Homebrew PCBs

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 22:15:08 -0800 (PST), Naveed Alam  
<naveedguy2@...> wrote:

>
> I bought a solder bit that seemed to be electroplated with a metal other  
> than copper.
> It worked fine at the beginning but the soldering iron got too hot (40W).
> Now the bit has gone black and is not transferring heat to the joint as  
> it did at the beginning.
> What can I do now. As the bit is electroplated, I cannot use a sand  
> paper to clean it.
> Please help me and give some good suggestion. Thanks a lot.


You might try chemical tip cleaner (a sort of flux).
But i fear you have killed it.

You can try carefull scraping with a piece of plastic (e.g. broken cd  
case).
If you need to use a abrasive as the last try to revive it try a abrasive  
plastic pad, or a bit of abrasive kitchen cleaner (powder or liquid) and a  
rag. It takes off less material than sandpaper.

Get a temperature controlled soldering station (or at least a good iron).

ST