A catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction without participating in it.

I think what you have in the tip is a bit of glass wool or a perforated
ceramic slug. It should not get fouled with anything because it glows red
hot with fire. Anything a solvent could clean out would have been burned
off.

More likly you have either bunched up the glass wool inside the tip or it is
fouled with carbon (how? maybe you got flux inside or melted some plastic
for example).

Probably cannot clean it, just get a new tip.

If you try a solvent (it really shouldn't hurt) , make sure it is plenty dry
before relighting. You might also try an ultrasonic bath in soapy water
followed by am alcohal rinse. If it is a carbon deposit, you will need the
vibration to knock it loose.

If there are any plastic parts on the tip do not use acetone or any cleaner
that would damage plastic. Just about any solvent can be used on metals,
glass and ceramics.



"Bill Woods" wrote in message
...
I have one of those portable gas-powered soldering irons which I find
useful for electric joints whenever there is no electric power
supply for a conventional iron.

The soldering attachments contain a mesh with the catalytic material
in it.

One or two of my attachments do not work well and I want to clean
them. I am told I can not clean them in certain solvents. can
someone recommend a safe cleaner to use.

The message et
from "AutoTracer" contains these words:

A catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction without participating in it.

I think what you have in the tip is a bit of glass wool or a perforated
ceramic slug.

If it's like the soldering iron I used to have, it's platinum coated
glass wool. Gives you a flameless butane burn.

--
Skipweasel.
In the beginning was the word.
And the word was Aardvark.

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "AutoTracer"
wrote:

More likly you have either bunched up the glass wool inside the tip or it is
fouled with carbon (how? maybe you got flux inside or melted some plastic
for example).

Usual failure mode on cheap catalytic soldering irons is the
extra-thin catalyst mechanically falling off the glass wool. This
isn't fixable.

They'll sometimes clog with flux smoke if you've been working on
something particularly grubby. These may still work, but can be hard
to light (heating with another torch might get them going). Just
using these should be enough to burn off the crud.

The main difference is in the original build quality. The good ones
keep working, the cheap ones really don;t last 5 minutes.

--
Smert' spamionam

On 12 Mar 2005 09:58:06 -0800, Aidan
wrote in . com:

Robert Harvey wrote:
John Stumbles wrote:

evolved the ability to generate hydrogen which they stored
internally

I can think of many prehistoric creatures who have evolved the ability
to generate huge volumes of methane which they store internally.

Do ruminants discharge methane from their mouths?

If a suitable platinum catalyst could be introduced into the relevant
orifice, would such creatures become airborne by means of rocket
propulsion?

Flash as a rat^H^H^Hcow with a gold^H^H^H^Hplatinum tooth!

Pigs might fly.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

replying to Andy Dingley, Dlarrym1 wrote:
Is there any harm in breathing the air passing the reacting caytalyst in a
butane soldering iron...is there toxin being put into the air from using on?

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...on-597139-.htm

On Sunday, 16 December 2018 19:44:06 UTC, Dlarrym1 wrote:
replying to Andy Dingley, Dlarrym1 wrote:
Is there any harm in breathing the air passing the reacting caytalyst in a
butane soldering iron...is there toxin being put into the air from using on?

the catalyst doesn't add anything.


NT

wrote:

On Sunday, 16 December 2018 19:44:06 UTC, Dlarrym1 wrote:
replying to Andy Dingley, Dlarrym1 wrote:
Is there any harm in breathing the air passing the reacting caytalyst in a
butane soldering iron...is there toxin being put into the air from using on?

the catalyst doesn't add anything.


NT
It could add a tiny amount of carbon monoxide, but not much more than a
cigarette. It's the flux fumes that are potentially harmful, to some
people at least.

--

Roger Hayter

On 17/12/2018 13:00, Roger Hayter wrote:
wrote:

On Sunday, 16 December 2018 19:44:06 UTC, Dlarrym1 wrote:
replying to Andy Dingley, Dlarrym1 wrote:
Is there any harm in breathing the air passing the reacting caytalyst in a
butane soldering iron...is there toxin being put into the air from using on?

the catalyst doesn't add anything.


NT
It could add a tiny amount of carbon monoxide, but not much more than a
cigarette. It's the flux fumes that are potentially harmful, to some
people at least.


After getting on for fourteen years, if there were any ill effect, the
OP would surely know by now.

Cheers
--
Clive