Is it my soldering equipment too or just me?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Is it my soldering equipment too or just me?

the reason i don't like motor oil or grease is that the oil is a bit thick and is not safe for rubber.

Natural Rubber - yes. Petroleum will screw them up fast.
- But most o-rings are synthetic rubber now and some are fine [or even designed for] oil and grease.
Buna N [aka Nitrile or NBR which = Nitrile Butadiene Rubber] for example is a synthetic rubber o-ring material formulated specifically for petroleum based applications. It's also used to make oil seals and gaskets.
There are other synthetic rubbers that suck as bad as natural rubber for petroleum compatibility.
- There are so many different materials you just have to look compatibility up to be sure.

The Navy 'o-ring tech manual' [the real name doesn't make sense] was 861 pages when I had to learn it and know all of it. Some asshole asked me the # pages on an oral board when I was qualifying as a QA Inspector for Trident Subs. Amazing how I still remember the # of pages but forgot 99+% of the content. - It doesn't even cover the multiple Mil-Specs for O-rings. It references them but they are in other books.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Is it my soldering equipment too or just me?

On my radio shack one...I have lost the manual and there is not one online. Anyone else have one of them and know how to get at the back end of it to check the seals there? (Previous sentence added after the rest of the post was typed. I decided to give it a hard twist because 'what they hey, it's broken already' and pop! I still can't figure out how to get the tip out of it though.)

I think mine may have been DOA, as it is pre-lubed and still has this issue. I'm thinking I'm just going to replace it with something else.

This has to be one of the coolest discussions I've been in in awhile though. Most places I get 'one right answer', here I'm getting 5 different workable answers.

Ratdude, do keep your mind out of the gutter. We cannot let a discussion about the proper lubrication and sealing of liquified metal pump suckers' O-rings and pistons turn dirty.

if you want another get one like mine...



i know it needs some work to make it good, but it is better than ratshack:

1. it has 2 o rings on the piston. not one. they also are thicker.
2. all aluminum body and tip holder. i have had anything less (half plastic, half metal or all plastic) explode in my face.
3. easier to work with... the metal ring around the button is all that holds the back half together... it does a good job and when you need to do work back there, it is easy to get out with pliers.
4. replacemnt tips available (i need to replace mine...)

at a local electronics store, I pais $5 for it. dirt cheap if you ask me.

[Wolvenmoon]

Re: Is it my soldering equipment too or just me?

That's exactly what mine looks like, but mine has a plastic top half.

I suppose cheap plastic tools are more of a risk to eyes than boiling flux/flux fumes. lol.

[smason]

Re: Is it my soldering equipment too or just me?

I've been using the same one of these http://www.hmcelectronics.com/cgi-bi...ss.cgi?i=DS017

since about 1985, have replaced one tip, and lubed the O ring once a year or so. Still works amazing, plastic or not....

[Agent24]

Re: Is it my soldering equipment too or just me?

Mine is very similar to Ratdude's, but without the surround by the release button.

I am on my second tip as I somehow managed to stand on the first and snap it in half, but I think it needed a new one anyway.

After a couple of years I thought the spring had lost tension, turned out it just needed lubrication, I sprayed a bit of WD40 in it and it works like new again!

(Not sure if that's what you should use, but it worked)