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I have a brand new soldering iron, the tip turned black while heating on my first use, and now solder won't stick to it, it just rolls off.

All the answers in similar questions here tell me to stick solder to the tip but it won't stick because the tip is black. I have never used this iron and have been unable to tin it.

I've tried cleaning with a damped (not wet) sponge as several people suggested, but nothing comes off with several minutes of scrubbing.

How do I solve this chicken / egg situation?

A shot of the tip as requested/suggested

Hippyjim
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  • Dip it in water when on - use a wet sponge to drag off all the sh*t. Or maybe you've bought from a disreputable source? – Andy aka Dec 02 '15 at 23:15
  • It's from Maplin, a pretty large electronics retailer in the UK. I have literally just heated it to use it, the tip turned black, and now solder won't stick. Going to reheat it now and try the dip/sponge thing. – Hippyjim Dec 02 '15 at 23:31
  • Ok, reheated it, dipped in water (fizzled), scrubbed it with a sponge - nothing came off. Not sure there's even anything stuck to it. Guess I need to buy a brass sponge? – Hippyjim Dec 02 '15 at 23:50
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    "Dipped it in water". This is not what you want to be doing. It cools the tip right down and will harden the grot. You want to wipe it on a *damp* sponge. – Tom Carpenter Dec 02 '15 at 23:58
  • This question is answered on this site a dozen times. – Matt Young Dec 03 '15 at 00:06
  • No - the question is what to do when the answers already suggested here don't work. Also - this is a brand new not used iron. – Hippyjim Dec 03 '15 at 00:20
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    @Matt Young, no it hasn't. Similar questions that *do not answer* this one have. This is a brand new iron. I have never been able to tin it. It has been cleaned - there is nothing to clean. I know how to use stack exchange, but I don't know how to fix my brand new iron. – Hippyjim Dec 03 '15 at 12:12
  • @Hippyjim, What brand of iron is it? Just because its new does not mean its going to be a good iron. If its not temperature controlled it probably just burned itself up, nothing you can do at that point. Also, personally, I strongly recommend against the brass sponge (or other "stone" type cleaners/tinners). I've seen the best tips destroyed with them at the hand of someone who gets a little over-zealous with their use. Damp sponge, rosin core solder, and patience will clean just about any tip that is not burned out. – Kris Bahnsen Dec 03 '15 at 16:18
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    Followup. I found with some research that brass sponge is pretty much a requirement for lead-free (I generally stick to leaded, because it doesn't suck). The rapid cooling of lead-free leads to cracking of the tip coating and rapidly degrading the life of the tip. Leaded, use a damp sponge; lead-free, use the brass thing. – Kris Bahnsen Dec 03 '15 at 17:41
  • Are you using flux core solder? You need to tin the tip enough for the flux to eat away the corrosion. You might use a good bit of solder before it sticks. After that, always keep the tip tinned. – Robert Stiffler Jan 20 '16 at 12:09
  • Tip tinner: heat tip, dip in tinner, done. https://amzn.to/2LpFhmH. I mention this problem in my article here too: "It is usually only necessary to use tip tinner if you let a new tip oxidize prior to tinning it, or to tin the tip while heating it for the first time ever (though regular solder works too if you hold the solder to the tip during the first ever heating cycle), or for re-tinning tips that have been poorly tinned and cared for in the first place" (https://www.electricrcaircraftguy.com/2014/08/recommended-soldering-kit.html). – Gabriel Staples Dec 19 '18 at 22:50

2 Answers2

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As pointed out in the comments and other answer, you need to clean the tip.

There are two options for cleaning, depending on what you have, or what came with the Iron.

  1. A Compressed Cellulose sponge, which has been wetted with water. You want it to be damp, but not soaking wet. If it is soaking it just cools the tip down and doesn't help clean it. If it is dry, the sponge will burn, putting more crap on the tip.

Cellulose Sponge

Image from here

  1. A Brass Wire cleaning sponge. These are not the same as steel wool. Steel wool is an abrasive which will damage the tip (as will sand paper). The tips are made internally of copper which is great for heat transfer, but will be damaged/dissolved by the tin in the solder. To allow the tip to work, it is plated with Iron which will withstand the soldering process, and is key to ensuring the tip can be used. This plating is thin and can be easily damaged by abrasives, or scratching against things. The brass wire sponges are not abrasive, they are like the scrubbing pads people sometimes use for washing up. They look like this:

Brass sponge

Image from here

For both cases you need to do the same thing, basically just drag the tip across the sponge a few times (may only take a couple, may take a dozen, depends on how much grot is on there) at a sort of medium pace (like washing up really). You should see the tip start to go shiny and silver. Once it is, put some solder on, and then again wipe on the sponge. Finally put some more solder on (tin the tip) when not in use.

So why did it happen so quick? I can think of a couple of reasons:

  1. There was some coating on the tip to protect it when sitting on a shelf for ages. Not sure if this would be done - if it was tinned, that should be enough, but you never know.

  2. If it is not a temperature controlled iron, then who knows what temperature the tip is at - ideally it should be around 360-380°C, but the non-controlled ones can be anywhere, even as much as 450+°C. The higher temperature will cause the tip to oxidise from stuff in the air much faster. Hopefully you should be able to clean it off on a sponge. Then once clean always leave it

Bence Kaulics
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Tom Carpenter
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  • Thanks for the step-by-step. I bought a stand and sponge with the iron, and have given it a good clean but I can't be sure there's actually anything on the tip - nothing comes off and the tip colour doesn't change. It's midnight. I give up. – Hippyjim Dec 03 '15 at 00:02
  • @Hippyjim Could you post a close up picture of the tip at some point (given how late it is there, perhaps tomorrow). – Tom Carpenter Dec 03 '15 at 00:04
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    @Hippyjim are you using rosin-based flux, and a rosin-cored solder? Try putting some flux on the end of the solder and give that a go. If it starts sticking, alternate between cleaning and flux+solder. Hopefully this is a one-time affair for those particular tips. – rdtsc Dec 03 '15 at 00:58
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    Thanks - I used tip tinner (basically flux & a cleaner) and after a few tries, (heat iron, dip in tinner, let iron cool, heat iron, wipe on sponge, repeat) that did the trick. – Hippyjim Dec 03 '15 at 21:39
  • @Hippyjim, just make sure you are thorough in cleaning off the tip cleaner (tin the tip with regular solder a few times and wipe off). The tip cleaner contains quite a strong acid (why it works so well!), and if any is left on the tip for too long it will start to damage the tip itself. – Tom Carpenter Dec 03 '15 at 22:42
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Clean the tip with a brass cleaning sponge.

Now, when you finish using it, store the tip with solder melted on it. Do not clean it off before you're done, the solder layer keeps the metal of the iron from oxidizing and easily cleans off next time the iron gets hot.

Samuel
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  • Thanks, but "store the tip with solder melted on it" - how? The solder rolls off, that's the problem I'm having. – Hippyjim Dec 02 '15 at 23:29
  • Please **don't** clean the tip with steel wool. It will just damage the plating and cause it to oxidise much faster - basically wrecking the tip. Clean it with a damp (not wet) sponge, or a brass cleaning sponge. Note that the latter is **very** different from steel wool, it is much coarser and won't damage the tip. – Tom Carpenter Dec 02 '15 at 23:38
  • @TomCarpenter Yes, thank you, I did mean a brass cleaning sponge. – Samuel Dec 02 '15 at 23:43