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goal for 2023: use a conical solder tip and enjoy it

Jan Cumps

You have to challenge your habits. I have always soldered with chisel and sloped/bevel round tips.
Many irons come with a conical tip. A lot of people solder happily with it.

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I have several, to use with an iron that I like. But I don't like soldering with the conical tips. I am not good at it.
That's going to change this year. I'm going to try and always use these tips when appropriate, and learn to love them.
The real goal is to become better at soldering with the conical versions than I am now with chisel and sloped types. And to enjoy the adaption path.

I'll keep you posted.

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  • My go to tip is the chisel (a very fine chisel that almost looks conical, only 1mm flat tip).  I too am no good with the conical.  Who would think that a 1mm flat could make that much difference?

  • in reply to genebren

    I think that stated the obvious issue that I have run into, poor heat transfer.  The rounded tip and sides of the cone, make it really difficult to get enough heat into the traces and component leads to get the solder to flow.

  • in reply to genebren

    NASA has released their solder practice education videos for staff and contractors, and they demand the use of conical tips.

    Conical also allows for decent heat transfer, if you position the tip to match the area you want to heat.

  • in reply to genebren

    I find the heat transfer issue is a tricky one - this is probably where my technique differs slightly to using chisel tips.

    I tend to find myself leaving a bit more of a "film" of solder on the conical as I go to solder the next joint. The tiny amount of solder forms a great bridge to transfer heat into the components. Others who "clean" the tip until it's completely bare will only be transferring heat at the contact points which could go slowly if a tiny bit of oxide film gets in the way.

    I guess this is something I've come to automatically adjust to - it doesn't pose me any problems anymore ... it's just remembering not to clean the tip too cleanly ... or maybe even providing a tiny bit of solder to the tip as the joint is being formed to accelerate the heat transfer.

    - Gough

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  • in reply to genebren

    I find the heat transfer issue is a tricky one - this is probably where my technique differs slightly to using chisel tips.

    I tend to find myself leaving a bit more of a "film" of solder on the conical as I go to solder the next joint. The tiny amount of solder forms a great bridge to transfer heat into the components. Others who "clean" the tip until it's completely bare will only be transferring heat at the contact points which could go slowly if a tiny bit of oxide film gets in the way.

    I guess this is something I've come to automatically adjust to - it doesn't pose me any problems anymore ... it's just remembering not to clean the tip too cleanly ... or maybe even providing a tiny bit of solder to the tip as the joint is being formed to accelerate the heat transfer.

    - Gough

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