Dark powdery particles from soldering iron

Carbon rods? That's just metal oxides from the heater and tip.

You are probably thinking of the old scope irons that used the "carbon" tip

I've got an old (antique) soldering system that has two carbon blocks mounted on top of a steel case fed by a transformer and series reactor that is made from a bundle of wire and some super-thick copper wound around that. I assume the work piece gets placed, bridging the carbon blocks, to heat so maybe it was for soldering pipe or tubing.

No, the heater looks the color of pencil lead.

Andy

Okey dokey.

Andy

Clean it with one of those "brillo pad" things for soldering irons. I often forget and leave mine on overnight. Looks horrible the next day, but the scrubbibg things cleans it right up.

Thanks.

Andy

This is an example of the soldering tip cleaner I use and I think is being talked about. You replace the wire when it becomes loaded but they are surprisingly effective, much better than the damp sponge things.

On Thu, 6 Jun 2019 18:11:20 -0700 (PDT), S Deyoreo wrote as underneath :

snip

A plug-in rundown timer socket was my answer to that one! Mine is set to

They work very well and you do not get the thermo shock to the tip that a wet pad will do.

I use one just like the pic except it is stainless steel. (I think)

Andy