In article . com,
"Andrew VK3BFA" wrote:

Boris Mohar wrote:
On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 18:32:57 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

"Brent Philion" wrote in message
news Is it just mild steel or something a little more resisitant to
oxidizing?

Just wonder if anyone knows off the tops of their heads

Copper. High-quality ones are copper plated with iron.

I would like to get a recipe for iron plating my Metcal tips. Metcal iron
uses induction heated tips whose temperature is controlled by the curie
point
of the slug that picks up the RF. These tips are quite expensive and it
would be worth my time to attempt to re plate them. Does anybody gave a
good
recipe for plating iron onto copper? I have the DC power supplies.

--


Is it worth the effort? - my Weller uses the same curie point method,
and after putting 3 replacement elements into it, its headed for the
junkbin. This is caused by wiping the tip on a damp sponge to clean it
- the steam produced eventually destroys the element down the barrel.
Plus, weller tips have a relatively SHORT life - I recently used a
HAKKO iron on a contract, and was most impressed with them- it got a
real hiding, thousands of operations of desoldring/soldering for 8
hrs/day, and no sign of any wear on the tips - a few dollars more than
the WELLER, but tis going to be my next iron. Plus, it had a nice
"feel" to it - one of those intangible things that cant be
quantified...

I've been using a Weller WTCP for almost 40 years, and never had any
such problem. I'm still using the original heater, though I recently
found my spare heater, bought 30 years ago. Parts are still available.

All soldering iron tips benefit from cleaning with sal ammoniac every so
often, to re-tin them.

I've seen the Hakko units, and they do look good. Although the color
scheme is garish.


A query though - I read on anothe group that NASA had banned WELLER
irons because of the spike induced into the tip when it switches -
HAKKO apparently use zero point switching so no probs - whats the
induced tip voltage on your METCAL when its on a heating cycle...?

That's strange. In the 1960s, NASA projects used nothing but Weller.
The spikes were contained because the metal around the switch and heater
are all grounded.

Joe Gwinn