In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:

As others have said, the solder won't stick to crud. Follow these
steps for your abused iron.

1. Using a file or sandpaper, abrade off the crap from the tip of
your iron until the tip is shiny base metal (either copper or steel).

2. Plug in the iron and, when it gets hot, cover the tip with solder.

3. Periodically during your soldering project, drag your iron's tip
over a damp sponge.

4. When the iron's tip turns black and can't be returned to shiny
via the sponge business, repeat steps 1 & 2.

5. You are correct when you twist the wires together. Soldering is an
ELECTRICAL connection, not a mechanical one. Depending on solder to
hold two items together is ultimately futile.

Nuts. OP, do not sand the tip. Throw it away and buy new. The base
metal of the tip will not tin with solder, only the plating will.
Once the plating is shot, it's shot.

Oh. Didn't know that. I suppose the cheap, disposable tips are merely plated
(maybe even just painted in bright colors) - the ones I use are solid
copper.

Soldering iron tips start out as solid copper, but they are plated with
nickel and iron. If you sand, grind, or file them down to bare copper,
they no longer work worth a damn.



Solder is a mechanical *and* electrical connection. Twisting is a
great idea, but solder is used all damn day long as the only
mechanical bond between items.

Agreed solder IS a mechanical connection; a ****-poor mechanical connection
at that. Lay two wires side by side and solder them together. Then pull them
apart. Next tie the two wires together in a knot, solder them, and pull them
apart. If you can.

There's a HUGE difference between a soldered mechanical connection and the
mechanical connection of a solder joint.

If you can lay two wires (let's say 18 AWG) side by side and solder them
together (lap splice) and then pull apart the connection, you don't know
how to solder. The only solder-only connections that are **** poor, are
**** poor solder connections.