What to Look for in the Right Tip Cleaner

Regularly cleaning your tips and nozzles is a crucial part of tip maintenance, but how do you make sure you’re cleaning them the right way? First off let’s answer the question as to why it’s important to clean and maintain your tips. Overtime from being regularly used the tips begin to oxidize and become covered in excess solder debris and flux residue which can hurt the performance of your soldering iron. For a few helpful tips on maintaining your soldering tips and nozzles, we covered that in a previous article which you can find here. Now let’s take a deep dive into a few of the cleaners we have here at HAKKO.

 

Traditional methods of cleaning tips and nozzles are by using a wet sponge or brass wire, but if you want the job done right the powered tip cleaners are the way to go. The FT-700, FT-710, and the new FT-720 are all tip cleaners that HAKKO has to offer. These tip cleaners are quick and effectively clean tips by using rotating brushes that scrub away oxides, excess solder, and debris. The units all have a convenient internal tray for easy removal of collected solder waste.

 

 

 

 

While all three units are powered, it’s just the FT-710 and FT-720 Tip Cleaners that automatically activate when the iron is inserted into the receptacle. Different material brushes can be interchanged to better assist in the type of cleaning you need done with the FT-710 and FT-720 cleaners. Not to mention that both the FT-710 and FT-720 can be mounted to the FH-200 Iron Holder in place of the 599B brass wire and wet sponge tray. This helps to maximize your workbench space and limit the amount of clutter.

 

What separates the new FT-720 Tip Cleaner from all the rest are the specially designed fluoroplastic brushes that come standard with the unit. These brushes can be used *2-3 times longer than other conventional brushes before the bristles begin to clog. The FT-720 brushes can also be interchanged with the resin brushes (A1566) and the metal brushes (A1567) depending on the need. Along with the brushes the FT-720 sensor cover is easy to remove for cleaning and the adjuster cover helps to modify the size of the window to accommodate a wide variety of irons and tip shapes. This allows for the cleaning of various tip sizes depending on the application and for minimizing solder splatter.

 

 

The HAKKO FT-720 is compact, lightweight, and best of all at a lower cost than the FT-700 and FT-710. The FT-720 Tip Cleaner in unison with the FS-100 Cleaning Paste is our recommendation for the perfect cleaning solution.

 

Thank you for being a subscribed reader and if you enjoyed what you read here today please leave us a comment or share and if you want to read more articles like this one, remember to keep in touch with HAKKO TIPS. For additional information visit us at www.HakkoUSA.com or contact us at 1-800-88-HAKKO(42556) and at [email protected].