My soldering iron tip died after 3 builds because I kept wiping it on a dry sponge

Amy Miller · 2026-09-15T05:20:03.088741+00:00

I killed the tip on my Hakko FX888D after only 3 keyboard builds and I could not figure out why. A guy at the local makerspace in Denver watched me work and asked why I was using the dry side of the sponge instead of the brass wool. He said the thermal shock from a wet sponge cracks the plating, and the dry sponge just grinds it off. I switched to brass wool and the same tip has lasted me 9 months now. Has anyone else been taught this the hard way?

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My soldering iron tip died after 3 builds because I kept wiping it on a dry sponge | Custom Keyboard Builds - Librear