Sal Ammoniac Bar

[Beef Coon]

Hi Anyone use this to clean and tin their soldering iron tip?

Here's a link to little vid using it:

What Is Tip Tinning? | Soldering - YouTube

[Joe Gwinn]

Hi Anyone use this to clean and tin their soldering iron tip?

Here's a link to little vid using it:

What Is Tip Tinning? | Soldering - YouTube

Yes, I've done it, and it works. This is in fact the traditional approach, going back to the Romans.

Sal ammoniac - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But one thing - don't breathe the smoke.

[Mick Bailey]

It works, but forms corrosive products that are no good for electronics. I do a test with anything that stands a chance of being carried over to the actual joint; clean a piece of sheet copper or bare PCB and run a nice fluid pool over a small area. I then leave it in the bathroom for a week or so to get some humidity and warmth. If there's a reaction a green ring will form around the solder. This tells me that a fine-gauge wire could eventually get eaten through.

Cleaning a tip with sal-ammoniac risks transferring the material (and the decomposed products) into your finished work. It belongs with 'killed spirits' (zinc chloride) for bench-soldering of non-electronic work.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Hakko brass-turnings pad works best for me. Looks like a gold pot-scrubber. Picked up a few for cheap at Akahibara but if you're not in Tokyo you can get 'em thru good parts distributors, not cheap.

Wet sponge too. There's a special sponge - of course it costs more than your typical sink scrubber - meant for soldering tips. I cut mine in half, and half a one lasts me a good year. I wet it with distilled water so it won't harden up with calcium/magnesium salts from tap water.

Sal ammoniac - if you're soldering copper gutter & flashing. Yes, don't breathe the smoke. That's what caused the downfall of the Roman Empire. The smoke attracts Vandals & Visigoths & Huns & Mongrels. What's in your wallet?

[big_teee]

In a tight, water or coffee on a paper towel or coffee napkin will do.

[Mick Bailey]

Hakko brass-turnings pad works best for me. Looks like a gold pot-scrubber.

I bought a few of those and really like the way they clean, especially that they don't cool off your iron too much. But Last summer I went back to the wet sponge (I use the cellulose decorators sponges that don't burn). I'd relocated my bench next to a window and noticed when I pulled my iron out of the brass tip cleaner a little shower of super-fine metal particles launched into the air and formed a shimmering cloud when caught in a shaft of sunlight. As recommended by the manufacturer, I plunge rather than wipe. It's still enough to disturb those little springy brass turnings and as I use a fair bit of leaded solder I didn't want to breathe that in.

[Beef Coon]

Thanks everyone.