So, I bought a flux pen, and I was ready to use it in one of my first projects with lead-free soldering. But… the tip looked dry and it didn’t really look like it was dispensing any flux at all! What giveS? Okay, okay, first thing I found out, when using a flux pen for the first time, indeed you must wet the tip, you get sold a pen with a dry tip. When wetting the tip, make sure you hold the pen upright, tip facing up, otherwise the flux wants to leak all out.
20200828/DuckDuckGo how to use a flux pen
20200828/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVD4pugOFig
Another good point, flux pens are easy to refill. Just pull off the tip of the pen, and dump your new liquid flux in there. Alternatively, flux pens are easy to empty should you wish to dispense your liquid flux by other means.
20200828/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCpuwahOnF0
Okay, okay, so I’m still not sure on how to wet the tip. Just warm water or alcohol? Okay, here is a hint. Shaking the pen up and down is useful for getting the tip wet. That makes sense since you just pour the liquid flux in after taking off the tip.
20200828/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfxF_CwqO2s
So really, I guess there’s a combination of all possible methods you can use that would be the best.
20200828/DuckDuckGo how to wet the tip of a new marker
20200828/https://www.wikihow.com/Revive-Dried-Out-Markers
If it’s water-soluble, you can use water-based methods. Otherwise, you should use alcohol.
UPDATE: So, the results of my own experience? Just shake it up and down looks to be the trick to get the tip wetted before first use, no need to use water or alcohol of the sort. Plus, you can keep the cap on when you’re shaking. How do you know if it worked? Beyond the tip not looking so dry, you should be able to smell a little bit of vapors after you’ve shaken, then you can know pretty well it is working as it should.
That being said, another point in hand when using the flux pen. If you have been using the flux pen to cover a lot of joints, you might need to shake it around to get more liquid flux into the tip if you’re having trouble with the pen not dispensing enough flux.