Soldering-

[Norwest]

How do you keep the soldering iron clean. I use 60/40 solder with a wet sponge for cleaning but to no luck. The iron has no heat control which might be the problem. I have a lot of soldering to do today and would like not to have the hassle, thanks for suggestions!

[Norwest]

I just went to a site and showed me the way to do it. Thanks anyway!

[NativePaul]

I use a moist sponge too, and it works well for me. I have seen pros use what looks like a pot of brass swarf. I am curious as to what the site said, while a sponge works well for me, I am no pro and maybe something else would work better, since I started using lead free solder my tips erode much faster, and maybe the heat cycling of constantly cooling it down on the sponbge and reheating it doesn't help.

[tlandauer]

I use moist sponge too, never a problem. After you wipe the tip, the tin should be shinny and tightly "coating the tip area", if there is a blob, the only way is to flick it off, a quick wrist movement will do. Just be sure you have a place to flick because the solder balls up to many piece.
As said above, the tip has a definite service life span and it can get eroded and that's when things go south.
A good working tip should always have a layer of tin on the tip that looks shinny and conforming to the the shape of the tip.

[grsboats]

I tried both ways and the brass swarf is my second choice as it does no clean and keep the tip shiny as the moist sponge.Gill

[Norwest]

Clean iron and tin area and use a wet sponge.

[Norwest]

soldering

Tried to type more to answer posters but I was proof reading as I go and it doesn't like slow typers!

[Norwest]

Best to wrap solder around cold iron after cleaning and plug iron in and all will be great.

[Norwest]

NativePaul- Try leaded solder which seems to not blacken iron as much. Best I can help you. I read you guys post a lot. I'm kind of a young loner at 81 1/2. Been at this hobby since 1991.

[tlandauer]

Also prolonged heating when you have idle time will oxidize the tip, I turn off the rig and let it cool off a bit and wipe with wet sponge again, it will retain the shine, good for next session.....

[jim82]

I just recently got some Hakko FS-100 tip cleaning paste that is supposed to work really well. I can't comment on it myself I haven't had to use any just yet

[lt130th]

Seems like the original posted question has been addressed, so now I'll ask - why are you guys still using soldering irons? Are you soldering small electronics (cap banks & such)? 99% of my soldering is bullet connectors, and for that I use a pencil torch. It will do all bullets on an ESC in 60 seconds.

[rol243]

you can,t use a torch on all soldering jobs, thats why we still use the good old soldering iron.

[Prodrvr]

I use that brass wool thing to clean as I solder. After I'm done soldering, I clean it in the brass wool then apply some solder to the iron and shut it off. I use lead-free 4% silver solder.

[lt130th]

you can,t use a torch on all soldering jobs, thats why we still use the good old soldering iron.

I also read, in another thread, that the friction/flow of gas over a bullet connector can create a static charge. This could be potentially bad for an ESC. I didn't even know about that. I've used a torch on many ESC's & LiPo's, though, and not yet encountered an issue...maybe I've only been lucky.