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Metcal Tip Expected Tip life STTC-837

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#75111

Metcal Tip Expected Tip life STTC-837 | 21 December, 2015

Calling all Metcal users....

I am trying to get an idea of the expected tip life of a given Metcal solder tip and I am met with the generic response of "there are too many parameters" to give such a number, either in average number of solder joints or soldering hours..

Even my local tyre fitter can tell me the average number of miles I should expect from a set of tyres, given a set of ideal conditions... Why not soldering tips!

Within our company we are achieving an average of 7500 solder joints per tip and our compliance to Metcals good tip care guidelines are pretty good.

Any thoughts?

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#75116

Metcal Tip Expected Tip life STTC-837 | 21 December, 2015

We are using Metcal STTC-8xx series tips. One thing that makes a huge difference on tip life is what type of solder you are using. If you are soldering with lead (SnPb) solder the tips will last 3 times longer on average than if you are soldering with lead-free (SAC305) solder from our experience. Good tip care is far more critical with lead-free solder as well.

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