Originally Posted by
Eric Bryant
With Metcal soldering stations, I use 600F for small "pencil" tips, and 700F for the biggest "chisel" tip. This works great for 63/37 lead/tin solder. For lead-free solder, some may find a bit higher temps to work better, but I've used the above temp settings without issue.
Good temps for for lead based solder. Silver solder requires about 750 for quick, clean joints (or at least that's what works best for me). For tips, always use the largest tip available to you (within reason, you dont need a chisel tip to solder 22awg servo connectors) to ensure the best heat transfer and to minimize tempeature drop in the tip while soldering.
Keep in mind that with the Trakpower station (love mine), keep the temps below the 775-800 range to protect the tips. Above 775, the tips oxidize fairly quickly (the discolouration that occurs on the tips) which leads to poor performance and tip life.