quick soldering iron question

alsmith

100 kW
Joined
Dec 3, 2010
Messages
1,182
Location
Northumberland, UK
My high wattage soldering iron just died while soldering a 50/75 A powerpole connector (the ceramic element burned out), it's been ok for the money though.
I've got other irons from 7W - 30W for more normal stuff, but need one for the heavier stuff- can anyone recommend a decent replacement one that isn't too expensive? I like the look of some of the digital stations but can't really justify the price (or afford) for the amount I'd use it. What kind of Wattage do you use for this kind of stuff?
 
Recently got this one. Works as advertised.
http://www.amazon.com/Weller-TB100PK-Watt-Therma-Boost/dp/B000EMDFOM/ref=sr_1_28
 
I have a selection of small low wattage irons for intricate work but this is the one i always grab for general wiring work even down to jobs as small as replacing halls etc;

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=372-070

I have had mine for 30 years, it has been one of the best tools i ever bought. I was given a similar Draper one but it is not a patch on the Weller. I make my own tips for it out of the earth strand in 10mm twin and earth mains cable which is a single core of about 1.6mm dia copper wire.

It wont do the bigger bullets for pack leads, i use a small butane torch for those.
Everyone should own one of these Weller heat guns, it goes from cold to soldering in about 3 seconds and cools really quick, it is only hot when you need it to be.

Simon.
 
Tench said:
I have a selection of small low wattage irons for intricate work but this is the one i always grab for general wiring work even down to jobs as small as replacing halls etc;

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=372-070

I have had mine for 30 years, it has been one of the best tools i ever bought. I was given a similar Draper one but it is not a patch on the Weller. I make my own tips for it out of the earth strand in 10mm twin and earth mains cable which is a single core of about 1.6mm dia copper wire.

It wont do the bigger bullets for pack leads, i use a small butane torch for those.
Everyone should own one of these Weller heat guns, it goes from cold to soldering in about 3 seconds and cools really quick, it is only hot when you need it to be.

Simon.

these kind of guns work by induction. they create large magnetic fields around that copper heating element. that magnetic fiend can induce large voltages in wiring and circuits. that is perfectly fine for soldering light bulbs and trailer wiring, works great on the vacuum tubes and stuff. but can be harmfull to semiconductors. even if it does not destroy semiconductors outright, it can stress and weaken them.

Guns do not have any ESD protection or grounding. again bad for semiconductors. i'm not saying that these things aren't usefull, because they are. i have one myself. I just never let it get near anything with a transistor or IC chip int it.

I have an 80W iron like the one that Ypedal uses. I added a ground wire to it for some ESD protection and i use a HUGE solid copper tip. once that tip gets good and hot it will stay hot even if i am soldering some big stuff. the problem with soldering big stuff is not that the iron isn't hot enough, but that the iron cools down too much transferring heat to the parts. then you leave the tip in contact with the parts trying to heat them up for far too long. you end up slowly heating up like a foot of that wire hot enough to melt it's insulation before the end gets hot enough to melt solder. a big heavy tip stores enough heat to mitigate this cooling effect and allows for faster joints.

rick





rick
 
Get a big one like I got if you are soldering a lot of big wire and connectors, making bundles of 8 gauge with this is easy.

It arrived a week or so back. No good for PCB work though, that is for sure

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39072

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toolcraft-300W-Soldering-Iron-KP-300/dp/B003A699ZS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337115145&sr=8-1


file.php
 
I have an older weller 80w. Love it, but if you leave plugged in the tip eats away. I saw a new one at the local hardware for 38.00. It's been there for years. I like nicobie find. Dollar wise. And rkosiorek that's for that info. Neilp a 300w. for soldering copper roof panels ? that's huge.
 
Thanks.
I'd looked at the gun type so thanks for the warning about the induction method of inducing heat- I hadn't thought of beyond hot enough and low price!
That last iron was one of those thermal boost ones (20W /130W) and buried in the instructions was a warning not to use the boost for more than 20 seconds- who reads instructions for soldering irons? (well, I did a bit too late)- So probably not a boost one unless I know that the higher wattage can just be switched on and used.
The range shown is quite wide! But there is a 60W one in there. What about a 60W temperature controlled like this analogue one-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280757198381&fromMakeTrack=true#ht_2205wt_982
Or safer to stick to a 100W iron? I think the 300W my be a bit overkill.
 
