How To Clean Soldering Iron With Flux
Solder flux residue can be removed in two steps.
How to clean soldering iron with flux. This should lead to a clean shiny tip ready for use. Flux is for dissolving surface oxides on the joint and tends to foul the iron. Turn the solder pot on and allow it to achieve the desired temperature.
A solder pot may also be used to tin or re-tin your soldering iron tip. If the tip is hot enough normally at least 300C and. Flux isnt for cleaning the iron though.
The flux will be activated by the heat that will start a chemical reaction to eliminate the oxidation. Tinning using flux and cleaning. How to clean a soldering iron.
Heat the soldering iron and use a moist sponge to clean the surface. The purpose is to remove excess flux and solder from the tip. Once the soldering process is done some flux residue is seen on the surface.
Apply to the oxidized tip a thin layer or flux-cored solder. Im currently building a prototype device at work that involves a QFN-64 05mm pitch IC a PIC microcontroller soldered onto a SchmartBoardez prototyping board. If youre using solder with a flux core start cleaning your soldering iron by following the tinning steps above.
While it can be useful in certain situations it is not enough to remove oxidation from a soldering iron tip. Apply a small amount of solder to prevent further oxidation. Once your iron is heated up for a job wipe it on a wet sponge to remove old solder and apply solder to the tip.