Cordless soldering iron

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ffiill

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For many years I have made use of my granddads big tin smiths heat with a blow lamp soldering irons.I love their cordless flexible operation
My current need was fof a small low power one for electronics / small components.
I looked at the Antex wired ones at about £17 on e bay but finally opted for a battery operated one and bought a silverline branded one on e bay for £5.50 deliverd.
A beautiful balanced little tool just right for electronics etc.
The same item maplin branded £15 or so Weller branded £20.
Well worth a look
 
nigelmercier said:
I had a 12V soldering iron on board, totally useless. Now I use a mains powered soldering station, via the inverter if necessary.
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This is for small electronics where minimal focused heat is required
On board I carry a beautiful small heat on the stove copper iron- great for wires,spade terminals etc
The biggest tin smiths one I posess will quite happily solder terminals onto battery cables and the like.
 
nigelmercier said:
I had a 12V soldering iron on board, totally useless. Now I use a mains powered soldering station, via the inverter if necessary.
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It helps with the 12 volt ones to run the engine to boost the volts.

As you know, but others may not, power is proportional to V² so boosts it a bit more than one might at first assume
 
12V thermostatic Weller is OK, but they ae not cheap.
I must admit I tend to avoid the 'dolphin friendly' lead free solder and use low melt stuff, to work neatly wuth the lead free you need a very hot iron and the tips tend to have short lives before they oxidise.
The 'solder gun' things are sometimes Ok, because the tips are not hot for long, they tend not to burn, even with lead free sodler.
Good flux is the other key to good soldering, a 'flux pen' is worth having IMHO.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electropl...287?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item462acd6fc7
The above is cheap enough, RS will charge more...
 
Big fan of Iroda gas irons here. Started out with one of the little manual-ignition hobby ones, now have a full-size self-igniting "Pro" one that looks like a light-sabre :). I happily use it over a mains iron even when on shore power.

Pete
 
lw395 said:
I must admit I tend to avoid the 'dolphin friendly' lead free solder and use low melt stuff, to work neatly wuth the lead free you need a very hot iron and the tips tend to have short lives before they oxidise.
The 'solder gun' things are sometimes Ok, because the tips are not hot for long, they tend not to burn, even with lead free sodler.
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Lead free solder is horrible stuff. I used to do a lot of soldering with children, and I always used proper 60/40 lead-tin because better joints are made faster and there are fewer burns. The unleaded stuff is susceptible to vibration, which is one of the reasons it is not allowed in avionics. It also dissolves some soldering iron tips. I have (my estimated remaining life) x (my annual consumption of 60/40) in stock, just in case it gets banned.

I have a cheap soldering gun which is OK, but not a patch on the 200W Weller beast I sometime borrow from my father. The tip's a bit big for delicate work, but it heats up so fast that it's really good for surprisingly small scale stuff (if you can get it in) because the joint is made before the component starts feeling warm.
 
I never had much luck in the past with battery soldering irons, short battery life and long recharge time.

the small gas ones are much better. Much more powerful, and instant refill from a gas canister.

Re lead free solder, work of the devil. I have enough 60/40 to last me out so I won't have to bother with lead free.
 
prv said:
Big fan of Iroda gas irons here. Started out with one of the little manual-ignition hobby ones, now have a full-size self-igniting "Pro" one that looks like a light-sabre :). I happily use it over a mains iron even when on shore power.

Pete
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Gas soldering iron on the boat. Always an Iroda. Not that I have much need for a soldering iron on the boat, but it's always there, and it always works when needed. The big advantages of the Iroda are the transparent liquid gas cylinder, and the good range of bits that came with the kit..
 
jerrytug said:
So is the formula, "watts equals volts multiplied by amps" actually wrong? There was no mention of this in my recent ham radio exam. Odd.
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No, it is perfectly correct. Using Ohm's Law, you can express current as Volts/Resistance (I=V/R), so Watts = Volts x Volts/Resistance so, if the resistance is constant, power (watts) is proportional to voltage squared. Similarly you can express voltage as current x resistance (V=IR), so power = current x resistance x current, i.e. proportional to current squared. O level Physics when I did it, 50+ years ago.
 
alan_d said:
No, it is perfectly correct. Using Ohm's Law, you can express current as Volts/Resistance (I=V/R), so Watts = Volts x Volts/Resistance so, if the resistance is constant, power (watts) is proportional to voltage squared. Similarly you can express voltage as current x resistance (V=IR), so power = current x resistance x current, i.e. proportional to current squared. O level Physics when I did it, 50+ years ago.
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Maths can always prove the point.

O Level Physics 50+ years ago!!!! Or have you been reading http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1781210#post1781210 (from yesterday) where the argument goes around and around.
 
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