How do you choose soldering iron tip size and solder wire diameter?

Hello for the last 15 years i have been using the Hako 924 series iron

at the start i was using the pencil tip then i found the Knife edge tip

the main advantage i found with this tip was better control of heat 

then when working on industrial boards usually 3mm thick

or with large ground plans i would ad a 2nd iron with knife tip.

most of the time i am using 0.9mm 60/40 solder 

even when SMD ic's

Using x10 or x15 glasses of course

tried using different brands of 0.5mm solder but just not the same quality.

Some good practice for a beginner is removing parts from different old boards 

then refitting them

When I started working on down hole servey tools 

the manufactor has specified solder with silver content 

to keep up with the boards when they are down the hole in 130' C enviroment

the next day i need to clean up my tip. 

if you want to challenge your soldering try doing Cheap plastic connectors 

Hint put the plug into the socket then solder the plug pins.

only the good will try wiring a lemo FFG.0B  7 pin plug with heat shrink on 0.5mm core

A temperature-controlled soldering iron helps, mine is a 40-year-old Weller TCP-1 with the PU-1D base. I mostly use two bits, a number 7 chisel-tip and a number 7 pencil-tip. Sometimes I use a long pencil-tip which is currently buried under bits and pieces for a project I am working on so I can't read the number just now. The base has an added on/off switch and power-on indicator light that doubles as a 'temperature correct' light. I may have to upgrade both iron and base when I run out of tin/lead solder.

Removing components from old boards is good practise, you might need a solder-sucker though as I find the copper-braid solder-removal ribbon is not very good. Be careful with the sucker, they can pull the track off the board if you are unlucky. If you can test the components after removal and find that they still work then you are doing well! Although chips like Z80's and 6502's will be difficult to test off-board!

I always use rosin-cored solder, even when I'm got my plumber's hat on and a blow-torch in my hand. It's OK up to 15mm copper tubing.

Patience is a virtue, you'll get bad joints if the iron is not up to temperature. From the photo's it looks as if you are improving all the time (assuming they are shown in old-to-new order of course). Good luck!

Yes, I did the double row connectors first, then the single row connectors.

Wow, I made this post 2 days ago and it finally appeared today. I think the server was off digesting some turkey and stuffing and not making posts.

Hello,

For those holes and thru hole pins with my equip. I  use the dull pencil tip,  0.025-0.035 60/40 solder, and set iron temp to 250-275C and often never have a problem.

It  wets fast with good solder flow all around the pin/lead. I try my best to get in and out quick. I have found with a bit more heat there is better flow and its faster.

I do not use flux much for thru hole stuff but for SMT I use the 559 flux and have not had many issues.  I worked on some led's on aluminum and had to switch to a chisel tip and crank 

up the heat to 400c for fast get in and out and that was after I used the bent fine pencil tip and first melted in some low temp solder then came in with the chisel. It was my first time with

led SMT strips/bar RAB lighting led bar sold on Goldmine Electronics. The Al really sucks up the heat. Lead free also needs more heat.

Short and fast is get in there and play around only way to increase skill set, have a good set of tip sizes along with some low melt solder.  I use the Yihua 852D+ station.

Have fun  and good luck.

Names of some typical tip shapes to help with the terminology (since some of it may become lost in translation for non-English-language readers).

Sitting on top looking like a ball is usually a bit cold..not enough wetting. Apply the tip to pin and pad count to 2-3 then apply solder should wet well all around with nice radius. That flux is old school to much residue. Do not use plumber flux. I use 559 flux in a syringe or others in a metal can on ali xpress. To clean up 90%+ isopropyl alcohol in a AMAOE M74 bottle -I luv that bottle- just push down with qtip and its ready to go. Mechanic makes very nice sponges for SMT no hair like qtip model NC800 you can trim/cut them to size you need..have fun

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Hello,

What size of iron tip do you use to solder 0805 SMD?

My soldering station provides these sizes of iron tip for sales:

1. 0.2mm conical
2. 0.8mm chisel
3. 1mm conical (my current one)
4. 1.2mm chisel