Has anyone ever had to tackle this issue.... I've seen a possibility of off-setting the temp. on a digital one after finding the actual melting point of the solder. However this doesn't quite cut it since the solder is not "Guaranteed" to melt at the specified temp. Also, how would you go about this when it comes to standard soldering-irons...?

hello!

What I have done in the past is a simple performance check. Did it melt the solder-Yes/no? Really complicated.:tg:
I cringed documenting that check, but that's what the customer requested. I did not call it a calibration, but a go/no-go verification.

As far as a more sophisticated check, I have ran across two of them. The first was the use of an infrared thermometer. The second, and a little more preferred by me, was using certified thermocouple wire with a beaded tip. I would place the solder gun tip on the bead tip and measure temperature.

When you get into checking solder guns, you have to take into consideration the shape (and condition) of the tip, how clean it is, etc.

As you correctly stated, most solder guns/ solder stations are not really designed for verification/calibration type setups.

Has anyone ever had to tackle this issue.... I've seen a possibility of off-setting the temp. on a digital one after finding the actual melting point of the solder. However this doesn't quite cut it since the solder is not "Guaranteed" to melt at the specified temp. Also, how would you go about this when it comes to standard soldering-irons...?You can use one of these for calibrating (http://www.palmerwahl.com/product_line.php?cat=7&catl=19&line=186).

Hi Turk,

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for links to similar threads.

Thanks much for the resources. Al, I have never seen those verification testers. Problem for most of my customers, they only have a couple of solder tools. Hard to justify the cost.

Carol, I forget so many times about the related links below the threads.

In looking through them, it seems generally like there are two paths: verifying the solder device itself, and verifying the quality of the solder joints produced by the solder device.

Aside from the specific requirements to fulfill, what are the opinions about which test method is preferred?

Has anyone ever had to tackle this issue.... I've seen a possibility of off-setting the temp. on a digital one after finding the actual melting point of the solder. However this doesn't quite cut it since the solder is not "Guaranteed" to melt at the specified temp. Also, how would you go about this when it comes to standard soldering-irons...?

'Calibration' may not be the most appropriate terminology here, since you're not measuring, testing or inspecting with them, you're making a soldered joint.......

Yes, to get control over the soldering process and minimize soldering defects (cold joints etc.) you should know what temp. it's achieving, but that's not strictly 'calibration' and should be done more as a process study.

Sorry to sound pedantic, but many folks are often confused over the terminology.......:confused:

Andy

'Calibration' may not be the most appropriate terminology here, since you're not measuring, testing or inspecting with them, you're making a soldered joint.......

Sorry to sound pedantic, but many folks are often confused over the terminology.......:confused:

Andy

"Calibration" is precisely the correct word. The OP wants to compare a rated output value with a controlled standard, which is calibration.

Huh? the name of the thread's changed............so it's not 'calibration', after all.......:lol:

Andy

Good day.
One of our equipment are soldering iron stations and most of these soldering irons have off-sets on their digital display reading. We just verify them (daily basis) by using a soldering iron tester (which are internally calibrated). We based our soldering iron on our soldering iron tester. Our soldering iron have adjustment (to correct the temp error)option but this process will take us too much time since we have to verify many soldering iron before start of production.

Hope this helps.