Took me over a year to notice how bad my iron tips had gotten on phones

I do phone screen repairs mostly, and for the longest time I was fighting with stubborn solder joints on tiny flex cables. I kept blaming the boards or the solder itself. Then I swapped to a fresh tip on my TS100 last week and suddenly everything just flowed perfect. The difference was night and day. Over a year of slowly degrading tips cost me who knows how many hours of frustration and ruined cables. Makes me wonder how many other repair folks are grinding through jobs with tools way past their prime. Anyone else ever have a tool degradation creep up on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

beth_reed10d ago

Nah seriously, when was the last time you actually replaced your tweezers tips? I bet most people just keep using them until they literally can't grab a tiny cap anymore.

river_allen10d ago

The tip degradation is so gradual you don't notice it until you swap to a fresh one, then it hits you like a truck. I bet half the frustration people have with microsoldering comes down to tools that are just past their prime. Goes for tweezers and flush cutters too, something about the slow decay just tricks your brain into thinking it's normal.

jordanblack10d ago

But doesn't a worn-in tool sometimes give you better control until it's truly shot?