Cordless iron

[Donovan Digital]

Thinking about picking up a cordless solder iron again - mostly for
audio cable work. Anyone have any suggestions? Weller or some other
brand? Gas or battery?

I'd really prefer battery. The smell of gas bothers me, so I hope
there's not really a significant power advantage to gas.

Thanks much in advance for any help

Joe

 

[Winston]

Donovan Digital wrote:

Thinking about picking up a cordless solder iron again - mostly for
audio cable work. Anyone have any suggestions? Weller or some other
brand? Gas or battery?

I'd really prefer battery. The smell of gas bothers me, so I hope
there's not really a significant power advantage to gas.

Thanks much in advance for any help

The first generation battery irons were just toys and did
not have the capacity to solder medium to large joints.
I assume they have improved because they could not have
gotten much worse.

I really like my Weller Portasol PSI-100K.

Beware though!

* It is a very unregulated source, so you will have to
adjust the heat somewhat hotter than you would with
an electric iron.

* Use good quality butane. The 'variety store' stuff
can cause your iron to sputter. 'Master Ultratane'
works very well for me.

* Don't send your iron in for warranty repair.
They will steal it instead of repair and return it.

--Winston

 

On Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:46:20 -0700 (PDT), Donovan Digital
<donovandigital@gmail.com> wrote:

Thinking about picking up a cordless solder iron again - mostly for
audio cable work. Anyone have any suggestions? Weller or some other
brand? Gas or battery?

I'd really prefer battery. The smell of gas bothers me, so I hope
there's not really a significant power advantage to gas.

Thanks much in advance for any help

Joe

I have a 20+ year old Weller battery (two sub-C nicads) iron that has
had the batteries replaced several times. It still sees regular use
for a variety of things.

Tips are still available on Ebay and elsewhere (I bought several last
year). Some of the larger tips will do a good-sized joint (several
#16 wires on a lug). There are also some very small tips (I use one
for soldering SOIC 8 chips to SOIC-DIP adapters).

I did modify the charging stand. There's a resistor in series with
one of the charging leads, sized to provide enough voltage drop to
light a small LED when the iron is charging (if the iron isn't
straight in the stand, it doesn't make good contact for charging).
This also reduced the charging current to a level that makes it safe
to leave the iron on charge continuously.

I also added a dioed in series with the bulb that provides light to
the tip. It reduces the brightness a little, but it also reduces the
current the bulb uses - slightly increasing the number of connections
that can be made before the iron needs charging,
John

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:46:20 -0700 (PDT), Donovan Digital
<donovandigital@gmail.com> wrote:

Thinking about picking up a cordless solder iron again - mostly for
audio cable work. Anyone have any suggestions? Weller or some other
brand? Gas or battery?

I'd really prefer battery. The smell of gas bothers me, so I hope
there's not really a significant power advantage to gas.

Don't throw away your corded iron quite yet.

I have several Ungar, Weller, and no-name battery operated soldering
contrivances. They all have some common characteristics.
1. Their accompanying crude battery chargers kill batteries. They
also never seem to be charged when I need to use one.
2. The tips are far too small to solder anything larger than an SMT
component.
3. The slightest breeze, even indoors, will chill the tip
dramatically.

The main reason I was interested in these is that at one time, I was
doing some soldering on top of a radio tower. After several failed
experiments with cordless, I just dragged a 100ft extension cord up
the tower and used a normal Weller soldering station. Butane burners
were not an option because of the presence of emergency generator
storage tanks, but might have worked if they were allowed.

One experiment that worked, but was impractical, was to use a 12V gel
cell to run a small (100w) 12V to 117v inverter. That was a bit
clumsy with all the cables, but provided the most heat for connector
soldering up the tower.

Avoid the temptation to run a Weller soldering iron handles on DC.
They normally run on 24v AC. Logic would suggest that DC should work.
Well, it does, but it also tends to weld the thermostat contacts
together after a few hours. They can be unstuck and cleaned, but that
gets old quickly.

I also have a really old (1960's) 12V DC Weller soldering iron, that I
horde for special occasions.

Since I haven't played with cordless irons for many years, I can't
really offer a specific recommendation.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Winston wrote:

Donovan Digital wrote:
Thinking about picking up a cordless solder iron again - mostly for
audio cable work. Anyone have any suggestions? Weller or some other
brand? Gas or battery?

