soldering tool

Darthness · Post by **Darthness** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 8:39 pm

I'm in the market for a new soldernig tool... whats a decent one? i'm pretty noivice when it coems to soldering. $30 sounds like a nice price to me :P we have an old old craftsman from like the 70's but it doesn't always heat up right. I bought a peice of shit ColdHeat soldering thing but i am taking it back ASAP.. .thats a huge peice of shit.i could of solderd beter by breathing on the shit.

so yeah... any suggestions? i also lost a LED tonight, RIP.

smoker · Post by **smoker** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:10 pm

weller.....just make sure you can replace the tips

JeremyC · Post by **JeremyC** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:24 pm

Yeah weller makes some good pistol grips, and pen soldering guns. If you want to go cheap thats what I would do. You will never go wrong with a good weller. I would also stay away from butane powered unless you plan on spending a little more money. I used to have a 20 buck radio shack model, and I hated it. Now I use a Blue Point (sold by snapon) and I love it. It takes about 45 seconds to get hot after ignition, and I can even take off the tip, and use the torch to attatch ends to 1/0 guage.

Post by **GlassWolf** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:46 pm

I use a digital variable temp weller station myself, but for $30, go to radio shack and get a 15/30 watt switchable soldering pen and some rosin-core soler.

joeyc · Post by **joeyc** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:11 pm

well you know, i bought a butane torch at harbor freight two weeks ago. it has an attachment to put a soldering tip on it, with 4 different tips. it works great!! AND...It was only 4.99!!! I love harbor freight. But I also have a corded pistol I got at radio shack i think its 100/230. It works well also.. but the butane is so much easier. Oh, I tried the cold heat, took me a while to get used to it, but it does work great in certain applications with a fresh set of batteries. But then again I fried it last week cause the tip was not firmly in place

_gonz_ · Post by **_gonz_** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 2:09 am

I have the Weller solder station, it's orange, and can be seen at PartsExpress for about $50. Variable heat is a great feature. I picked mine up from Sears, for the same price, some years ago. Been working great and its very capable/reliable.

I believe in saving money... but, Radio Shack doesn't have anything on this level. I went for many years w/ the $3 irons... but now, after using something halfway decent, I see how much better my solder jobs can be with the right tool.

I also hear from a good source that the Cold Heat soldering iron actually works quite good. That interests me since its battery operated (convienient).

As for butane, hard to control temps I'd imagine? Fine for cables, but circuit boards? Also, since I'm filling my cigar lighters all the time, I'd imagine they burn up fuel pretty quick? A good triple or quadruple refined fuel, that won't clog the jets of a torch, is expensive... like $7.00 per can locally.

Of course, when I do 4ga cable or up.... I just whip out the propane torch. You really can't beat those!

Darthness · Post by **Darthness** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 5:44 am

i've heard a lot of bad reviews from people on other forums on the cold heat... it gets hot andmelts the solder pretty fast, but i had a hell of a time trying to get a useful solder with it. i could atleast get a decent solder goign with the my actual gun, but that works kinda spontanieusly(sp?)

ridr4lif · Post by **ridr4lif** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:14 am

Weller

Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:17 am

I have one of those cold heat things too, and it's a pain in the butt to get it to work. You have to get just the right contact on the tip, for it to work. Which is very hard, especially on electronics. And whatever you do, don't try and push the tip, it will just break.

For all the time and trouble trying to get it to work, it's faster to just use a solder pencil.

MrSo0h0o · Post by **MrSo0h0o** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:56 am

yea i have the coldheat also.. parents got it for me for xmas.. i used it 3 times and the tip broke :-( i liked the fact it was so portable too.. do you know if there is a way to get a replacement tip? and what is that solder pencil you speak of chris? is that wireless??