Bronze Kitchen Wool or Brass Kitchen Scouring Pad for Solder Tip Cleaning? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Boris_yo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2022, 04:38:34 am
content: Hi. I was advised to use brass scouring pad that I had in my kitchen drawer. It came with the other 2 stainless steel scouring pads. I checked with neodymium magnet and it did not react with the brass one so I decided to use it. I later read about bronze wool for solder tip cleaning. I happen to have metal wool for pan cleaning but it is a no go for solder tip cleaning.I wonder if I should use brass scouring pad or go to a general store and buy bronze wool...

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2022, 12:06:39 pm
content: The solder cleaning pads I have are made from stainless steel and they work excellently. Both the solder and the crud is rubbed from the iron when stick it in the pad a few times, but the solder does not stick to the steel and falls to the bottom of the container. The thin but wide shavings also help with this.Those "bronze wool pads" do not look very promising. They may soak up the solder, but leave the flux residue crud behind and they may foul quite quickly. But the stuff is relatively cheap so you can simply try what works best for you.A tip:Do not clean your iron after use, but only before use. Always put the iron in it's holder "dirty". The little bit of solder on the tip prevents oxidation of the tip itself when you put it back in it's stand. Cleaning the tip only just before use both protects the tip best against oxidation, and gives you the cleanest iron to solder with.

author: agehall
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2022, 02:54:36 pm
content: Quote from: Doctorandus_P on July 31, 2022, 12:06:39 pmActually - DO clean the tip when you are done but then put on a blob of fresh solder on the tip before turning the iron off. I would not recommend leaving old/used solder on it.

author: CaptDon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 01:02:25 pm
content: About half a lifetime ago Ungar made the pencil iron stands with a cut out area specifically for the matching sponge they sold. I grew up using the damp sponge tip cleaning method. Distilled water would be preferred, but I have been using tap water since day one. When I went to work in the engineering lab at GE they had the bronze/brass cleaning pads and I hated those. Totally hap-hazard cleaning at best, five or six wipes required to get the same caliber of clean that one wipe on a sponge provides. Yes, I tin the tip prior to shut down.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 01:27:48 pm
content: Quote from: agehall on July 31, 2022, 02:54:36 pmOops, misinterprteation.I did not mean the time when the iron is off, cooled down, but during work, every 30s to a few minutes you use the iron for a bit and put it back in it's holder to free up your hand to do something else.

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 01:51:54 pm
content: The left picture looks exactly like the stuff Weller sells you as tip cleaner.I've used this kind of brass wool for over a decade now, infinitely prefer it over the yucky wet sponges.The only maintainance these things need is shaking the solder out two or three times a year and then stuffing it back into the holder. I've replaced the pad once in maybe 15 years.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 02:42:01 pm
content: Quote from: CaptDon on August 01, 2022, 01:02:25 pmLikeeverysoldering iron/station manufacturer did back in the day. Many still ship with a sponge today (Pace and JBC, for example).Quote from: CaptDon on August 01, 2022, 01:02:25 pmThe reason why brass wool has become more popular is that it doesn’t cause as much thermal shock to the tip, which over time causes hairline fractures in the tip plating, which in turn leads to massively accelerated tip erosion. The higher temperatures of lead free soldering make the fracturing and erosion much worse, which is why brass wool wasn’t as important in the past.Quote from: david77 on August 01, 2022, 01:51:54 pmThe one on therightlooks like what Weller (and everyone else) sells.

