How To Clean Oxidized Solder Tip
Apply solder to the tip to see if the solder melts.
How to clean oxidized solder tip. Wire wool has the advantage of not cooling down the soldering iron. Just wipe the oxidized tip at normal soldering temperatures into the tip tinner for a few seconds until the bright tinning surrounds the working end of the tip. There are solder tip activators for sale which are to clean oxidised solder tips.
Dip the tip into the tinner making sure that the entire oxidized surface is in contact with the re-tinning product. Use fluxes Spongeless and metal wool to remove small amounts of contaminants from your soldering iron. A clean tip is bright and shiny.
Have a can of rosin and solder ready for use can open and o. There are a few ways to make your solder tip usable again. If some of the oxides are just sticking really well you could try to mildly abrade them on a brass sponge copper braid or similar but you cant be too hard or you will damage the iron plating good tips are typically copper core plated with iron then chromium everywhere but the working area.
Tinning is more effective when done on a clean tip. Clean the tip. Case 1 If the tip oxidizes.
But if any of these things are neglected in the soldering process you may need to re-tinner your tip. Dont use a synthetic sponge. This is a mixture of a more aggressive flux than usually found in solder and powdered solder.
I had the very bad habit of cleaning the tip when done with a solder joint. Below are some great tips to use to clean an oxidized solder tip. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the oxidation has been completely removed and the tip shows a good wetting on all its working.