Gas soldering iron

[stownsend]

thanks for the responses, my budget is a max of £20 and mainly will use it for rope cutting. I have seen a portasol pro 50, any views - may even increase the budget to get a set of tips ?

cheers

stu

 

[davidpbo]

thanks for the responses, my budget is a max of £20 and mainly will use it for rope cutting. I have seen a portasol pro 50, any views - may even increase the budget to get a set of tips ?

cheers

stu

Does it come with a cutting tip?

If you want it primarily for rope cutting I think you may be disappointed but that is not based on experience of this particular iron.

 

[nigelmercier]

thanks for the responses, my budget is a max of £20 and mainly will use it for rope cutting. I have seen a portasol pro 50, any views - may even increase the budget to get a set of tips ?

Portasol are more expensive than Iroda, I've been very happy with the latter:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00687TKJQ/dolcetto-21

Get the kit, as buying tips later is expensive.

 

[GrahamM376]

thanks for the responses, my budget is a max of £20 and mainly will use it for rope cutting. I have seen a portasol pro 50, any views - may even increase the budget to get a set of tips ?.

I rarely use the Portasol for rope cutting, I just tape the rope and cut with sharp knife and then seal the end with a blow torch similar to of these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Gas-...werTools_SM&hash=item43b8fe5c42#ht_7441wt_958 - quicker and easier. Blow torch also has many other uses, including soldering large items.

 

[savageseadog]

One of the biggest bugbears with gas irons is that most of them run too hot and burn the tip out. Anything that is temperature controlled is what you need

 

[greenalien]

Another +1 for the Portasol, although mine is getting a bit long in the tooth now, it's very useful and I wouldn't be without it - however, I think that when it comes to a replacement, the Iroda looks like a better bet - one downside of the Portasol is the flint-spark ignition, which is a bit hit-and-miss - in fact, it's so much miss these days that I usually just use a lighter to fire the thing up! Great for soldering and shrinking heatshrink tubing, not so good for cutting ropes - I use GrahaM376's method for that, but use a barbecue lighter to seal the cut ends.

 

[huldah]

I have recently had to cut a lot of polypropaline rope using a Portasol Technic. I found the radiant heat from the flameless combustion chamber excellent for finishing the rope ends.

 

[maby]

I have recently had to cut a lot of polypropaline rope using a Portasol Technic. I found the radiant heat from the flameless combustion chamber excellent for finishing the rope ends.

If you have the hot knife fitting, you should not need to do much finishing of ends, surely? The hot knife on my Iroda leaves the end decently sealed as part of the cutting process.

 

[lw395]

For cutting rope, an old knife with a wooden handle, heated on the stove is available for about 10p.
For soldering I prefer to use a temperature controlled iron, the Weller 12V ones are OK.

 

[richardsnowstar]

How about this one from Maplins at a discount.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/solder-pro-70-gas-soldering-iron-34514

But you will have to buy a rope cutting tip. It still mayu be cheaper than a kit at this price.

 

[cliff]

Morning
Any views on the gas soldering iron / rope cutter. I don't have any mains so was looking at one for cutting ropes and any soldering work ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverlin...Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item43ba91f8dd
Cheers
Stu

Here is one at £9.95 as against your linked one at £12.36
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Butane-Ga...d=100005&prg=8342&rk=4&rkt=5&sd=290892937437&

 

[nigelmercier]

Here is one at £9.95 as against your linked one at £12.36

It will still be ****e though.

 

[davidpbo]

Here is one at £9.95 as against your linked one at £12.36
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Butane-Ga...d=100005&prg=8342&rk=4&rkt=5&sd=290892937437&

Silverline are at the bottom of the of my list of preferred tool manufacturers/suppliers and I am not adverse to buying budget tools if appropriate.

 

[Sailingsaves]

I have both of the ones Pete has shown.

The fisrt one can be (or at least that is where I bought mine) purchased from Rapid Online for less than the ebay price. You must use solder with lead in or the tip will soon erode away _ guess how I know.

Just checked and can no longer see that model for sale. Shame. I am sure I only paid about £12 for it and it has done a sterling job for over 2 years.
http://www.rapidonline.com/SearchResults.aspx?kw=gas+solder+iron&srb=0&dir=0&pg=1

Gas soldering irons in general are great. However, that one is very much at the budget end of the scale. I used to have a similar one years ago and I don't remember liking it as much as I liked my first Iroda one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRODA-PRO-50-SOLDERPRO-50-GAS-SOLDERING-IRON-/141030590654 (Solderpro 50)

I completely rewired our last boat with this one, and quite a lot of work on the new boat.

However, I have since splashed out on the big daddy version, in preparation for much more rewiring work:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRODA-PRO...Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item1e7d02828c (Solderpro 120)

This really does feel like an excellent tool.

Pete

 

[rob2]

Can't remember the brand of my gas thingy (around £25), but for occasional use it's good. Worth buying the kit with all the bits, especially at the low budget end of the market or you'll never find bits to fit! The rope cutter does a very good job and has done my mooring lines (18mm) though you have to cut to the centre and then rotate the blade to cope with the diameter - rather like a rotary cutter on copper pipe.

Rob.