soldering iron help

[KieranM]

well,
I got a free soldering iron and its one of those gun type ones. Its fairly akward, but i just want it for heavy stuff. my problem is that it does not hold the solder. it just keeps rolling off it. Granted that it is a cheap one is there any way to stop this happening.

Thanks

 

[Russ2251]

What doesn't hold solder? The gun or the joint?
Needs to be clean.
Needs to be hot enough.
Don't forget flux.

 

[KieranM]

the actual tip itself does not hold the solder. It heats up very quickly, its red in under 5 seconds.

 

[devino246]

The tip isnt supposed to hold solder. Apply some flux to the wire. Hold the tip on what ever you want to solder. Be sure to hold it on the wire long enough. Then, touch the solder to the hot piece of wire and it should melt and spread out. it may take a few trys to get right.

 

[Russ2251]

Semantics.
The tip should be tinned.

 

[anderkart]

Russ is right, your tip needs to be really clean before it'll properly tin.

Heat it up first and use a clean steel or brass wire brush to clean it off as well as possible, then dip the hot tip into some soldering flux and brush it off again. Now your solder/flux will flow right onto the tip to tin it, and you'll find it transfers heat to your project much better.

ps: as your brushing the hot tip, be careful you don't splatter any solder into your eyes.

 

[KieranM]

i use the smaller ones for basic electronics and they hold the solder perfectly.

Thanks for the help lads. Im not using it on anything important just probably for thin sheet.

thanks

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Please note- Many solders designed for electrical/electronics work is flux-cored and therefore does not require the seperate application of flux...

 

[solomon]

flux core flows 10x better with flux paste on whatever you solder. I chip Consoles like ps2 and wii. I use an 11 Watt Antex iron with an 0.12mm tip, small electronics are fun to work with because the difficulty and challenge. And i love to work with 30awg wire!!!