Sciencemadness Discussion Board

What is soldering iron tip refresher?

Sulaiman - 11-1-2023 at 07:13

I bought a tin of 'tip refresher' for a cheap soldering iron,
It works very well so I'd like to know what it is.
As new it is a greyish crystaline powder,
Dipping a hot (>360oC according to instructions) soldering iron tip into it causes the powder to melt into a dark brown viscous liquid,
and the tip gets a plating of tin.
Some minutes after cooling most of the brown liquid returns to a greyish solid.
Any ideas what it is?

IMG_20230111_225944.jpg - 94kB

highpower48 - 11-1-2023 at 10:07

Not sure since I've never used it. But it sounds like a mixture of tin and borax.

B(a)P - 11-1-2023 at 11:27

It is mostly diammonium hydrogen phosphate, tin, a small amount of surfactant and a couple percent of secrete herbs and spices.

Edit - according to the MSDS

[Edited on 11-1-2023 by B(a)P]

Sulaiman - 11-1-2023 at 16:28

My google skills failed me!
I did not find an msds :(
Thank you

Looks like it is not worth diy,
I'll just buy more of the commercial product when needed.

B(a)P - 11-1-2023 at 17:03

I only knew of it because I had seen it is a shop and was curious about it, so looked up the MSDS on the suppliers web site (it is a mandatory requirement to have online access to the MSDS in Australia).
Attached for your reference.


Attachment: TS1512-msdsMain.pdf (104kB)
This file has been downloaded 148 times


Junk_Enginerd - 15-1-2023 at 01:40

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
My google skills failed me!
I did not find an msds :(
Thank you

Looks like it is not worth diy,
I'll just buy more of the commercial product when needed.


I mean there are a lot of formulations that would give you the same results. Essentially, it's a strong fluxing agent and metal tin particles. Ammonium chloride and tin particles would be the most straightforward recipe I can think of. Then there are a zillion ways you could tweak it for optimal performance, like surfactants etc.