What temperature do people set their irons at?

[zachomega]

I've been pretty happy with 750 degrees...But I was curious what other people set their irons to.

I saw one of the videos linked to surface mount stuff where the guy had the iron set at 600 and something...don't recall the exact number. 

At work, the resident tech keeps his iron at 850 degrees and also refuses to clean the tip.  Personally, I find I burn up traces a little too often with the iron set like that...but desoldering with wick is really really easy (which he does a lot of). 

-Zach

[Cardboard Tube Samurai]

I usually leave mine around the 400 mark (celcius, so 750 for you guys who can't let go of the imperial system) unless I am desoldering, in which case I turn it up to nearly 450

[frank]

It depends on the tips that I use.  Long and thin with a small point, put more heat.  On the other side, when I use rosin I lower the temp. a bit.

[brett]

I'm at 350 C.

[GravityRobert]

I'm at 350 C.

plus 2

[gutsofgold]

250* C for ICs, diodes, and the likes

350* C for everything else

[zachomega]

Just for anybody who wants to know:

350 degrees Centigrade is 662 degrees fahrenheit

This page has a very easy conversion program.  http://www.albireo.ch/temperatureconverter/

-Zach 

[mdh]

This page has a very easy conversion program.  http://www.albireo.ch/temperatureconverter/

FWIW, one of Google's less advertised features is that it does calculations and conversions.  So if you just Google "350 c to f" it will do the conversion for you.  Pretty handy, eh?

[Dragonfly]

Usually the "cotton" or "linen" setting, but occasionally the "silk" setting gets used if I'm ironing something more "delicate".   

[MartyMart]

I've no idea - I just plug it in and it gets hot !!

( cheapo 25watt Iron from Wicks, on third "pencil" tip )

MM

[R.G.]

Somewhere between dull red and bright red for lead-free solders.

800F for 60-40.

It's better to run a bit high (with an immaculately tinned tip!) than to run low. Running your iron at exactly the melting point of your solder means that it takes literally forever to bring the joint up, so you cook things. Running a much hotter tip lets you get the joint to melt the solder (which is how it 'spoze to be) before the heat has time to conduct away very far so you get the joint done before you cook anything.

Here's a practical test.

Tin a place on a scrap of PCB. Anywhere will do. Let it get cold. Take a cut-off resistor lead no more than 1.25" / 32mm long and hold it with thumb and index finger tip. No gloves, that's cheating. Arrange a bit of solder to stick into the air, and now holding the resistor lead by one end, tin 3mm/ 1/8" of the resistor lead with your soldering iron and the resistor lead touching the solder in mid air. If your iron is hot enough, this takes well under 1/2 second, and the solder is nice on the lead before you need to drop it from the heat conduction.

Let the lead cool. Now, pick it up by the non-tinned end again, and solder it onto the tinned spot on the PCB. If your iron is hot enough, you can do the following: Place the lead on the tinned bit of PCB. Touch the iron to PCB and lead simultaneously. The solder will melt and flow into a shiny joint as you remove the iron and blow on the joint without burning your fingers.

The colder your iron, the more you'll blister your fingers. You can literally feel the time it takes for the heat to get from the tip of the resistor lead to your fingers.

Get your mind inside the joint. Feel the burn.

... uh, no, wait, that's exercise, right?   

[Filament]

My iron is set at about 758 Kelvin. 

[tehfunk]

Yeah, I had a question about this, I went all out and bought the nice WLC100 adjustable temperature soldering station, and theres the dial with i think like 1,2,3,4,5 or something to that effect. So, I was wondering in terms of that dial what are the best settings for the particular parts?

[petemoore]

  First tip I went through pretty quick, [barely used really] I liked running it hot.
  This tip [under warranty] I'm trying to take it easy on.
  But have to turn it up past 12:00 on the 'dial' sometimes.
  I turn it to about 11:00 just to keep it warm while debugging, won't solder much.
  12:30 for general board soldering [leaving it set for a while it warms up].
  1:00 for when I find the joint to solder and want quick heat from 11:00 setting
  2:00 for lugs
  4:00 for when I want it to heat up quick or high heat.
  I'm certain leaving it set high is what kills it faster.
  Everything else was RS or this garage sale [not bad tip, does 30w or 15w] irons.
  Hopefully I can keep this tip working for a whole lot longer than the last one.

[MartyMart]

Reading RG's little "test procedure" is interesting, my "cheapo" iron is working well.
I look after it, it has a pencil "tip" that cost £3.99 and the Iron itself was only £7.99 !
I clean and tin the tip every time I use it, it warms up with a little "wrap" of solder around it
and is always "tinned and shiney" for the end 1cm or so.
In use, say on a PCB pad, it's on - soldered - off in about three seconds, so efficient AND quite
hot.
I don't ever go beyond 4-5 seconds with anything other than Jack socket or XLR and if i'm NOT
using IC/Tranny sockets, then these get one "leg" done at at time, moving quickly and on to some
other components before coming back to another "leg" - perhaps 30-45 seconds later.
I've yet to "burn up" a component :-)   ( fingers crossed here )

MM.

[George Giblet]

700degF (~375degC) is used by many PCB assemblers for manual PCB work on Leaded Solder but you will need to go to 800degF (425degC) for lead Free.

I generally set it to around 375degC to 400degC for leaded.   

The problem is the setting doesn't represent the temperature at the tip, the tip is generally cooler.   The thinner the tip the worse the problem becomes.  If you solder large parts, large planes, large pads, mechanical parts you will have to crank the temperature up.  What happens is heat is conducted away from the tip and the temperature drops (even for adjustable irons).  Find what you like for general work and use common sense for special cases.

[axg20202]

For me it depends. If it's general linen I set it to 'Cotton' but if its silk I set it to 'Delicates'.......Sorry.  If it's PnP I set it to Cotton and turn off the steam 

I actually don't have a temperature controlled soldering iron, so I set mine to "ON" at the mains plug. It's a 25w Antex iron with a 2.5mm tip and I find it's the perfect temperature. What that temperature is is anyon'e guess, but I've never been tempted to buy a controllable iron. I know people that have them and they tend to have them on full all the time.

[drewl]

Average 750' higher for big stuff lower for little  things.
A little trick if you're iron isn't variable, plug it into a variac to change temp, you'll be able to get hotter settings than normal for soldering chassis' and other large surface areas.