How To Remove Oxidation From Soldering Iron Tip
You can remove oxides easier by wiping the soldering iron tip in a wet sponge.
How to remove oxidation from soldering iron tip. Be careful not to get a thermal shock while doing this. This step will coat the iron in a mixture of flux and solder. Before soldering clean your tip with a clean cloth and some alcohol.
Avoid using sandpaper or anything that is too aggressive tools to remove oxidation. This helps remove impurities such as remnants of solder from previous projects grease oxidation etc. During normal soldering its normal expected to wipe the tip of your iron clean fairly frequently preferably with a wad of brass woolandor a slightly damp synthetic cellulose sponge to remove excess solder oxidation and other soldering debris.
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. Insert the Tip in Good Quality Tip Tinner. If you are not going to solder for 3-5 minutes.
If the solder tip does become oxidized apply flux-core solder to the oxidized tip. Therefore it is advisable to use the dry cleaner options to avoid shock do a faster job and increase the life of the iron tip. The tip will be oxidized if you overheat it.
ChipQuik is a solder that stays molten for a longer period of time to allow for the removal of components. Leave it there until the paste melts around the tip. It just drips off.
Clean Soldering Iron Tips. Proper tip maintenance is possibly the single largest contributor to extending tip life today. There are several ways to reduce oxidation buildup on solder tips.