So I'm not the only one XD, My original one was a wellington I picked up at homedepot, not too good for micro-soldering but I managed. I didn't clean it unless I was doing a tricky job. I use lead free solder , not as good as lead solder in my opinion but I guess it's better health wise.I ended up burning a hole through my original soldering iron through the course of normal use, though I did not clean it like I do now. It was a Harbor Freight 30w iron, normal tip, leaded flux-core solder. My new tips, freaking DealExtreme ones, have withstood everything so far, though I clean them between uses (usually).