Automatic tip cleaner - arduCleaner

You can find a soldering iron on the desk of every DIY enthusiast. It's hard to name the number of situations in which it can be useful. I personally use it in all my projects. However, in order to enjoy high-quality soldering for a long time, it is necessary to properly care for the tip. For this purpose, I created the arduCleaner - an automatic tip cleaner, which is designed to smooth the soldering process by keeping the tip clean.

Step 1: Projecting

In the beginning, I started designing the board in Eagle. This device should work in such a way that, after detecting a soldering iron in the device, it will turn on the motor that will drive the brush cleaning the tip. Infrared diodes, LED, LM358, a few resistors, and that's it. Now you need to swap the schematic to pcb project, pcb project to pcb, and pcb to soldered pcb. I ordered the pcb on a great occasion from NEXTPCB, which is one of the most experienced PCB manufacturers in China, has specialized in the PCB and assembly industry for over 15 years.

Step 2: 3D

3D design - the most time-consuming part of this project. The first time I dealt with gears. I have also designed rods on which I will put a metal sponge responsible for cleaning the tip, but I will not print it but will create it from an old nail. I cleaned it, marked the cuts and cut it. Then I moved on to 3D printing. After several unsuccessful attempts, the final version was finally made. It took about 24 hours to print the whole thing and the effect is not satisfactory as the parts were detached from the stage.

Step 3: That Is All!

I put the electronics board in the designated place for it, soldered the charging socket and infrared diodes. This is what the arduCleaner looks like after the housing is put on. Now you can put a dirty soldering tip in it for a second to continue enjoying high-quality soldering.

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