Soldering Iron Tip care??

[Jack]

I've always been a damp sponge sort of fellow when it comes to cleaning a soldering iron tip in between use and that even fine wet & dry shouldn't go near the tip unless a real emergency.

So can someone explain why when I've been browsing the Rapidonline site in readiness to place an order for some soldering stuff and 16/.02 wire I come across what look like brass "brillo" pads for cleaning soldering tips. Why is it okay to thrust my soldering tip into the brass brillo pad but not okay to use fine wet & dry?

Can someone help this confused idiot or is this just a case of me being behind the times?

By the way my iron of choice is an Antex TCS, good iron

[robert shrives]

Hi ,
Me too viz wet sponge! But the brass looking brillo is quite soft and lifts crud and unused solder - just two ways of "skinning the cat" i guess.

Robert

[RussellH]

Its brass swarf - brass is softer than than the coated tip of your iron so only scrapes off the muck - but it soon fills up with muck itself.

Wet sponge cools the tip aswell as cleaning it so I avoid that too - just a dry rag removes the muck.

Regards
Russ

[PaulCheffus]

Hi

I tend to use a mixture of the wet sponge and the tin / tip cleaner you can get in small containers.

Cheers

Paul

[Jack]

Its brass swarf - brass is softer than than the coated tip of your iron so only scrapes off the muck - but it soon fills up with muck itself.

Wet sponge cools the tip aswell as cleaning it so I avoid that too - just a dry rag removes the muck.

Regards
Russ

Damp sponge cooling the tip I take on board but I'll give the dry rag a try - obviously not while holding the rag, I haven't got asbestos hands!