Sponge Control

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Bowing to jokesters with comments about cake, in-laws that d... - Jul 20, 2001 by davef

The latent contamination in sponges seems to be a minimal co... - Jul 20, 2001 by Michael Parker

Where did this come from? I hope our safety director doesn't... - Jul 21, 2001 by

Since we use tons of different fluxes and chemistries we cle... - Jul 23, 2001 by CAL

If you don't want to use a sponge try the Hakko 599 Tip Clea... - Jul 23, 2001 by James

I hate this system, it just sits there and times out and you... - Jul 23, 2001 by James

davef

#7311

Sponge Control | 20 July, 2001

Bowing to jokesters with comments about cake, in-laws that drink all their beer, musician friends, and whatnot; I'll push forward.

What do yall do to manage the life and contamination level in the sponges that hand soldering operators use to clean their soldering iron tips?

In your response, we are interested in: * Flux type you use. * How do you select and qualify the purchase of sponges. * What are the chemicals, minerals, whatnot that should not be present in sponges used for electronic soldering? What level, etc. * How do you determine sponge life. * How do you determine sponge contamination level. * How do you determine the acceptable level of contamination in sponges. * What is the acceptable contamination level in sponues. * And all that.

Or do you simply throw them away after a certain period? If so, how did you determine the proper period of time between discards?

Or do just wait until they walk away or the operators complain that the sponge is too ate-up?

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Michael Parker

#7313

Sponge Control | 20 July, 2001

The latent contamination in sponges seems to be a minimal concern to me. Sponges will harbor more bacteria than a wet rag that is washable, but that is of greater concern in the kitchen than the rework line.

Keeping a properly tinned solder tip is more important for better solderability. Since most rework persons over use the liquid flux I expect any contaminations picked up from the sponge are burned off or ate away by the flux.

You do pose a question for something I have not given much thought to, I suspect the overall volume of contamination that could be transferred from a sponge is negligible compared to paste and wave processes.

We generally replace sponges when the operator decides it is too ate up, dirty and or doesn't hold enough water to do the job of cleaning the tip.

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dougk

#7314

Sponge Control | 21 July, 2001

Where did this come from? I hope our safety director doesn't see this or I'll have more work to do. Seriously, if is bacterial contamination, it would be lysed immediately on contact with the iron. We ask our operators to wash their hands after handling. If it's metallic contamination that�s the concern, I�m ASSUMING that any contaminants would oxidize once in contact with an iron, and show as a black residue, which the operator would simple wipe-off before use. We use OA and Voc-free fluxes in hand-soldering, PACE sponges, and tell everyone to pitch them when they become very gray or 'ate-up'.

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CAL

#7326