On 5/1/22 13:10, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
On 5/1/22 13:07, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Did someone just goof around and see how much fresh solder they could suck up into the thing?
Heh, Crawford is just picking on himself, he hadn't used a Hakko before and didn't know you try to keep the tip (metallic/flux) dry -- that's why they recommend the brass wool cleaner, it scrapes it clean. He dunked the tip in flux as one does with a soldering iron, to clean it. The Hakko runs at 750 *F and basically instantly carbonized it into a plug. Fortunately, CDL has a numbers drill set and we used one of the little ones to clean it out. As luck would have it, the proper tool for that (a small drill in a pin vise) got left at the shop!
BRASS WOOOL, EEEEEK!
Nonono, not the super-fine stuff that destroys datacenters. The stuff he's talking about is very coarse and generally doesn't turn into electronics-destroying dust.
I hate the brass wool for our soldering irons. Much more partial to use of a sponge. I've seen too many folks wipe the snot of their soldering iron down to the copper inside (3 to get to the inside of a tootsie pop). Sorry I don't like abrasives on my soldering iron tips. I also don't like using the tip to melt anything other than solder. I use the barrel for heat shrink. For the desoldering iron the wool might be okay. And yes, always need to clean a desoldering iron (disassemble). Solder suckers also need to be cleaned out. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies