soldering tips and heat treating

[Tanner]

For a side project, my friend asked me to make him a chip remover blade for his soldering iron. I took a piece of 1/4" round stock, about 2 inches long, and turned one end down on the lathe for threading it. Then, I took an inch long piece of flat stock (about 1/4" wide) and gas welded them together. We cleaned it up, and my shop teacher suggested I heat treat it. So, we did, and cleaned it up again. When he took it home however, the conductivity was, well, nothing. It didn't get hot at all, and removing chips from PC boards was impossible. Could the heat-treating have something to do with its poor conductivity? If so, couldn't I just heat the tip back up to red-hot and it would lose its..heattreating? I plan on really cleaning it up well, especially where it connects to the soldering iron. any pointers? If I have to make a new one, should I braze it or gas weld it? Thanks all for the help.

[HAWK]

Tanner,

A low wattage iron in the 35 watt range probably won't heat up 1/4" cold roll. I think you need to use a smaller diameter and something with more thermal conductivity: Copper or maybe aluminum depending on the iron's heating capacity.

[timw]

When you say "removing chips from PC board" I think you are talking about solder chips. If so the easiest way to do that is with one of those cheap rubber vacuum bulbs that they sell at Radio Shack. You get the joint hot and just suck up the solder. It leaves the connection clean so you can remove components.

[Blondie_486]

Timw,

I've used the bulbs before and they do work but the wick they sell works even better the chip will fall right out. I've had to go over some of the joints with the wick that I had previously desoldered with the bulb before. The bulb works good to get the bulk of the solder off.

I'm wondering if they're trying to heat multiple connections at once or just exactly what it is they're trying to accomplish?

Most soldering irons I've ever used or owned had copper tips on them. I'm with HAWK in that a 35 watt iron doesn't produce enough btu's to effectively heat a piece of cold rolled steel enough to melt the solder. Even my 300 watt soldering gun has a copper tip on it.

Perhaps Tanner could attach a picture of the project and we could get a better idea of what he's trying to acheive. For me at this point it's hard to visualize what he's trying to fabricate.

Blondie

[Tanner]

well..here, I'll post a picture of what I made

[Tanner]

pic 2

[Tanner]

more pictures

[Tanner]

what it does (using my brothers old video card)

[Tanner]

and what its used for

[Blondie_486]

Tanner,

Now I understand what you're trying to accomplish. Either you're going to need more watts, or could the tool do the job made out of copper? If so try making the part that screws into the soldering iron a little shorter and smaller diameter give it less mass to heat up.

Or you could put a handle on it and warm it up with a propane torch. Roofing soldering iron's are heated in a similar way.

Another possibility would be to make the tool to fit into a 300 watt soldering gun, but I still think you'll have to use copper. Copper conducts heat faster than steel does.

Hope this helps

Blondie

[Tanner]

yeah, I guess copper it is! time to find some now though..

[HAWK]

Tanner,

Neat idea! What I usually do is heat one leg at a time and shake the PCB to remove the solder. When all 4,8,16 or how many pins are solder free I pry and flip the chip with a thin SS spatula.