[pjc50]

> wire-type soldering iron tip cleaner (what even is that),

It's basically a fancy version of those metal pot scourers for cleaning the burnt bits off, but without damaging the metal plating on the tip.

[aasasd]

Ah. Alas the only thing that I needed to clean off the iron is solder that doesn't ever want to leave the tip and go on the contacts.

[rhinoceraptor]

The trick to soldering is you're not trying to put solder on things from the the iron. You heat up the joint with the iron, and then feed solder into the joint.

You put a bit of solder on the tip, but that's just to help apply heat to the joint.

[aasasd]

Yeah, I've once watched a short clip of someone properly applying solder and realized I've been doing it wrong the whole time. I keep meaning to watch some educational material on the matter, but for now I've conceded that it's just some kind of higher magic.

[rhinoceraptor]

Solder flows like water, it "wants" to stick to absorbent material via capillary action. The only difference is the material needs to be clean and free from oxidization so it has a direct metal contact (that's why solder has a flux core), and it needs to be hot. If you take care of that, the solder will pretty much do what you want it to.

[michaelcampbell]

The thing you want solder ON has to be hot, also.