12 Sep
2011
12 Sep
'11
12:09 p.m.
I don;t know what you have at the momnet, but if
it's not temperature-
controlled you are making life difficult for yourself.
I have a Weller 40W iron, not temperature controlled. What I don't
understand is why this makes life difficult, if it melts the solder what
makes it hard to use? The only thing I can think of is damage to the board from the soldering iron shaft and bit. Sicne we
don't want it to get
ridiculaous hot, that temperature is set (by the design of
the iron) to
be a bit above the melthing point of the solder.
Now think what happens when you put it on a connection, particularly one
wherr ther'es a significant bit of metal attached (like a power or ground
plane in a PCB). The heat losses are now increased, but the heat input
from the element is the same. The result is that the
bit temperature
drops. maybe to a poitn wher it can no longer melt the solder.
If oyu have a temperature controleld iron, the element is not on all the
time. When you put it on a conneciton, the element is kept on for longer
by the thermostat device to maintain the bit temperature. So the bit
remains hot enough to melt the solder
and/or components if the temperature is too high. Is
there something else
Actually, more damage is done by too cold an iron than too hot an iron
(within reason). The reason is that anyt soldering iron is 'hot' for PCBs
and semiconductors, the colder iron has to be kept on longer so more heat
is condcuted along with wires and tracks, causing more damage.
about a non-temperature controlled iron that makes
things hard?
-tony