Forums | MacLife

thanks.  Just out of curiosity.  have you used this type of device??

oh and beside name,  what would the difference be between a solderin and craft iron and a soldering iron ..

does the craft part intamate that this would not be as good for real soldering work or ???  is this just a name?

15W, tops.

,xtG
.tsooJ

Way too much.

,xtG
.tsooJ

Weller..... nuff said.

-mark

I was going to say, make sure you don't get anything too powerful.  I know the soldering gun I use for wiring and such would NOT be a good choice for computer work. 

As for the Cold Heat, one of my friends has it.  He doesn't really have an opinion one way or another.  He just said it is weird to get used to.  I haven't used it yet, but would like to give it a try.

The cold heat irons are crap, on the rare case they do work the tips are very fragile and break often.  Avoid them.  As a matter of fact stay away from the stuff radio shack sells there are products out there just as cheap that have tips that don't pit or start to dissolve. 

Ideally you would want a variable temperature iron.  Having the ability to control the wattage allows you to put more power into the iron when you need it.  The parts you are soldering act like heatsinks, the more metal on the part the more power you need to put into your iron.  Surface mount parts will likely only need 15 or less watts, through hole parts 20 or more... often when I mount RF shielding on PC boards (that I don't wave solder) I often use an iron in the 50-100 Watt Range.   Another problem is solder, lead free solder requires more heat (and more wattage) to flow properly.  The quickest way to damage a PCB is to leave a hot, yet too cool iron on a pad for long periods of time hoping the solder will eventually melt.

I normally use a expensive solder station for most of my work but when I do on-site work I use a  Xytronic Model #258 it's cheap to the point of being disposable (under $20) and does most simple and semi-complex repairs quite easily.   It isn't perfect but for what I pay for it I love that iron.

Best of Luck.

Last edited by RatFink (2007-10-04 10:36 pm)

I have one.  Got it for Christmas two years ago.  Never used it.  I just use a real soldering iron when I need one.  I guess I would use if I was trying to solder 2 leads together on a roof or something.  But I would never use in on a circuit board or anything with an ic on it.  The tip looks like it is made out of carbon that is split into two sides and it looks like it make a little arc when the two tips touch something conductive.