Hello All,
I tried to sharpen and re-tin a tired tip once and failed. I'm about
ready for another new one and was wondering again if it's possible and
what the proper technique is after grinding a nice new point?
I think you're confusing old tips with new.
They used to be made of copper, and then you'd have to file them
occasionally as the tips decayed, so you'd get a smooth tip.
But even when I was a kid, 35 years ago, it was pretty common that
the tips were plated with something, so they didn't corrode nearly
as fast. Actually, I've used nothing but plated soldering iron tips
since aobut 1974, and I don't recall once having one go bad. That
might be a slight exaggeration, but the plated tips live on forever,
and the only ones I can remember that I needed to replace had
been damaged when I dropped them, or otherwise misused them.
A practical example. One time I did want to do something out of
the ordinary, so I bent and filed a plated tip. So the plating
was gone, and once it was, the lifetime was pretty finite. It
was likely a good experience, since if the long life of the plated
tips didn't say anything to me, getting the plating off and seeing
the decay did.
So if a tip is plated, you never take a file or steel wool to them.
Generally, they will only require a wiping with a sponge or paper towel,
though of course the tip needs to be in the iron and turned on at the time.
It will generally just wipe away. Then of course, you need to "tin" the
iron again, which means adding a fair amount of solder, and letting it
sit for a few minutes before wiping it clean.
ANd of course, if you don't tin the tip in the first place, again letting
it warm up and then melting solder on it so it covers the tip and then
letting it sit there for a few minutes before wiping the tip, you won't
have great success using the iron. The solder will just roll off.
Michael