I got this iron a while ago as my first (and so far only) iron, and I’m having a lot of trouble melting solder with it, especially at the 20w setting.
I’m using lead-free solder, and I have little-to-no technique. But it seems like even if I just have the iron warmed up, and push the soldier directly against the tip with nothing else involved, it will only melt sometimes, and I haven’t found any particular conditions under which it melts or doesn’t.
If anyone has thoughts on proving where the problem lies, that’d be great, and/or if anyone would like to give me a little demo on a Tuesday to help see if I’m doing anything obviously wrong. I’ll bring down the iron.
I get a bad feeling when someone links to Canadian Tire when they mention soldering irons. They’re probably junk, sorry dude.
Have you used VHS soldering stations? They’re quite decent. We also mostly have lead solder, which has a lower melting point and wicks a lot better. I bet if you tried at the space, you’d have a much easier time.
If the solder doesn’t melt readily when held against the hot iron, either the iron isn’t hot enough or is extremely fouled with oxidation. Clean the end with brass wool (not steel) or damp paper towel and if you still can’t melt solder, it’s just not hot enough. Lead-free is definitely more challenging to work with and does have a higher melting point than traditional Pb60Sn40, but such a non-temp-controlled iron should definitely be getting hot enough to melt it.
I would return the iron to Canadian Tire and get a Chinese Hakko 936 clone for about the same (or less, depending if you want to buy locally or from overseas) money.
Controlled wattage irons tend to struggle with Lead-free solder. A temporary fix could be using leaded solder. Modern controllable temperature irons/stations perform a lot better.
As @ktims mentioned, the hackspace has a few of these Hakko 936 clone Yihau irons - ours where purchased from Lee’s electronics, rather than Hobbyking. They’re a good station for the price
If you want to spend a bit more for something that will last for a long time, The workhorse irons that see the most around the space are Weller wes51 and Hakko 888d. Ours aren’t treated the best (many beginners learning!) and have stood up excellently. They are both in the $100 range though, so a significant step up.
Without adjustable wattage and temp feedback control, I always ran the risk of burning my tip. Once the tip is burnt the tip is close to garbage. And if you can’t replace the tip the iron is garbage.
Yup, get yourself a temp controlled iron of at least 40w, more like 80, with removable short tips (long tips are really pointless). Atten, Hakko, Weller are all good brands - in order of price. Get something with a temperature display, it means it has some smarts in it rather than the dial style ones which tend to be more of a “at this point the tip is likely to be at this temperature” rather than having a feedback loop.
