How To Clean Soldering Iron Tips

Wire wool has the advantage of not cooling down the soldering iron too.

How to clean soldering iron tips. A solder pot may also be used to tin or re-tin your soldering iron tip. Once the re-tinning product melts around the tip hold it for several seconds and then clean the tip using dry cleaning methods like brass wool or an automatic tip cleaner. To use the Tip tinnercleaner heat the soldering iron.

Take either a wet sponge or wire wool. This step will coat the iron in a mixture of flux and solder. It took a lot of effort with tip tinnercleaning compound to make the solder wet the tip again.

Now remove the tip and clean it with a moist sponge to remove the cleaner. If not I heat it and whip it fastwith a peace of cotton old socks etc. Use a damp sponge to clean the tip and wipe it off quickly to avoid cooling the tip excessively.

Then dip the tip in the cleaner and do a slight twist action. Clean the tip After every cycle and before you start to solder always clean your tip. Each time you clean the soldering iron and put it away apply a fresh solder to the tip.

Good soldering process is important. Dip the tip into the tinner making sure that the entire oxidized surface is in contact with the re-tinning product. Leave it there until the paste melts around the tip.

The best tip tinner is your solder--tips should always be coated with a small amount of solder. Melt some good quality of solder wire on the Tip. Either they become too dry or they are so wet that the fast cooling might destroy the first layer of the solder iron.