Alternatives to fibreglass scratch brushes.

[brian777999]

I will be starting on an etched brass kit soon and I need a tool to distress the metal prior to soldering. I will NOT be using a fibreglass scratch pen as I do not wish to end up with pieces of it stuck in my fingers. I was told that the brass scratch brushes will not be hard enough to scratch the brass. Does anybody have an opinion on this ? If this is true then will  the steel scratch brush suffice.

 

 

[PatB]

I've got brass refils for my scratch brush and, TBH, they're not much use for anything much apart from maybe whitemetal.  Steel might work but might also contaminate the work area with rust or oil.  Frankly, having lived without a fibreglass brush for years, it's so enormously useful that I happily put up with splinters in my fingers (which seem to be getting less as I develop my techniques) in return.

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Brian,

 

...there are fibreglass brushes with various diameter filaments...those with thicker ones tend to abrade more and shed less small lengths of fibre, which might then end up in your flesh. Also, I use the brushes over a metal tray which makes it easy to empty the debris straight into the bin and further reduce the amount that can stick into you. 

 

Just a thought

 

Dave

[Enterprisingwestern]

Dip the fibreglass refills in dilute PVA before use, holds them together and helps prevent "finger itch"

 

Mike.

[Shedrail]

I use a Garryflex block which is a rubber block with an abrasive material incoorated in it. They are available in various grades and do not have the problems that you have identified with fibreglass. Soaking the fibreglass refills in PVA diluted 50% with water certainly improves the problem of fibreglass filaments getting into your skin

 

The blocks can be obtained from Squires and other good tool suppliers.

[The Nth Degree]

I know you've already said you'll not use one, but I use mine under running water – never had a splinter yet!

[Kenton]

I'll second Garryflex blocks - just break off a small piece and use between tweezers. I had used the dreaded fibreglass brush for years (still do) before being pointed to Garryflex by BJ of this parish a few years ago. They are so kind to the hands - the large size is really a bit too aggressive for simple cleaning as it leaves large scratches.

 

Also do not forget the good old wet'n'dry paper / emery cloth which still has its place.

[JeffP]

I bought a job lot of 1000 wooden coffee stirrers of ebay, and glue them with PVA glue to the rear of different grade sheets of wet-or-dry, then, once dried, cut round them with a sharp craft knife.

They make great sanders.

 

You can even glue emery cloth to them.

[stewartingram]

They are free in our canteens at work, and places like MacDonalds.....

 

Stewart

[jonhall]

+1 for Garryflex block.

 

I've also aquired some quite usefull abrasive wheels for my minidrill from a jewlers supplier, but I can't remember their name ATM.

 

J

[finelines]

Can't imagine why you would rule out one of the most useful tools available without trying it. It removes the solder whilst leaving the brass alone, so you can remove those unsightly solder stains seen on so many assembled kits. Garriflex would attack the brass, it has its place.

 

Glass fibre brushes should be used very sparingly on whitemetal because it removes material very quickly. Whitemetal oxidises very rapidly so that you can put a model away beautifully "polished" only to open the box the next day to find it looking awful.

 

Roger

[dibateg]

I got fed up with fibreglass sticking in me and now use emery sticks, homemade or otherwise. Once in a while I will use the half inch one glass stick I have - but that is outside and everything is rinsed in water afterwards to remove any fibres.

 

Best Regards

 

Tony

[Kenton]

 

so you can remove those unsightly solder stains seen on so many assembled kits.

Far better is to learn to use less solder in the first place

 

Too much solder spilling out of joins does nothing to the strength of a join and just adds to scraping and scouring to clean it up running the risk of damaging/bending/distorting/scratching what you have done and is an utter waste of solder and construction time.

[finelines]

Totally agree Kenton, but it gives you an escape route if you've buggered it up! In my particular speciality it can encourage plastic to flow into corners that it doesn't want to go into.

 

Roger

[Trebor]

No one has yet mentioned, latex type gloves, well its what I use, you can get them from your local pharmacy normally. Also helps to keep the greases and skin oils off the brass, nickel silver etc.

[Adrian]

Can't imagine why you would rule out one of the most useful tools available without trying it. It removes the solder whilst leaving the brass alone, so you can remove those unsightly solder stains seen on so many assembled kits. Garriflex would attack the brass, it has its place.

Because the irritant of all the loose fibres sticking in my fingers just isn't worth it for me. Fortunately I tend to paint my models so don't have any problem with the unsightly solder marks on my kits.

 

I'm another +1 for garryflex blocks, steel wire brushes and various other scrapers.

[Debs.]

For cleaning brass: I use Trollull brand, oil-free '0000' grade wirewool (in a box/roll); it`s simple and cleans/burnishes beautifully........for small areas/corners I hold a small chunk of it in tweezers.

 

Most good DiY or woodworkery shops stock the brand (online outlets too)......Coarser grades are also available; but I find the super-fine to be the safest and cleanest to use.

