@RRK
Really? I would assume that the thin plating of a tip wouldn't make the thermal conductivity that much worse but I guess not.

Why is a whole soldering station necessary? I never really got that, and I feel like the induction function will only get in my way when I am trying to solder a bunch of stuff. How long do those take to warm back up?

As to lead vs lead-free I do appreciate your advice. I know that the lead won't evaporate, but handling lead very often when alternatives are available just makes me feel a little weird if ya know what I mean, even if realistically it isn't ever a problem. I don't really care that if you wash your hands you are supposedly okay, I just don't feel like taking that risk if it is unnecessary. I learned soldering with lead-free, never knew any different, maybe it works worse than leaded but I haven't had any problems since I got the hang of it. A completely individualized decision, everybody has their preferred methods. Maybe in 10 years I will try leaded and then regret that I haven't listened to you, who knows.

@Ash
Oof, that is scary. My new iron is grounded, but my old one isn't. Maybe not such a great thing... Might break out my isolation transformer next time I have to use it lol 

I'm very neat, in my room you can't see any of my collection since its all in storage, the only place where I actually store things out is in my little crafting space but my parents don't really care about it. Since I like a clean room, I store a Metalux wraparound with like a dozen F40s in the cover underneath my bed, and 5 F40 fixtures underneath my couch with one of them holding another dozen F40s. I had to give the case that my F34s came in to a friend since it was too big for my room, but other than that I have been able to find space for everything (though I am starting to run low.) I think my last big fixture for awhile if I can get it would be some sort of 4x2 troffer!

Dont disturb it to prevent bending the wires forward and back by moving of the arctube, and to prevent the arctube from coming out of the disk on the other side (that holds the pip of the tube)

Use it in a position in which it does not touch the inside wall of the outer envelope, so i won't make contact with the ITO coating

Otherwise i dont think there will be a difference in how it works

In short, maybe install it somewhere to work like in your garden, and get a 2nd one for handling and testing

Yep. My station today is an old 2nd hand Metcal. It beats the Hakko 951 i had in my previous workplace, which in itself is a very nice iron too

@Multisubject
And that was not my 1st iron. My first was the cheapest 25W iron (of standard 25W size) of the late 90s. Something from China with a black bakelite handle, no ground, no company name, and an anonymous gold QC PASS label

It lasted for a while and its tip didnt erode, but one day while i was soldering it just died with a bang and white flash from the rifle holes around the heating element's external tube

I got a 2nd identical one. It lasted for a while too. One day i came to solder something, put the iron on the component, touched the solder wire to the point, and got slapped with full 230V through the solder wire, hand, body and foot

Then i got the one described above, that had ground and lasted for many years despite the bad tip

Soldering iron tip should combine the best possible thermal transfer with certain resistance to dissolving in molten solder. Industry settled on copper core with thick iron coating as a compromise. Many years ago I used soldering tips with bare copper, I can say they had slightly better heat transfer than modern 2-layer ones, BUT lasted only a few hours before re-grinding was required even with low working temperatures used in the past.

Human life time is limited, so there are definitely better things to do instead of DIY-ing something as mundane as soldering tips Hunt down a good soldering station. JBC clones seems to be in vogue today) personally I am a bit conservative and prefer induction soldering stations. Metcal even modern Chinese built is very good, also induction cartridges with thermal feedback via thermocouple like Chinese brand Quick 202/303 are very nice too.

There is no reason to use lead free solder for personal work, as you are not bound by ecological regulations. Standard 63Sn 37Pb alloy works just better, and lead toxicity is non-issue, as it does not evaporate significantly at soldering temperatures (and even somewhat higher).
 
 

I doubt there is anything you can do to fix this, but as long as things aren't shorted out inside it should still work fine. Maybe slightly reduced performance from reduced heat reflection but nothing major I would assume.

Today, I was admiring my Philips 36W SOX-E bulb and I dropped it, thankfully on to carpet, but still, the lower mica disk holding the arc tube in place cracked and is bent in multiple different directions. Anything I can do? I'm pretty frustrated about this because I just got it.

@rjluna2
No, I only use brass wool. I hear differing opinions on which one is best, I just don't want to keep something wet so I use brass wool. No strong preference.

@Ash
My first iron was the opposite, it got way way way too hot, putting solder on the tip yielded smoke for ~1s before it all burned off and the solder started oxidizing. I had to throttle the temperature by plugging it in and unplugging it periodically (had no power switch) before I got my variac which I then used for that purpose. I still have it because it uses the old long 3/16" straight shank tips that have tons of thermal mass so I can use it for larger things.

I guess I could just try it out and see if it works...

Give it a try and compare what works for you



Your question reminds me of an iron i used to have as a kid and teenager, bought in the early 00s

Was just a plug in iron (not themally controlled), the size of 40W/60W irons but only 25W power, made in Taiwan, branded "GOLD" (i dont think that was the real name of the manufacturer)

It was slow to warm up (due to its size and low power), but had excellent heat retention - Once it was hot, it would solder everything - even huge thick Copper wires

Its tip coating was really bad - The corner went missing the moment i wiped it on the damp sponge in the iron stand for the 1st time, and it started eroding ever since

Over all of its life the tip had a concave (cup) shape, but for my back-then uses - which maxed at through hole breadboard stuff & recapping Pentium 4 mainboards - it did the job just fine, i never even filed the tip, i got a master at using it as is

I lost it at some point in the 2010's before its tip ended completely. I would absolutely keep replacing its tips and using it for stuff like wires

Today i use an entirely different grade soldering workstation, and it does things that old iron could never do, but making DIY tips for it is not an option. So can't say anything about DIY tips

Do you use the wet sponge to clean the iron after using?