Hi All. Last year or so I picked up a spiffy new ceramic soldering
block. Now it is quite the mess of what looks like blobs of hardened
flux and other yuck. So, is there a way to clean it, should I have
been doing maintenance on it along the way, and, am I just a really
messy solderer and I should try to be tidier with my flux? Thanks!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
You might try putting the grungy side down on the side walk & moving
it around in a figure 8 pattern. Stop from time to time & rotate it
180 deg then continue the figure 8. This works very well with
magnesia fire bricks, it may work with your ceramic piece as well.
If it doesn’t clean up this way, buying a new one will solve the
problem. Consider the tile a consumable just like the gas & solder
used to solder.
Dave
Stephanie,
I have, upon occasion, cleaned up grungy ceramic soldering pads by
simply immersing them in boiling water for a few minutes, then
scrubbing with a scouring pad or brush and rinsing. They must be the
ceramic pads, others may dissolve on you. Afterwards you have to dry
them thoroughly, this time of year sunshine for a day or two ought
to work – sometimes I’ll put them in the oven at 300+ for a few
hours. The ones I do this to are about 6’ or smaller, but I guess
the bigger ones would just need a bigger pot to boil them in…
Brian P. Marshall
I go outside to the patio and rub the block over the smoother part
of the cement. It quickly grinds off the worse of the gunk.
Marilyn Smith