<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>Gah. Please don't tap soldering irons. And don't teach beginners to tap them. That does not result in assured destruction.<br></span></div><div><span>Tapping or banging only cracks the ceramic, and isn't very fun. What you really want to do is get some pliers, or better yet long-handled slip-joint pliers, or a vice, really get a good grip on the heater section, and bear down with all your might so you can really hear the ceramic break up completely into smithereens. Mmm, crunchy goodness.</span></div><div><span>Unless you completely crush the ceramic, some heat might still be passed to the soldering tip, and the heater element might not short to the surrounding metal parts of the iron. This would be a fail.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);
margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Zach . <organic_unity@yahoo.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, July 4, 2011 11:28 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] new soldering irons for Crucible? - DITCH THE SPONGES<br></font><br>
<meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="off"><div id="yiv1858640255"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font:inherit;" valign="top">I agree. I myself never, ever use sponges either. It is super confusing since they <span style="font-style:italic;">come </span>with
soldering irons. What I like to do is use a small x-acto knife to
gently scrape off excess solder...this has been very effective over the
years. We could use more x-acto knives at the space
anyway............... especially name brand, which you can get very
nice sets of for ~$10 and replacement tips (5 packs) are only $2
something. This is at the art stores too, I'm sure it's much cheaper
online.<br><br>Obviously that idea won't be best for kids learning, but
like Jake says, you can just tap the iron. or use anything flat n
metal really.<br><br>Zach<br><br>--- On <b>Mon, 7/4/11, Zach . <i><organic_unity@yahoo.com></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;"><br>From: Zach . <organic_unity@yahoo.com><br>Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] new soldering irons for Crucible? - DITCH THE SPONGES<br>To: "Jake" <jake@spaz.org><br>Date: Monday, July 4, 2011, 6:28 PM<br><br><div id="yiv1858640255"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;" valign="top">I agree. I myself never, ever use sponges either. It is super confusing since they <span style="font-style:italic;">come </span>with soldering irons. What I like to do is use a small x-acto knife to
gently scrape off excess solder...this has been very effective over the years. We could use more x-acto knives at the space anyway............... especially name brand, which you can get very nice sets of for ~$10 and replacement tips (5 packs) are only $2 something. This is at the art stores too, I'm sure it's much cheaper online.<br><br>Obviously that idea won't be best for kids learning, but like Jake says, you can just tap the iron. or use anything flat n metal really.<br><br>Zach<br><br>--- On <b>Mon, 7/4/11, Jake <i><jake@spaz.org></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;"><br>From: Jake <jake@spaz.org><br>Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] new soldering irons for Crucible? - DITCH THE SPONGES<br>To: "noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net" <noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net><br>Date: Monday, July 4, 2011, 4:21
PM<br><br><div class="yiv1858640255plainMail">The reason your soldering irons, and those at noisebridge, keep wearing <br>out, is because we keep teaching people to use a wet sponge to treat their <br>iron-coated tip. This is a lot of fun for people and especially kids, <br>because it makes a cool sound and steam, but it is very bad for the iron.<br><br>I never, ever use a wet sponge. Sometimes I tap the iron on the holder to <br>shake off excess solder, and sometimes if there is junk floating in the <br>solder on the tip of the iron, i wipe it off on an edge on the holder.<br>Remember, stuff "sticking" to the iron is only floating in the liquid
<br>solder, so it's no more stuck than a poppy-seed to a wet coffee-mug.<br><br>My advice: hide the sponges forever.<br><br>-jake<br><br>Lee Sonko lee at <a target="_blank" href="http://lee.org">lee.org</a> wrote:<br><br>The Kinetics & Electronics department at the Crucible has several $12 <br>Stahl soldering irons <br><<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=374-100">http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=374-100</a>>, some <br>still new in the box, but they sure wear out quick. Kids take their toll <br>on an iron pretty quick. Do you think we'd get 4 times the value out of <br>the new $40 Hakko 936 knockoff from <br>Sparkfun<<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9672">http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9672</a>>? Better temperature <br>control might keep the tips and units alive longer. Might you have any <br>other suggested
irons?<br><br>Lee<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<br><a rel="nofollow">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a><br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss</a><br></div></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div><meta http-equiv="x-dns-prefetch-control" content="on"><br>_______________________________________________<br>Noisebridge-discuss mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net" href="mailto:Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net">Noisebridge-discuss@lists.noisebridge.net</a><br><a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss"
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