I'd really prefer battery. The smell of gas bothers me, so I hope
there's not really a significant power advantage to gas.

Thanks much in advance for any help

The first generation battery irons were just toys and did
not have the capacity to solder medium to large joints.

I used a first generation Wahl cordless iron daily on my bench, for
over a decade. I used a larger iron when needed, but over 90% of the
joints were fine with the cordless iron. Their 'TV Tuner extension tip'
was quite handy in places that a regular iron would destroy other
components or a wiring harness.

Along with the Wahl I had a Weller SP23, a Weller SP175, and for
field use I carried a Weller 8200 soldering gun. If none of them were
heavy enough, I pulled out a propane fired iron with a 3/4" wide chisel
tip. Since most of my repairs were on PC boards, the cordless was my
weapon of choice.

I assume they have improved because they could not have
gotten much worse.

I really like my Weller Portasol PSI-100K.

Beware though!

* It is a very unregulated source, so you will have to
adjust the heat somewhat hotter than you would with
an electric iron.

* Use good quality butane. The 'variety store' stuff
can cause your iron to sputter. 'Master Ultratane'
works very well for me.

* Don't send your iron in for warranty repair.
They will steal it instead of repair and return it.

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

--Winston

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

 

[Smitty Two]

In article <cdWdnfdpy-Np18nTnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

Because it's cheaper to give the customer a brand new unit than fix the
old one.

 

[Winston]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Winston wrote:

(...)

* Don't send your iron in for warranty repair.
They will steal it instead of repair and return it.


Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

I learned to use good quality butane because the
'variety store' stuff caused my iron to sputter.
The warranty repair was for that sputtering, before
I knew the cause of the problem. I feed my second
iron the best quality butane and it has never let
me down.

The Weller sales rep knew that all he had to do
was flush out the bad butane and refill with good
butane and he had himself a brand new iron for free.

He had me send it to an individual. I figured that
it was an exotic problem that only that one guy could
repair for me. Lesson learned.

--Winston <-- The folks at Metcal are honest
and honorable though.

 

[Winston]

Smitty Two wrote:

In article<cdWdnfdpy-Np18nTnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
"Michael A. Terrell"<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

Because it's cheaper to steal a brand new unit from the customer
than to honor the warranty.

I Fixed That For You.

--Winston

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Smitty Two wrote:

In article <cdWdnfdpy-Np18nTnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

Because it's cheaper to give the customer a brand new unit than fix the
old one.

That's not stealing. If it was sent in for repair, they aren't
giving you anything, either.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

 

[Smitty Two]

In article <j31sjh11q61@news3.newsguy.com>,
Winston <Winston@BigBrother.net> wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:
In article<cdWdnfdpy-Np18nTnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
"Michael A. Terrell"<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

Because it's cheaper to steal a brand new unit from the customer
than to honor the warranty.

I Fixed That For You.

--Winston

Thanks. I was merely superimposing my experience with Edsyn. They offer
a 1 yr. warranty. If you return the iron for repair within 1 yr, they
send a brand new unit, free.

After 1 yr, they offer a lifetime fixed-price repair that is about 1/2
the new cost. Send in a unit for fixed-price repair, you get a brand new
unit in return. They call it a repair, but it ain't, obviously. It's
just a way to sell a new unit and circumvent the dealer (and the
dealer's markup.)

I see it as a win-win, actually. When I got sick to f-ing death of
fixing the Wellers, and paying for all those replacement parts, I
switched over to Edsyn. The reliability / longevity is about 10x, and
when they do finally break, I get new units for the price of a couple of
replacement parts.

 

[Winston]

Smitty Two wrote:

In article<j31sjh11q61@news3.newsguy.com>,
Winston<Winston@BigBrother.net> wrote:

Smitty Two mostly wrote:

(...)

Because it's cheaper to steal a brand new unit from the customer
than to honor the warranty.

I Fixed That For You.

--Winston

Thanks. I was merely superimposing my experience with Edsyn. They offer
a 1 yr. warranty. If you return the iron for repair within 1 yr, they
send a brand new unit, free.

After 1 yr, they offer a lifetime fixed-price repair that is about 1/2
the new cost. Send in a unit for fixed-price repair, you get a brand new
unit in return. They call it a repair, but it ain't, obviously. It's
just a way to sell a new unit and circumvent the dealer (and the
dealer's markup.)

