How to Extend the Service Life of Electric Soldering Irons
For home appliance maintenance personnel and electronics enthusiasts, an electric soldering iron is one of the essential welding tools in maintenance work, and its quality directly affects the efficiency of maintenance work. We know that in daily maintenance work, electric soldering irons are often in a state of long-term power on operation. Due to overheating, the soldering iron tip is severely oxidized, resulting in the soldering iron tip not being soldered, making welding difficult and reducing work efficiency. Once the soldering iron tip is severely oxidized, it is difficult to tin it using any method. Although various countermeasures have been introduced in newspapers, they cannot completely solve the problem. Sometimes, although it is temporarily resolved, the soldering iron tip still oxidizes severely after a while. For this reason, the author has reviewed the information and hopes to find a method to extend the service life of the soldering iron. Firstly, the author attempted to install a diode and switch on the power supply of the soldering iron according to the method introduced in the newspaper. The circuit is shown in Figure
1. When the soldering iron is powered on, the switch in Figure 1 is in the normally open position. Due to the connection of the diode, the soldering iron operates in a half wave rectification state, with a power of about half of its usual level. This long-term power on operation will not cause overheating and oxidation of the soldering iron tip. When working, as long as the switch is pressed, the soldering iron will work at its rated power, and its temperature will quickly rise for easy soldering. The disadvantage is that the switch needs to be pressed every time it works, so it is always inconvenient to use. If the circuit is changed to the circuit in Figure 2, the effect will be slightly better.
The circuit simply uses a temperature switch instead of a regular switch, fixing the temperature switch on a thin aluminum plate. As long as the tip of the soldering iron is placed on the thin aluminum plate, once the temperature reaches 100 ℃, the temperature switch will disconnect. At this point, only the diode is powered on, and the soldering iron operates in a half wave state. This reduces the power of the soldering iron to prevent the tip from overheating, indirectly extending its service life. At the same time, there is no need to press the switch when working.
