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| How do you clean and demagnetize your tweezers? |
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| BreakingOhmsLaw:
Hi everybody, Everybody who hand-solders SMD parts by hand knows the annoying problem that parts keep sticking to your tweezers. Either because of flux residue or because they have magnetized. Cleaning off the flux works well enough with PCB cleaner, but how do you demagnetize your tweezers? I am thinking about designing a small degausser for hand tools, do any of you have a proven solution? You can get demagnetizers for watchmakers for around €20 on Fleabay and Ali, but do they work? They also have a button to activate, but a one-handed solution would be preferred for obvious reasons. My guess is that they don't contain more than a transformer and a coil, and rely on distance to gradually decreasing the magnetic field. I'm thinking more along the lines of degaussing circuits that old CRT monitors used to have. Simple ones just had a PTC, better ones threw more circuitry at it. Cheers |
| JackJones:
I put them in the same isopropyl alcohol bath when I'm cleaning PCBs. After that I wipe off any remaining crud, they come out nice and clean. As for magnetization problems, I buy non-magnetic ones. :D I do have one of those demagnetizers, and yes they are just an inductor and a push button. It does work well with my other tools. You can get them for as low as ~8€. |
| GlennSprigg:
Isn't Stainless Steel non magnetic ?? |
| BreakingOhmsLaw:
I find that most "non-magnetic" tweezers don't hold that promise entirely. Your milage may vary. I have a pair of ceramic tweezers, bu they have their own issues, mainly being much thicker than a steel tool. |
| Rerouter:
I agree, a number of the "non-magnetic" and "anti-magnetic" tweezers I have gotten in the past where some type of steel that was not currently magnetized, and would regularly become slightly magnetic after enough heating and cooling cycles around soldering temperatures. enough to move around a staple. to this end I just have a tiny 1.8V 500mA transformer that I have mostly shorted in to a coil of wire, insert the part, press the button a few times and the part comes out demagnetized without really ever risking overheating the transformer. (500mA * 70 turns of not very thick enamel wire from memory) |
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