I see it as a win-win, actually. When I got sick to f-ing death of
fixing the Wellers, and paying for all those replacement parts, I
switched over to Edsyn. The reliability / longevity is about 10x, and
when they do finally break, I get new units for the price of a couple of
replacement parts.

Ironically I never thought to try an Edsyn soldering
tool, though I've bought and happily used lots of their
'Soldapullit' products.

I'm now thrilled with the performance of my Metcal iron!

--Winston

 

[Winston]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:

In article<cdWdnfdpy-Np18nTnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
"Michael A. Terrell"<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

Because it's cheaper to give the customer a brand new unit than fix the
old one.


That's not stealing. If it was sent in for repair, they aren't
giving you anything, either.

Let's say you give me an object for me to look at, temporarily.
I put it in my pocket and walk away.
You never see me or your object again for as long as you live.

How is that not stealing?

--Winston

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Winston wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Smitty Two wrote:

In article<cdWdnfdpy-Np18nTnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
"Michael A. Terrell"<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Why would anyone in their right mind want to steal a defective
soldering iron?

Because it's cheaper to give the customer a brand new unit than fix the
old one.


That's not stealing. If it was sent in for repair, they aren't
giving you anything, either.

Let's say you give me an object for me to look at, temporarily.
I put it in my pocket and walk away.

What makes you think I'd let you walk away with it?

You never see me or your object again for as long as you live.

How is that not stealing?

How do you know that it wasn't lost in the mail? How long would a
company stay in business if they operate the way you claim?


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

 

[Winston]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Winston wrote:

(...)

Let's say you give me an object for me to look at, temporarily.
I put it in my pocket and walk away.


What makes you think I'd let you walk away with it?

I promised to make it perform to spec.
See, it used to work properly, but then it
malfunctioned. I told you I would fix it
for free and send it back. It's all in
the warranty:

"Cooper Hand Tools will repair or replace products found
to be defective not caused by a part, component
or accessory manufactured by another company, during the
warranty period."

http://www.cooperhandtools.com/weller/PDFs/Weller%20Repair%20Center%20Pricing%20Policy%201-2010.pdf

They didn't repair it or replace it. They stole it.

You never see me or your object again for as long as you live.

How is that not stealing?


How do you know that it wasn't lost in the mail?

When he wouldn't return my calls, I called that a clue.

How long would a company stay in business if they operate the
way you claim?

66 years and counting.

--Winston

 

[Gareth Magennis]

"Winston" <Winston@BigBrother.net> wrote in message
news:j34ca90kf0@news3.newsguy.com...

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Winston wrote:

(...)

Let's say you give me an object for me to look at, temporarily.
I put it in my pocket and walk away.


What makes you think I'd let you walk away with it?

I promised to make it perform to spec.
See, it used to work properly, but then it
malfunctioned. I told you I would fix it
for free and send it back. It's all in
the warranty:

"Cooper Hand Tools will repair or replace products found
to be defective not caused by a part, component
or accessory manufactured by another company, during the
warranty period."

http://www.cooperhandtools.com/weller/PDFs/Weller%20Repair%20Center%20Pricing%20Policy%201-2010.pdf

They didn't repair it or replace it. They stole it.

You never see me or your object again for as long as you live.

How is that not stealing?


How do you know that it wasn't lost in the mail?

When he wouldn't return my calls, I called that a clue.

How long would a company stay in business if they operate the
way you claim?

66 years and counting.

--Winston

Winston, I don't think I would return your calls either.



Gareth.

 

[Winston]

Gareth Magennis wrote:

(...)

Winston, I don't think I would return your calls either.

Your postings show you to be a courteous and thoughtful
fellow and you managed to get 'labeled' by Allison, (so
you don't allow yourself to be bullied, either).

Why wouldn't you return one of my calls?

--Winston

 

[William Sommerwerck]

The early Wellers (I still have mine, though I haven't used it in some time,
and don't know what the condition of the battery is) were perfectly okay for
light soldering. That was precisely the point -- in exchange for low output,
you got a cordless iron that couldn't electrically damage the components.
Which is why they called it "IsoTip".

If you expect to medium or heavier soldering away from a power line, the
propane -- I mean, butane (sorry, Hank) -- iron makes sense. For light
work -- especially small components -- the rechargeable iron makes sense.