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 07:01:30 am
content: QuoteYou are right. I seem to have mixed up reft and light.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 03, 2022, 02:48:47 pm
content: I bought a pack of the cheapest scourer I came across. It looks like the stuff on theright.It works brilliantly for me. I just stab the tip of the iron into it a couple of times and it cleans off the crud - without the thermal shock of a wet sponge. It works so well, I don't remember when the sponge got dislodged ... and I have no idea where that sponge ended up.

author: Boris_yo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2022, 01:32:43 pm
content: Behold! My professionally-made DIY certified soldering iron tip cleaner. Used a small horseradish jar, fruits cardboard and kitchen brass scouring pad that doesn't react with magnet.Instead of buying one from China made of plastic here's what I have gained with my own made:1. Repurposing environmentalist achievement2. Jar that weights more than cleaner made of plastic.It will still move when cleaning the tip but at least it won't move when the room is windy. Will need to stick some double-sided adhesive pad and attach some kind of weight to it to make the jar heavy enough to clean the tip without holding it with the other hand...Any remarks?

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2022, 05:54:00 pm
content: "Any remarks?"You have the added benefit of being able to drip a bit of flux in occasionally for best solder capture... and screw the lid back on to keep things fresh.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2022, 08:04:02 pm
content: Quote from: Boris_yo on November 10, 2022, 01:32:43 pmJust that you’ll get tired of using it VERY quickly, because it forces you to poke the iron in vertically, which is very uncomfortable to do at any kind of distance. So unless you keep it literally on your workpiece, it’ll get annoying. (Trust me, I’ve used tip cleaners like that.)An arrangement that lets you go in at an angle will be much more comfortable.Weller, JBC, and Ersa (perhaps others, too) add one more thing to some of their stands/wipers that I really, really like: a soft rubber edge to wipe the iron on. This is especially useful for ”rinsing” your iron with fresh solder when changing solder types or if the solder on the tip is oxidized and not behaving itself. By wiping on the rubber lip, you don’t saturate the brass wool with solder.Alas, for anyone not using an Ersa iron, Ersa doesn’t make a tip cleaner that isn’t also a stand tailored to a specific iron. JBC does, but it’s wacko crazy expensive. Weller, however, makes a lovely one that’s not expensive at all, the WDC. (DO NOT get the cheaper WLACCBSH-02: it’s a rubber cup with the wool in it, but the rubber isn’t angled at a way to make it a good wiper, and above all, the damned thing will leak solder dust out the bottom making a mess of your bench.) At my previous job, I had both of the Weller tip cleaners, as well as the JBC’s built-in one, and the Weller WDC became my favorite.

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2022, 05:19:13 am
content: A quick internet search for soldering iron tip cleaner brings up a multitude of choices, many of them from well known manufacturers. The prices are quite reasonable, many of them are less than the likely shipping cost. Some of them even include a holder. A few months ago I purchased a combination of holder and three metal sponge balls for under $10. They work great. Why not just buy a product that was made for cleaning soldering irons instead of worrying about what substitutes will work?https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=soldering+iron+tip+cleanerI too used wet sponges for years and years. My first Weller WTCP station came with one and I replaced it several times. But the metal sponges work a lot better. One thing I like is they do not cool the iron's tip as much as the wet sponge did. So I could clean the tip more often and not wait for it to come back to temperature before using it.

author: Boris_yo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2022, 07:22:25 am
content: Quote from: EPAIII on November 13, 2022, 05:19:13 amI am not a hobbyist unless you can call that someone who solders once a year or two. I have a short-term perspective here. Added silicone feet to the bottom:

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2022, 08:21:35 am
content: Put a disc or two of cardboard in the bottom, for the inevitable times when you accidentally poke the tip too far. You don’t want the tip hitting the glass and damaging the tip’s plating.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2022, 08:40:51 am
content: I've read the metal wool ones made specifically for soldering (the ones that replaces the wet sponge tip cleaners) are covered in a layer of flux, so not only they rubs out the oxides, but also add a small amount of flux on the tip.I don't know if the info is for real, or just urban legend, or what type of flux would be that to cover the wire wool. When I look under the microscope at my very cheap metal sponges (bought as tip cleaners from AliExpress), there is no visible flux. Seems like brass with a thin layer of oxides, layer easily distinguishable when the brass wire is scratched with a hard metal pin. Doubt that layer would be flux. Might be, IDK.The metal wool kitchen scouring doesn't have any flux, though might work well enough by mechanical cleaning only.