"Cold heat" soldering?

From: Tom Jennings <tomj_at_wps.com>
Date: Wed Jan 12 16:12:54 2005

For anything approximating real work, you simply need a temp.
regulated soldering station. There's inexpensive ones. The tip
doesn't get hotter-and-hotter, it regulates reasonably well.

They usually come with stands and a place for a sponge.

My iron-plated soldering iron tips last years (>> 5 years).
Usually until I nick them or, of course, drop them tip first,
which they seem to like what with the cord to orient them that way
on their downward course.

I have of course reflexively grabbed for it and caught the hot
barrel. Not for some time. Brown and white smelly cracked and
painful skin is pretty good mammilian feedback!

You want 50 watts or more. DOn't forget, there's temperature and
there's heat ... nothing more annoying than a 750 degree tip that
gets cold when you touch the work.

It is difficult to do even half-assed quality work with those
crap-ass wood-burner things with the screw-in heating elements.
The tips suck, always pitted, temperatire all over the place.
Jameco sells a tolerable station for under US$50 new.

Having a shitty tool says you don't care. You don't need a lot of
expensive tools, good dykes, needle-nose, soldering station, good
solder, greenie screwdriver, etc and you can get one at a time
even if you're relatively poor.
Received on Wed Jan 12 2005 - 16:12:54 GMT