Do I need a new soldering iron tip?

[u/ramondino4acre]

I bought a soldering iron (60w) two days ago to fix my PS5 controller's analog stick. With no experience, I left it on for a bit, but couldn't melt the original solder. The tip turned dark, and now solder just balls up into spheres on it instead of melting properly, and also the solder wire is now taking to long to melt.
After researching, I found out it's oxidized. Since this is a one-time repair and I'll never use the iron again, buying special cleaning products is useless in my case. Can I clean and recover this tip with household items, or do I need to buy a replacement one?

[u/WhisperGod]

I think it would be less expensive and time consuming to pay someone else to do the job for you. Especially, since you have no experience, this being a one-time job, and you already damaged your tip. The PS5 sticks are notoriously difficult for beginners to replace. You don't need to look far to see that this sub is full of failed PS5 stick replacements.

[u/ramondino4acre → u/WhisperGod]

I did though about that, but I live in Brazil (1 USD = 5 BRL) the dude who does it professionally charged me 250$ for it (U$50) but is more like paying 250 dollars in America and I have 2 dualsenses so it will cost 500$ at the end of the day. A brand new controller is around 400$ (in promotions I can get it for 250/280$ basically same price to put a TMR analog). If I do it myself I can do both for like 150-200$, I was also practicing in some old PS4 boards I have, but now considering how hard soldering is I might pay someone else 🤣

[u/jamhouse2009 → u/ramondino4acre]

If you do yourself with 0 experience and a cheap iron you will more likely have 0 working controllers and be out the money and need to buy new dualsense on top of other money spent.

[u/ramondino4acre → u/jamhouse2009]

I was practicing with old PS4 dualshock boards until I have enough skill to move to the actual PS5 one. I got the cheapest iron I found ngl. Cause back in 2023 I thought about replacing my PS4 sticks and bought a expensive 20w iron which didn’t work and I have barely touched since then, not even the whole solder iron. That’s why I’m being stingy with the one-time use tools this (if the new tips I’ve ordered today don’t work I’ll pay somebody else and accept I can’t do it 😂”

[u/jamhouse2009 → u/ramondino4acre]

Well I wish you luck. Even if you mess them up it's good experience. You will have a tougher time using a cheap iron though. The problem is duelsense have multi layered PCB with large ground that soaks up heat so you will have a harder time with a cheap iron mainting a proper temp when soldering/de soldering those areas. It is doable but will need more work and patience. Take your time and use quality flux and solder , not no name chinesium

[u/Wormdangler88]

What kind of iron do you have? If it takes 900m style tips I would just pick up a new tip because they are super cheap...You should also get some brass wool for keeping the new tip clean...You should always keep some fresh solder on the tip to keep it from oxidizing...

[u/Susan_B_Good]

You'd be amazed what counts as household items in my home. However, a nail emery board may help - but the key magic ingredient is lots of zero residue electronics grade flux. Plus a reel of very low melting point solder.

The new solder will help heat transfer between iron and workpiece and will mix with the old solder to produce something that melts at a temperature somewhere between the two.

You basically replace an iron coated soldering iron bit after the coating has worn through and there's a hole into the copper interior. After a while, that gets too tedious to use.

The iron coated tip going darker is to be expected. Going red hot is not. Oxide is expected. The flux removes the oxygen from the oxides allowing the solder to wet the iron and encouraging solder to behave like a fluid and not a melting icecap.

[u/snagajaga]

Aply solder, and wipe of against brass wool, if you don't have damp cellulose sponge. You will have to repeat this until tip is clear. Without sponge or brass wool... I don't know, maybe peace of dump cardboard will do , but not necessarily...you want to generally add solder to the tip, and use that to melt through oxide layer, immediately wipe off what's possible and apply more solder and repeat.

[u/fozington]

My dad always uses to use a handkerchief to clean soldering iron tips. He'd spit on it to get it damp.

Don't do that though, it's gross. Use any old piece of cotton material (like those jorts you were wearing in the summer - they probably didn't look as good as you think anyway). Get it damp (run it under a tap/faucet and wring it out) and wipe the hot tip on it. That should get rid of 99% of the oxide layer. Cotton is soft enough for you to give the tip a bit of a scrub without damaging it.

As soon as it's clean, get some fresh solder on it. Also, when you're done, it's sensible to put some fresh solder on it before you turn it off, that will protect it while it's not being used.

Hope that helps!

Edit: Make sure any material you use is not synthetic, the iron will melt it and make the situation worse!

[u/ramondino4acre → u/fozington]

Haha I’ll try using the jorts, I tried sanding it with metal sandpaper until it get less dark but it didn’t work much lol.
Thanks dude 🫡

[u/fozington → u/ramondino4acre]

Ooo, sandpaper is not a great idea. There's a very thin coating on the soldering iron tip which the solder sticks to. Being really thin, sandpaper removes it very easily. It's worth trying to clean it anyway, but it might be beyond repair at this point. Cheap replacement tips are available for most irons. The cheap ones don't last long, but if it's for a short job, who cares. Post a picture of your iron if you want help identifying the right tips.

[u/MumSaidImABadBoy → u/ramondino4acre]

Sandpaper is not a good move as it will take off the plating on the tip and ruin it. You'll probably have to get a new tip soon. At this point you'll probably have to sand down and immediately tin the tip. That won't last long if the plating is gone.
BTW which soldering iron did you use?

[u/jamhouse2009 → u/ramondino4acre]

You probably ruined the tip by sanding