Soldering Gun

Site Admin Joined: Jun 30, 2012 Posts: 213 Location: NL

Soldering is a process for joining metals by the application of molten material. Nearly all materials and metal alloys can be soldered; mainly, brass, copper, iron, etc... One distinguishes between hard soldering and soft soldering.

By hand soldering one intends soldering at temperatures over 450oC. The soldering alloys(for hard soldering and brazing and silver soldering) are made of metal alloys which are first melted at temperatures which can not be achieved with a soldering iron. Soft soldering is a process carried out at temperature below 400oC. With a soldering gun you made soft solderings.

Alloys and Fluxes

Soldering alloys(soft soldering) in use are produced in the form of wire only for the D.I.Y. market. There exist two types of soldering wire.

1. Soldering wire without flux.
2. Soldering wire with flux core.

Flux is used to remove the oxide coat from surfaces to solder as well as to prevents its formation while soldering. Fluxes are available in paste and liquid form. After soldering, remove paste and liquid fluxes from part with a brush or a rug. Resin fluxes(rosin) should not be removed.

Alloys

Electronics: Melting point 185oC, Low-melting point alloy, Used in electronics.
Radio: Melting point approx 230oC, used for thin soldering and model making.
General-Purpose: Melting point approx 255oC, For general soldering.

Tin Soldering Paste: Cold material to spread on surfaces to be jointed.
Tin Paste: Replaces tin wire and flux.
Tip Cleaning blocks: Used for cleaning soldering tips.
Paste Flux: Flux supplied in paste form.
Liquid flux: Liquid Flux for use on difficult-to-reach points.

Soldering

The surface to be soldered must be clean, free from oil or dirt. Remove traces of oil or dirt by using diluents or by cleaning. Do not use household detergents since they often contain silicon. Oxide coat can be remove either by using the corrosion method or mechanically with emery paper, file or scraping. If corrosion is used, unskilled personnel should avoid using aggressive acids like hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or nitric acid. For usual cleaning, the use of citric acid at 10% (hot very hot) is recommended. When cleaning is finished, do not touch surfaces to be soldered with fingers anymore.

Tips for soldering gun made of copper. When tips are heated, a coat of oxide forms on their surface. Remove oxide by rubbing tips gently on a tip block. Wet clean tips with flux then tin them.

The correct temperature is attained when tin deposited on tips forms a coat(film). The formation of little clots means that the correct temperature has not been attained yet. If tin pearls are formed, the tip is not perfectly clean. After extensive use, tips may exhibit signs of corrosion caused by too frequent immersions in the flux. Remove corrosion with a file or grind tips.

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