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[quote="FerdinandII"]Life Changing Tips for Wicking Solder
https://youtu.be/IjOh5ShVX_w?si=ibh144j4NC3_xLOk

A great tip from the video that addresses braid drawing heat from the joint is to use small lengths of braid held with tweezers. This limits the amount of heat drawn away from the joint.

I also bought a 200W iron with C245 tips that heat up in 2 seconds and go into standby when placed in the holder. It's easier than using a less powerful iron without enough power to overcome the heat loss caused by large amounts of metal in the joint.

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- Guy

I have my doubts about that, you're just replacing a bunch of braided copper with a bunch of steel...

Roscoe

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I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.

[/quote] I have my doubts about that, you're just replacing a bunch of braided copper with a bunch of steel...

Roscoe[/quote]

I get it. Steel is much less thermally conductive than copper. The thermal conductivity of carbon steel is much lower than that of copper. Its thermal conductivity is around 45 watts per kelvin per meter.

The thermal conductivity of copper is typically around 385 to 401 W/(m·K) -or- almost 9 times that of steel.

My issue with that is that is wastes time cutting small pieces of solder wick especially when you first don't sop up all the solder on the first try.

I just feed more wick off the spool. Then clip off the saturated portion and move on to the next solder joint.

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Walt

I have my doubts about that, you're just replacing a bunch of braided copper with a bunch of steel...

Roscoe[/quote]

I get it. Steel is much less thermally conductive than copper. The thermal conductivity of carbon steel is much lower than that of copper. Its thermal conductivity is around 45 watts per kelvin per meter.

The thermal conductivity of copper is typically around 385 to 401 W/(m·K) -or- almost 9 times that of steel.

My issue with that is that is wastes time cutting small pieces of solder wick especially when you first don't sop up all the solder on the first try.

I just feed more wick off the spool. Then clip off the saturated portion and move on to the next solder joint.[/quote]

To add to why Roscoe is wrong, the thermal connection between the tweezers and the wick is pretty poor. This definitely works, but it is a PITA.

[/quote] To add to why Roscoe is wrong, the thermal connection between the tweezers and the wick is pretty poor. This definitely works, but it is a PITA.[/quote]

The same goes for the soldering gun or iron tip. A build-up of oxidation almost renders the gun/iron useless until you clean the tip and melt some fresh solder on it.

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Walt

Amen to a clean tip regardless of the device. Here is what I use instead of a damp sponge.

https://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Cleane ... 08&sr=8-24

[quote="tomp"]Amen to a clean tip regardless of the device. Here is what I use instead of a damp sponge.

YEP! They're great! The brass "scouring pads" do a great job without cooling the iron tip. The loose solder bits that it collects can be shaken out over a trash can.

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Walt