 

Tidy-up using a small magnet to easily gather any errant steel fibres.

[firefly9]

Wear a pair of disposable latex gloves when you use the fibre glass brush. They are available from poundshops. or rubber gloves!

[Loxborough]

I'm going to stick my head over the parapet here and say that I use fibreglass pens a lot and have never had any trouble with bits of the stuff sticking in my fingers (in fact before reading thsi thread I was not even aware that this was an issue). I am quite hot on workbench hygiene, though, and maybe that is an explication. Or maybe I am just very lucky.

 

Of course you all know what is going to happen tonight; just after rubbing down a messy bit of soldering an odd itching feeling will appear in my fingertips...

 

G

[farren]

i have used fibreglass pens and have never had splinters in my fingers, and that's with very thing skin on my hand thanks to work But I was once told in a shop that they did not sell them due to the dust the give off which can damage the lungs so was advised to were a face mask when using them. has any one else  heard of this? 

[Huw Griffiths]

I'll second Garryflex blocks - just break off a small piece and use between tweezers. I had used the dreaded fibreglass brush for years (still do) before being pointed to Garryflex by BJ of this parish a few years ago. They are so kind to the hands - the large size is really a bit too aggressive for simple cleaning as it leaves large scratches.

 

Also do not forget the good old wet'n'dry paper / emery cloth which still has its place.

 

Garryflex is colour coded, according to grade. There is a list printed on the side of the card wrapper - which may, or may not, be readable in the photo earlier in this thread:

• Extra coarse (36 grit) - wine.

   

• Coarse (60 grit) - blue.

   

• Medium (120 grit) - grey.

   

• Fine (240 grit) - brown.

 

Over the years, I've used this stuff for a number of purposes - and have generally found the medium to be the most useful of the lot - followed by fine (which I've sometimes used for cleaning circuit boards).

 

I've rarely found much use for the other grades - but I should add that I've never really done much with whitemetal (so I don't know what grade would be needed for this).

 

 

When I've used Garryflex, I've sometimes used the blocks as supplied - and sometimes cut them into smaller pieces, which I've used hand-held. I've never tried using the stuff with tweezers - but I suspect that flat ended pliers (or small square ended ones) might work for this.

 

 

Just for information, there is a rival product which often appears in toolshops - blocks about the same size, going under names like "Sandflex" and "Schleiffix". As the name suggests, these use silica as the abrasive. Sandflex seems slightly harder - and more brittle - than Garryflex - but it does pretty much the same job - and I'm not aware of any colour coding with this product.

 

I like both these products - but, given the choice, I slightly prefer Garryflex.

 

 

Saying all this, I'd agree with what a number of people have already said in this thread - I prefer to use only the solder I need (and no more) in the first place. If there is excess solder, my preference would be to cut it away - using electronics "edge cutters", an old chisel or a scraper - before finally smoothing the surface using a file, an emery board or Garryflex.

 

(I don't think I've used a fibreglass brush for more than a decade. In my case, I used the things in a job - where I had to prepare steel bars to take strain gauges - and got fed up of splinters. This prompted me to try alternatives - like the abrasive blocks - before introducing all the chemicals needed to degrease, etch and neutralise the metal surface.)

 

 

Ultimately, it all comes down to personal experience - and personal preference.

 

 

Huw.

[JeffP]

I first became aware of the fibreglass brush problem many years ago. Unfortunately, it wasn't my fingertips that suffered, I was using it on the edge of the worktable and ended up with f/glass splinters in both legs, quite high up....

[newbryford]

I have the usual 5mm(?) propelling type fibreglass pencils and they can be a pain. I just make sure that I'm not using them directly over my lap!

I also have a larger fibreglass brush - about 10mm diameter that is absolutely OK and doesn't moult like the smaller item.

 

An easy way of picking up the shards from the bench is to use masking tape. One piece can be "dabbed" to clean up the worksurface.

 

Masking tape is also very good at removing the aforementioned splinters from fingers. Press it along the skin in the direction of the splinter and pull out in the same direction.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[stewartingram]

Maybe a simple point about using fibreglass pens has been overlooked?

To describe it simply, a fibreglass brush(pen) is built rather like a propelling pencil. Turn the knob at the top, and the "lead" (fibreglass in our case) is made to project further out of the body of the pen. With a pencil, too long and the lead breaks. Same with the fibreglass version. So keep the fibreglass strands wound in as much as possible, then they wear rather than break. They are also in my opinion stiffer and therefore scrape/clean more efficiently.

I've heard the tip about PVA a number of times too, but tbh have been too lazy to try it! I was told to extend the fibres, dip them in pva (presumably neat) and let it dry, then wind back in as usual.

 

Stewart

[Kenton]

 

I've heard the tip about PVA a number of times too, but tbh have been too lazy to try it! I was told to extend the fibres, dip them in pva (presumably neat) and let it dry, then wind back in as usual.

 

Better still do it when you buy a box of refills then they are 'set' to go before loading the pen.