Just wondered if you're using tap water for your sponge? When I was learning to solder years back, I found that the cause of balling was due to contamination. I bought a pot of tip tinning compound and kept using it, eventually the tip wore out.
I went and had a chat with a professional soldering company who built/stuffed boards for us and yeah, I explained my setup and one of the most obvious things was to change to deionised water for the sponge (but use brass shavings instead) and leave a layer of solder on the tip after use.
It's been fun learning to solder properly and move onto micro soldering and BGA stuff watching the early Louis Rossmann videos on YouTube where he shows the technique, equipment and consumables you need to get the job done.
I went and had a chat with a professional soldering company who built/stuffed boards for us and yeah, I explained my setup and one of the most obvious things was to change to deionised water for the sponge (but use brass shavings instead) and leave a layer of solder on the tip after use.
It's been fun learning to solder properly and move onto micro soldering and BGA stuff watching the early Louis Rossmann videos on YouTube where he shows the technique, equipment and consumables you need to get the job done.
Statistics: Posted by maniacminer — Sun Nov 10, 2024 4:27 am