I go cheap, don't use it that much and take care of it so irons last a fairly long time around me. Was very surprised when a cheapo 60W outfitted with hammerhead tip flowed RC Lipo pouch tabs in 1-2 secs. Same fast heat with 10-12ga wire, sorry, no 8ga experience but I wouldn't expect it would take too long.
 
Roof panels, stained glass windows, plumbing, that sort of thing, is I am sure its intended use, true

But I have even used it just recently to replace a FET on a board that had lots of copper and solder beefing up the traces at the back. I worked the opposite way. Iron clamped down and brought the workpiece up to the tip with a mate on the solder sucker
 
*best Paul Hogan impersonation*
You call that a soldering iron? This is a soldering iron! :lol:

Cheapshittyirons2.jpg


I actually upgraded the plugs to standard 240 V AU/NZ plugs and they work great. They will melt rocks if you leave it long enough :D

But for soldering medium sized stuff, 80W is enough. A pair of 80 W irons will solder really big stuff, eventually. But a pair of 200 W irons will solder 3mm thick bus bar together :)
 
15-20 DOLLAR butane pen torch at your local "home supply" is what i use for jobs big or small.
 
Strangely I'd just looked at the gas irons. It's a very long time since I had a one of the small gas torches but it was for heat only, not soldering, and wasn't particularly good- it was a cheap one though. Are they reliable and any good now? The heat option would be a useful option for shrink sleeves. A lot of them don't show wattage equivalents, but some give a decent range that should be ok.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Bernzomatic-Micro-Torch-Kit/dp/B00176IQFW

This is the one I use for making my harness. It gets the job done.
 
Yes, i like gas irons, but it has taken me years to find a good one, have gone through many cheap ones. Probably would ahve been cheaper to have bouht a quality one from teh start

I now have one of these

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=yes&tool=all&item_ID=647908&group_ID=681034&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

not cheap but quality kit
 
The snap-on is out of my price league, but I'd found one like the benzomatic on ebay for a bit less so order being placed. Thanks for the help.
 
Crimp the pin properly.

Ive fallen out of love with soldered connector pins.

Wicking, higher resistance, and lower temp failure points.

A good forging-like crimp will almost always be best.

The problem is, 99% of crimping tools are not capable of making a good connection.
 
liveforphysics said:
Crimp the pin properly.

<snip>
The problem is, 99% of crimping tools are not capable of making a good connection.

AMEN to that. i haunt industrial liquidation auctions just looking for them. and the hardest ones to find are ones that will do a decent crimp on insulated connectors. and those can be the hardest to judge because all of your sins are hidden under the insulation.

if you want to make sure you are going to get a good crimp, do a sacrificial one. crimp on a scrap of wire like what you intend to use and try to pull it apart. if it survives cut it in half and see how tight the crimp is under the insulation.

rick
 
Temperature controlled analog Weller. Tough enough for your bullets and bus bars...yet delicate enough for the most tender of IC's.

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station/dp/B000BRC2XU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337311901&sr=8-1

Oh how I love you Weller....
 
Yes, I crimp too when I can. Crimp first then flood with solder, to keep moisture and therefore corrosion out of the joint.
Crimp gives better, lower resistance connection , so I have read. Never done any actual measurements though

Can't crimp the gold 4mm bullets from HK though, not sure about the bigger ones 5.5 mm
I only use bullets at the start of a loom for the pack to loom connection, really just to save rewiring each individual pack

Where I join big wires, say for a 4 parallel loom, you have 4 wires going to one thicker one. I tend to wrap tight with copper wire first, copper pipe sleeve crimp then solder and heat shrink.


I totally agree with Snap On price comment, but I wish years ago when I first bought cheap ones, I had saved a bit, and got it. It would have been cheaper in long run
 
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