Soldering Iron Question... Solder won't stick! - Page 3

qusp, have you used any weller stations in the past?  I'm currently using a wsd-161 (dual channel digital temperature control), and so far I've lost one channel and burned out the heater/sensor module on one wand.  I'm thinking about getting a new station, and was wondering how hakko compares (looking at the FM-203 if you know anything about that particular model).

Hey, nah i've never really used any of the weller stations enough to have an opinion i'm afraid, i've only used friends. whats you budget? because next iron i buy will be a metcal (well probably i will get it soon and keep the hakko as a second unit) very fast and responsive irons due to the direct heating. i was actually hesitant about the automatic sensor/temp control, but it actually works really well.

my budget is around $500~600, my job is going to buy it since my weller is on the fritz.  I looked on metcal's site, and didn't see anything with temperature control (could have missed it), which is something I really need for the range of things I have to solder...

Not sure I understand the allure of those stations.

I use a Hakko 936 clone without any issue.

If I wanted dual, I would just buy two of them.

you can have two irons with different tips/temperatures going at the same time, and having the dual station saves desk space.  Overkill?  Probably.

duck tape one on top of the other? lol, /me shrugs

the metcals sense the heat needed and automatically put out that much heat; thus no temp control. whack hey? from all reports they do it and do it very well indeed, i'm saving for one. they also do not use an element, but rather heat the tip directly

try to polish it i guess?

Ok..  This is not the best suggestion you will find but it should work to cut through the crud if you take lots of precautions.

Ammonia.

Heat up the iron and dip in a small little container of ammonia.  You must do this in a very well ventilated environment.  I recommend using a fan to blow the fumes away from you.

Immediately after this, tin the tip with flux bearing solder.

Basically, you can buy tip refreshers to do this all in one step.  The active ingredient in tip refreshers is ammonia and it works very well.  Tip refreshers also have tin and solder to re-tin the tip immediately.