Brass Sponge
I came around many electronics stores selling brass sponges as soldering iron tip cleaners. I thought that using a brass sponge was a good idea but was not ready to pay between 5$ and 12$ for a sponge. Instead, I got two brass sponges at the groceries store for around 1.9$ and used an old metal cover from a jam jar to make my own. The result is a very useful soldering sponge.
If you are wondering what are the advantages with respect to the more conventional wet sponge, I can enumerate three:
- It does not inflict such a great thermal shock on the iron tip. Thus, putting it trough less stress.
- It does not produce fumes since the tip temperature doesn’t change as much and there is no water vapour.
- It does not require water. Having water around electronics can sometimes be a bit of a hazard.
Brilliant idea! Beats the bit of folded damp kitchen towel I use.
Thank you for trying it out. I was concerned if there was any difference between a brass sponge and the ones with the “solder tip cleaning” label on it.
@Ivan
Indeed there is no difference whatsoever (besides a marked up price).
@Carlitos
Out of curiosity what grocery store did you get your brass sponge?
TIA!
I live in Montreal (Canada), so there are no Tia. It was IGA. I do remember tough getting some toys and other things form Tia when I lived in Rosario (Argentina).
What I meant by TIA is ‘thanks in advance’, haha. I didn’t know there were stores named TIA and IGA.
@Ivan
LOL