Metcal Blog

Solder tips represent a major part of the total cost of ownership for a soldering system. Your operator's choice of tip, use of a solder sleeper stand, and the method and frequency of tip cleaning and replacement all can play a part in your solder tip consumable costs.

Let’s face it soldering tips and cartridges cost money. And when you combine that with operators forced to solder at 850°F or higher to keep up to speed, those tips are breaking down and costing you a bunch of dollars.  

If you take good care of your soldering tips, they'll take care of you and improve your return on investment. Download this handy solder tip care infographic. 

Solder tip life is a constant discussion among users of hand soldering for almost all applications. Whether you're in production, rework, or R&D, the cost of tips and their longevity impacts the ROI of your overall soldering investment.  While operators almost always want the tip to be hot, hot, hot, and all the time, using a soldering iron sleep stand can significantly improve the life of your solder tips.

When used when the handpiece is idle, a Solder Sleep Stand automatically reduces the power supplied to the hand piece, leading to:

• Reduced idle temperatures
• Slower chemical reactions
• Less inter-metallic formation
• Less de-wetting
• Longer tip life

Take a look at this chart that illustrates the effect of using the sleeper stand for just a few minutes. 

You can see how this can significantly reduce the power consumption as well, meaning for a production environment, it can affect your total ROI.

Theoretical Example:

If you have 5 soldering irons each in production using on average 40 watts per hour over an 8 hours day your consumption is: