On 5/4/22 21:08, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
This is not "brass wool" which would be an abrasive mesh of dry, sharp fine brass wire. The Hakko product is apparently brass coiled ribbon (my words for it) that is *rosin coated* (fatty acid compound). Other products may have other coatings, or none.
A stated virtue of brass over wet sponge is "the tip temperature is not reduced". The virtue of brass is that it's softer than most metals. Of course, melted solder is softer still so it removes excess solder from tips.
Since it removes solder, it's likely it will accumulate loose solder splatter. That's likely why it's contained in a bowl or holder, to capture the material.
This is all Web homework I did, not stuff I knew previously. Someone with industrial training in soldering, or some reference for that training, may be informative.
"Brass wool" was simply poor choice of terminology. I think we all know what the stuff looks like. This all makes a lot of sense, with the exception of the tip temperature thing. If the tip temperature is affected appreciably by a wipe or two on a sponge, and doesn't recover by the time the iron is moved back to the work, there is something wrong with the iron. In my industrial training in soldering, which admittedly was decades ago, we were told to use wet sponges. But I'd already been soldering for many years before that...using wet sponges with good results. With a wet sponge, the flashing of the water to steam loosens dross/slag and other impurities and allows them to be easily removed by slight friction against the sponge. That said, though, Hakko is a first-rate company that makes real tools for industry, not hobby toys, and they sell those brass coily things. If they didn't work well, Hakko wouldn't be selling them. But I myself have never used one. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA