised he was from the wrong side of the Atlantic

Where did you miss the C and Fs (see my * remarks above

 

[Mjolinor]

Where did you miss the C and Fs (see my * remarks above

Here

 

[Fred]

Can we have soem Fs and Cs here, I thought this guy must be back sodlering
at 700c then I realised he was from the wrong side of the Atlantic

I am obliged to say, from an upper hemispere view point, I am from the right
side of the Atlantic.

Just when I see in the Cooper website specs in degrees C and F the
temperature in Fahrenheit seemed to be consistent with the range of numbers
on the bits.

 

[Mjolinor]

600 wiring

Yea, I should have put "F" everywhere, but the original poster was all in
degrees F.

The US will get around to adopting the metric system, probably about the
same time the rest of the world goes on some other standard.

It's only a legal adoption anyway, the US will start using C about the same
time as the rest of the world's public does. You really are better off
sticking to one or the other, I am lumbered with using both ie. hot cold
personally, freezing point of water , when will it snow, and all the other
things that control life are done by me in F, technical stuff like soldering
irons, melting point of aluninium degrees C and naturally transistor
stuff K.

Damn confusing it is.

 

[qrk]

For general soldering including surface mount, FQFPs etc what's the best
temperature tip to use?

Also should I opt for screwdriver shape or long conical?

Does the number on the tip signify temperature in 00 degrees F?

I like using 720 deg F (380 deg C) and a Weller ETS tip for small SMT
like QFPs. For larger SMT, an ETP tip is nice to have. These tips are
for the variable temp soldering stations. For SMT work it is handy to
have variable temperature. The fixed temp irons/tips are too hard to
use for SMT work. You should also use a tip cleaner such as
Multicore's TTC1 (best I have found so far). This cleans off oxide
crud and tins all in one motion.

I like the conical tips. I find the screwdriver tips are hard to use
for SMT.

Mark

 

[budgie]

(snip)


It's only a legal adoption anyway, the US will start using C about the same
time as the rest of the world's public does.

I think you need to get out more. The ROW public use C as their daily measure
in the vast majority of countries. Europe, ... , even Australia.

 

[Richard]

For general soldering including surface mount,
FQFPs etc what's the best temperature tip to use?

I tried a range and settled on 220 C, based on the process temperature
ratings on the chips I'm soldering. It's low, but it does the job and I
don't have to worry about toasting the chips. (I don't think I could
move fast enough at 380 C to not worry, and the hotter you go the faster
the flux burns off too.)

Also should I opt for screwdriver shape or long conical?

Yes. ;-) A conical with a fine screwdriver tip will give great
results. The thin long screwdriver tips look cool but have poor heat
transfer.

Here's a recent thread on the topic with some Weller tip numbers...
http://groups.google.com/[email protected]


FWIW, I've found it's more the technique than the iron that yields good
SMT results. Flux and solder mask are key ingredients. With them, I've
seen great SMT results even practicing with a cheapo Weller
general-purpose iron & tip from my utility toolkit.

Richard

 

[Myron Samila]

I think you need to get out more. The ROW public use C as their daily measure
in the vast majority of countries. Europe, ... , even Australia.

Strangely enough, in Canada, we use Metric for just about everything (including temp).
BUT, if you are building something, you are going to use a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, or a
2x4 (") stud, ummmmmm...... how many sq/ft is your house?!?!? rarely do you hear someone
using Metric in the building trade. Yes, this electrical conduit is 3 meters (ahhhh, no,
but cable here is sold in meters)

But, we pretty much use Metric for just about everything else, makes a lot of sense too!!!
It is sooooooooo easy to understand compared to inches (conversions is just so easy).

I work on cars as a hobby (I race an Italian car), and just looking at a nut or bolt, I
can say "10mm", where when I'm working on an American car, it's like "1/4, 3/8, what
the?!?!?" heheh.

I also have a conversion calculator on my PDA that has some "out of date" measurements to
convert to, like a furlong, stones, etc... heheh.

The US does use metric though!!!! JPL is using the metric system for their Mars mission,
etc...... JBL (a speaker manufacturer) uses metric for just about everything regarding
the design of their speakers (voice coil, spider, magnet gap, except the diameter is
measured in inches!)

 

[Fred]

Strangely enough, in Canada, we use Metric for just about everything (including temp).
BUT, if you are building something, you are going to use a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, or a
2x4 (") stud, ummmmmm...... how many sq/ft is your house?!?!? rarely do you hear someone
using Metric in the building trade. Yes, this electrical conduit is 3 meters (ahhhh, no,
but cable here is sold in meters)

But, we pretty much use Metric for just about everything else, makes a lot of sense too!!!
It is sooooooooo easy to understand compared to inches (conversions is just so easy).

I work on cars as a hobby (I race an Italian car), and just looking at a nut or bolt, I
can say "10mm", where when I'm working on an American car, it's like "1/4, 3/8, what
the?!?!?" heheh.

