Exploding Soldering Irons; or how I learned to love my glasses

[moid]

It is interesting to me that this happened with a Weller.  I was very close to buying a Weller soldering station, but I ended up buying a Hakko because of suggestions that Weller may have been declining in quality in recent years.

Apparently, these things have exploded before (scroll to the comments on this page):
https://blog.adafruit.com/2010/05/04/post-a-photo-of-damagedoxidizedcorroded-soldering-iron-and-win/

I don't know about Weller quality - the iron I have is from their cheaper end of the market - the SP40N. It's not a soldering station. What I like about it is that it has three white LEDs mounted in it that shine down at whatever you're soldering and they are brilliant! For some reason (ahem family) I can't get to do any soldering during daylight hours, and the illumination in the kitchen where I work is fairly dim, so the iron is a great help. My only comparison was with a terrible Maplin soldering iron that I previously owned and was certainly responsible for a lot of nuked components when I first started making pedals - the Weller gets hot quickly, melts solder and works for me at least.

I do have a query about solder techniques though. When I finish working with the iron I coat it in fresh solder as it's cooling down to preserve the tip and prevent oxidisation from occurring. I've noticed that the solder oxidises and becomes dull on the iron (it stays shiny on the PCB) - I've attached a picture below. Should the solder stay shiny on the iron as well? If so, what am I doing wrong? I don't wet the iron with a damp sponge at all, I just use brass wool to wipe it if there is too much solder on it.



The chisel tip is on the left and the new ST7 pointed tip is on the right.

[amptramp]

I wouldn't worry about dull solder on the iron tip.  We used to get circuit boards in from various vendors (at one time, there were 45 PCB vendors in the Toronto area) and we found that the boards with the shiniest coating (high tin level) were less solderable than the boards with a duller finish.

[moid]

Thanks,  I was wondering if I was doing anything wrong... I'll be happy with a dull tip now

[MrStab]

Jesus H, Martin! Glad it wasn't worse, but it still sounds insanely sore. i'm just posting because my glasses have saved me from more minor potential mishaps, such as solder popping and aluminium shards. without contact lenses, it's really frustrating to use goggles for that sort of thing because you can't see that well if you have crap eyesight to begin with.

give it a few years and healthcare in this country will cost more than several hundred soldering stations

[moid]

You're probably right about healthcare in the UK in the future

Don't worry about my face; it's fine now thanks. Of more concern to me are my arms which got bitten in three places by mosquitos (or something similar) while I was on the roof today, replacing rooftiles and sweating furiously in the sunshine and they are itching like hell with those lovely red blotches that biting insects leave. One of them even got me in the armpit! Bastards! 

[MrStab]

Damn, I'd better not mention that new strain of Africanised Soldering Mosquitoes...

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk

[duck_arse]

don't swat mosquito whilst holding soldering iron. or use the other hand, anyway.

one good thing about peering at things you're soldering under the big maggy is that the smoke doesn't go straight up your nose. [two bad things - the included lamp's colour temp might drive you batty; the heat of the included lamp, if incandescent, might drive you plastic fumes batty.]

[anotherjim]

while I was on the roof today, replacing rooftiles

Maybe not insect bites. Maybe you got shingles.

Too hot for a coat, but I'll get it anyway.....

[moid]

Ba-dum Tsssss

That was a truly magnificent Dad joke. Well played.

Duck, I never even saw the mosquitos... I generally try to appreciate most forms of life, but mosquitos exist in the same mental place for me that I reserve for lawyers, politicians, certain colleagues at work and far right idiots... in that the universe probably needs them in some twisted way to make the rest of us appreciate that we aren't them; but I wish that there was something larger in the food chain that would take great delight in eating such creatures

[PRR]

These were suggested on another forum:

https://www.ishor.com/jeweler-optical-and-inspection/safety-glasses-safety-goggles

[moid]

Thanks PRR. They don't go up to my level of busted vision alas. Definitely a good idea for other people. I do have some clear protective goggles though, but I rarely wear them... I might well look at Duck's suggestion of a really large magnifying glass though.

Strangely enough I got some new glasses today; I chose a frame design with much larger lenses Better protection and things are even a bit sharper in my good eye so that's something positive.

[PRR]

> They don't go up to my level

Wasn't poking at you. *Everybody* needs eye protection.

But if you are expecting more than a small fragment straight in the eye area, note that the $7 googles "Fits over eye glasses" so you can use your own correction plus be guarded against side-shots. The $34 face shield is more protection.

For folks of "normal vision" the "magnifying" jobs offer old eyes the ability to focus at 32" (1.25d) to 13" (3d), as well as catching zingers.

[stallik]

Well said Paul.
If you're as squeamish as I am when it comes to (my) eyes, it's uncomfortable to have to watch as the medics dig a piece of shrapnel out of my cornea. Done that twice which marks me as an idiot

[amptramp]

There are times I am glad I wear glasses.  I have had some near misses, not from soldering but from using wire cutters.

[moid]

amptramp - I never considered wire cutters in that way, but because where I do all my circuit destruction (the kitchen table) happens to be in the path of the feet of both my wife and son who prefer to be barefoot around the house, I always place a finger (s) over the lead I'm snipping so that any random piece of metal just jabs into my fingers and doesn't go flying onto the floor where I'll never find it, but you can guarantee that either my wife or son would find it the next day with their toes! It works for me (and them!) Yes I certainly wouldn't want resistor leads to go flying at my eyes!

And another good use of large glasses happened today - my son came up to me and said Daddy would it hurt if you got hit on the nose by a spoon? (I was attempting to measure voltages on a transistor at the time so wasn't paying full attention to him), so I said maybe or something else non-committal when suddenly a metal spoon headed straight for my face, missed my nose and smacked me in the middle of my lenses ... which did indeed gain my full attention and a loud quantity of verbal interaction ensued... the upshot of which can be boiled down to 'why on earth would you do such a stupid thing?' Answer - because I wanted to see if your nose would squish into a funny shape. It really isn't possible to argue with someone who not only does not understand logic but also appears to inhabit an entirely different universe and refuses to learn the rules of this one. I have a feeling my son is the living embodiment of Calvin from Bill Watterson's comic strips.

[EBK]

it's uncomfortable to have to watch as the medics dig a piece of shrapnel out of my cornea.

You didn't have to look.  You could have closed your---

oh.... never mind.