Electronics and microcontroller question

[VQ]

BTW what are people's experiences with soldering iron tips? Are they supposed to last a while? I've been cleaning my tip with a mild kitchen wipe. Seems to help restore the heat a bit but it is diminishing returns every time.

Yes, it should last a long time. I suggest using a damp sponge rather than a kitchen wipe that might introduce additional salts onto the metal. If oxides are piling up that don't come off on the sponge while the iron is hot, you can try scraping off using copper wool. Remember to tin the tip before shutting down.

[smartcooky]

BTW what are people's experiences with soldering iron tips? Are they supposed to last a while? I've been cleaning my tip with a mild kitchen wipe. Seems to help restore the heat a bit but it is diminishing returns every time.

I use a small square of clean, new sponge in my soldering iron stand, which I wipe the tip on regularly.

Every so often I file the tip flat and re-tin it.

[Glom]

Thanks to everyone for their help. I got an A- for the project, which given how much of a mess it ended up is pretty good.

My next project involves me needing to learn motors, piezoelectric materials, photovoltaics and RLC circuits.  I never realised how dumb I was before undertaking this.  Fortunately, this will be the last one before I can return to getting paid.