Novel soldering iron tip cleaner

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throbscottle

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I pulled apart a microwave a couple of years ago so I could build a spot welder using the transformer, so naturally I also pulled apart the magnetron. The only thing I saved from that was the heatsink plates and this ring of brass wire mesh, just because it was interesting and I liked it.

Well, I thought I'd try using it to clean the really tough crud off my soldering iron tip, and it works really well! Going to make a little turntable for it to fix to the top of the iron's station
 

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Nifty idea.
I did something similar, a blade welder for my bandswa, but I never got it to work satifactory.
At the risk of sounding like a lurker, I'll just say that the ceramic ends of the magnetron contain beryllium which is very nasty, dont breath the dust if you break it.
 
I've had a few for magnets and transformers, never thought about using the matt gizmo as a tip cleaner, will keep the next one.
 
dr pepper said:
I've had a few for magnets and transformers, never thought about using the matt gizmo as a tip cleaner, will keep the next one.
Click to expand...

I've never seen one of those "matt gizmos". Question: Can you substitute a Brillo pad.

(The question mark on my keyboard is broken.)
 
Bob Scott said:
I've never seen one of those "matt gizmos". Question: Can you substitute a Brillo pad.

(The question mark on my keyboard is broken.)
Click to expand...

The "matt gizmo" is part of a magnetron from a microwave oven - not something you can buy. Most definitely do not substitute a Brillo pad, they are made of steel wool which is very abrasive and will destroy your bit.

Edit: Having said that, normal steel wool is manufactured as a form of swarf - long strips of shaved off metal with sharp edges. "Brillo" may be made differently since it is for household use.

I was inspired to try it from having seen brass wool tip cleaners you can buy, such as the ones from Xytronic.

Alt-63. One of the few things I never knew I missed about Windows...
 
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hi,
Its handy when you can recycle items.

You can buy Brass mesh pan scrubber pads from your local hardware shop, that work as tip wipers.

E
 
I use circular copper scouring pads to clean dies with, oops I just lost one.
 
throbscottle said:
Alt-63. One of the few things I never knew I missed about Windows...
Click to expand...

Simpler than keeping in memory, is looking at an ASCII table. (When started to use a PC, keyboards here had no "Ñ" or "ñ") so I got used to the table thing.

But very recently, when looking for the euro symbol had to go further: Alt 0128 (do not omit the zero). €

Funny thing was that the MPLAB IDE in one of its version couldn't handle our accents and that "ñ" (to comment code). Every time you reopened a project that text was a mess.

Babel was the last oportunity and it went seriously wrong!!!
 
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