On May 22, 11:23, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
> On Thu, 22 May 2003, Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> > Was it here that I was reading about turning a RadioShack
Desoldering
> > Iron into an SMT hot air tool? The basic gist is that you remove
the
> > rubber bulb, plug in an aquarium pump on a long-enough air hose,
and
> > pack some (stainless) steel wool inside the de-soldering nozzle.
The
> > pump provides continuous air over the steel wool which facilitates
> > heat transfer to get the air temp up to something useful. I have
> > used $800 commercial versions of this at work with great effect.
>
> Sounds cool. I assume at some point you need to change out the steel
> wool?
Probably not for a long time, if at all. Commercial steel wool is
oil-coated to prevent it rusting. Philip described his as going black,
which I expect will be the result of the oil carbonising in the hot air
stream. The result will be a tough coating of carbon that will prevent
oxidation. A similar idea is sometimes used for steel tools -- heat
until it develops a blue oxide layer then plunge into oil. The
resulting blue colour is fairly pretty, and rust-resistant.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Fri May 23 2003 - 03:01:00 BST