Cold Heat

[TObject]

You have probably seen the commercials for Coleman Cold Heat battery operated soldering iron. Looks pretty nice on TV, so I decided to buy one and test it out.

The tool works by applying 6 Volts DC from 4 AA batteries directly to the metallic surface being soldered on. There is an on-off switch, and a white illumination led, plus a red status led; but the heart of the tool is the special split tip, made of some kind of ferro-composite material.

The tip heats up the surface you want to weld by shorting up on it.

The idea basically works, indeed, you can heat up a metallic surface pretty well (though not for very long, in my trials a set of fully charged 2000 mAh Ni-MH batteries lasted less than 10 minutes). But don't throw away your corded soldering iron just yet.

As many of you know, one of the pillars of successful welding is to have a clean well groomed soldering tip that sucks up the solder like a sponge, and releases it to a well fluxed surface. Well, the Cold Heat tips do not hold any solder at all, they repel it.

The technique then is to apply solder directly to the welded surfaces, and that is a much more limited technique with results that can vary greatly depending on the kind of the surfaces being worked with.

Besides, all the shortcomings, this is a truly portable wireless soldering iron, and it is amazing that we have this technology now.

[Paradiddle]

Our guitar player purchased one of those things. He tried to fix some wiring on a gig (we all play old tube amps/equipment) and that thing was a POS - essentially it barely worked.

Just a perspective from someone who watched someone try to use one of those things.

[Robert J. Yates]

LOL - I was just farting around with one that I borrowed from my neighbor while working on my trailer last weekend - my exact words were "..what a POS".

[speaceman]

For $20 or $30 more, you can get a nice butane powered sodering iron, with the heat blowing attachment included, that you can use on shrink tubing.

Fully filled, the iron works for an hour.

I'd go that route before I got that coleman, and the butane soldering iron is just as portable, if a little bit bigger.

(I used the butane iron to solder all my brake, speaker and arb harness wiring together and it worked very well on all the splicing I did).

Fry's sells the irons in their electrical section.

Want to ask me how I ended up with the butane iron from Fry's instead of the Coleman iron from Costco, in the end?

[Paradiddle]

I have an $8 sodering iron from Radio Shack. It has never failed to soder anything I needed sodering.

[Croaker]

A perfectly workable butane iron with removable tip (for heat-shrinking) is available at Lowe's for $15.

[Matt Pascoe]

I've been looking for a small butane torch to solder PL-259 coax fittings. My Weller 140 watt just cant get enough heat into it quick enough. Any of you know of a good one?

I did notice quite an assortment at the local crack/liquor store but they all seemed to be for a different purpose

[TObject]

Butane torch sounds like something one would use for copper piping. I don't know if I am stuck in the past, and they use butane for electronics now too...

I use a regular electrical soldering iron. Even a small 30 Watt one will do the connectors no problem, but get a more powerful tool, especially if you want to solder outside.

[TObject]

Originally posted by Matt Pascoe
My Weller 140 watt just cant get enough heat into it quick enough.

This is another one of those soldering irons that deliver current directly to the surface being worked on? Try this trick then:

First lightly coat the surfaces that you are going to solder with rosin flux; then undo the nuts that hold the tip studs together, and then press them directly across the connector. Pull and hold the trigger, and let the connector heat up; when the rosin starts to give out smoke, feed the solder wire and let it flow into the holes.

For better results, you can also slightly widen the holes on the connector with a hacksaw, before you begin.

[speaceman]

I saw someone on that custom hot rod show (can't remember the exact name) that was using a torch to solder the car's electrical wiring together.

He'd heat the wires up under direct flame and then just jam the solder wire against the splice.

It'd flame up, suck a crap load of solder into the splice, he'd blow out the flame and move on.

One quick motion that took about 2 seconds.

It was interesting to see someone doing it that way compared to using a soldering iron.

[William]

LOL.

First when I read this I thought I read Sodomizing.

I was a bit in shock.

[Croaker]

Originally posted by Matt Pascoe
I've been looking for a small butane torch to solder PL-259 coax fittings. My Weller 140 watt just cant get enough heat into it quick enough. Any of you know of a good one?

I did notice quite an assortment at the local crack/liquor store but they all seemed to be for a different purpose

Sorry I missed this, Matt. I haven't tried my $15 Lowe's Special on a PL-259 yet, but I need to make up a couple of 2M J-poles so I'll give it a go this weekend. If it works, I'll get you the name & model #.

[Croaker]

Originally posted by TObject
Butane torch sounds like something one would use for copper piping. I don't know if I am stuck in the past, and they use butane for electronics now too...

They are small -- just a bit bigger than a Bic lighter -- and have a soldering-iron tip on them. Some come with interchangeable tips (e.g., hot knife to cut nylon rope/strap/tube, etc.).