I also have a conversion calculator on my PDA that has some "out of date" measurements to
convert to, like a furlong, stones, etc... heheh.

The US does use metric though!!!! JPL is using the metric system for their Mars mission,
etc...... JBL (a speaker manufacturer) uses metric for just about everything regarding
the design of their speakers (voice coil, spider, magnet gap, except the diameter is
measured in inches!)


--
Myron Samila
Toronto, ON Canada
Samila Racing
http://204.101.251.229/myronx19

In the UK we have a similar theme in the building scene except lengths and
measurements are in lumps of 30cm. This measurement was often referred to
as a metric foot! So for example you would specify a length of timber as
say 2.4m (being the equiv. of 8ft).

 

[Fred]

I like using 720 deg F (380 deg C) and a Weller ETS tip for small SMT
like QFPs. For larger SMT, an ETP tip is nice to have. These tips are
for the variable temp soldering stations. For SMT work it is handy to
have variable temperature. The fixed temp irons/tips are too hard to
use for SMT work. You should also use a tip cleaner such as
Multicore's TTC1 (best I have found so far). This cleans off oxide
crud and tins all in one motion.

I like the conical tips. I find the screwdriver tips are hard to use
for SMT.

Mark

Many thanks for the replies. The consensus is towards conical tips and 700
deg F.

I remember a friend used a tip which was concave in shape and hence could
carry solder effectively when doing fine work such as PQFPs. It also seemed
to aid the removal of solder when an excess had been used and pins were
being shorted. I can't find any such shape in the Weller series though the
iron he used wasn't from Weller.

 

[Richard Henry]

The US does use metric though!!!!

I have seen US Army specifications for equipment where the dimensions are
given in inches and the maximum weight in kilograms. And the accompanying
software had to display distances in kilometers.

 

[Richard]

I remember a friend used a tip which was concave in
shape and hence could carry solder effectively when
doing fine work such as PQFPs.

Search the c.a.e group for "Metcal hoof tip". There might be another
maker too, mentioned in a prior thread with Metcal.

It also seemed to aid the removal of solder when an
excess had been used and pins were being shorted.

I don't know about that, but solder braid works great, sometimes with a
touch of flux.

I can't find any such shape in the Weller series
though the iron he used wasn't from Weller.

Weller doesn't have this tip, unfortunately.

 

[Richard]

Search the c.a.e group for "Metcal hoof tip".

Brain glitch - make that s.e.d. ...

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=metcal+hoof+tip&meta=group=sci.electronics.design

 

[budgie]

Strangely enough, in Canada, we use Metric for just about everything (including temp).
BUT, if you are building something, you are going to use a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, or a
2x4 (") stud, ummmmmm...... how many sq/ft is your house?!?!? rarely do you hear someone
using Metric in the building trade. Yes, this electrical conduit is 3 meters (ahhhh, no,
but cable here is sold in meters)

But, we pretty much use Metric for just about everything else, makes a lot of sense too!!!
It is sooooooooo easy to understand compared to inches (conversions is just so easy).

I work on cars as a hobby (I race an Italian car), and just looking at a nut or bolt, I
can say "10mm", where when I'm working on an American car, it's like "1/4, 3/8, what
the?!?!?" heheh.

I also have a conversion calculator on my PDA that has some "out of date" measurements to
convert to, like a furlong, stones, etc... heheh.

The US does use metric though!!!! JPL is using the metric system for their Mars mission,
etc...... JBL (a speaker manufacturer) uses metric for just about everything regarding
the design of their speakers (voice coil, spider, magnet gap, except the diameter is
measured in inches!)

As distinct from the aviation industry (outside US, in metricated countries):

Fuel in litres
Altitude in ft
Speed in knots, distance in nautical miles
Weights in kg

Go figure ....

 

[Tony]

Strangely enough, in Canada, we use Metric for just about everything (including temp).
BUT, if you are building something, you are going to use a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, or a
2x4 (") stud, ummmmmm...... how many sq/ft is your house?!?!? rarely do you hear someone
using Metric in the building trade. Yes, this electrical conduit is 3 meters (ahhhh, no,
but cable here is sold in meters)

But, we pretty much use Metric for just about everything else, makes a lot of sense too!!!
It is sooooooooo easy to understand compared to inches (conversions is just so easy).

The first time I ordered 8'x4' plywood sheets since metrication, I asked if they
were metric sizes or imperial. They insisted "it's all STRICTLY metric now, you
can't get the imperial sizes any more - 2440x1220" (and it's still the same).

It's ALL been strictly metric in Oz for very many years, EXCEPT all the retail
hardware stores seem to still sell Asian imperial screws and nuts, while all the
wholesale/trade suppliers supply mostly metric.

Tony (remove the "_" to reply by email)

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

Can we have soem Fs and Cs here, I thought this guy must be back sodlering
at 700c then I realised he was from the wrong side of the Atlantic

I see degrees F mentioned twice above. As for "wrong side of the
Atlantic", there is no 'wrong' side, but for effect, you could say "Left
side of the pond".