software

i saw this cold heat solder iron. interesting concept.any of you forumites used it before? are they good? plan to use it for electronics work on pedals and stuff.

from : localhost/www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages...ering_set.html

my friend brought one to the EL(ectronics) lab before, I wasn't impressed. We're pretty sure it was broken because the indicator lights showed the opposite of what the manual showed it should have, and the tip chipped off if you pressed too hard. Then again, they've got some sweet Weller stations in the lab, so maybe I'm judging too hard because of those.

i would say quot;nayquot; because when you do a quot;cold solder jointquot; it tends to harden to hard and become brittle, but wheather or not this iron works on the same pricipals i dont know, but check that out before you decide to buy it.

Nay....I do alot of soldering and I didn't like it. Let's say you wanted to splice 2 wires together end to end,you can't solder the wires together with the wires floating because you have to push down on the cold heat iron's tip in order for it to work...In other words,I found I couldn't do any free hand or floating type solder jobs with it...I like using the Radio Shack 20 and 30 watt soldering irons and I replace the tips often.

Don't waste your $20 on it!

thanks rocket,prettruci and John !!

its a good thing i ask u guys before buying. yeah i can imagine it sucks if you have to pressed it to get it on. and doing the shrink tube thing wont work too i imagine.

guess the good ol 30 watter does the job the best.

It works exactly like they claim - gets quot;hotquot; instantly and cools nearly as quickly. But as the others said, there are very few practical instances to use it. And the tip broke on the one I had, too.


Originally Posted by JacksonMIAIt works exactly like they claim - gets quot;hotquot; instantly and cools nearly as quickly. But as the others said, there are very few practical instances to use it. And the tip broke on the one I had, too.

does it solder well? i also noticed it has a quot;slit headquot; tip. which can be inconvenient right?

ok i dun think i'll be buying it.


Originally Posted by JacksonMIAIt works exactly like they claim - gets quot;hotquot; instantly and cools nearly as quickly. But as the others said, there are very few practical instances to use it. And the tip broke on the one I had, too.

yeah, with what was said there it backs up my thoughts, a solderjoint cooling to quickly will become brittle and unreliable, so my advice would be STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM IT! lol,good luck finding a good one..


Originally Posted by petruccidimeyeah, with what was said there it backs up my thoughts, a solderjoint cooling to quickly will become brittle and unreliable, so my advice would be STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM IT! lol,good luck finding a good one..

OK! i wont waste money on it.

lol, good good.

Yeah it sucks. I got one and hated it too. Good idea, not practical in useage though.


Originally Posted by petruccidimei would say quot;nayquot; because when you do a quot;cold solder jointquot; it tends to harden to hard and become brittle, but wheather or not this iron works on the same pricipals i dont know, but check that out before you decide to buy it.

A quot;cold solder jointquot; is probably not what you're thinking it is.

A quot;cold solder jointquot; is when the pieces are connected by the solder, but the solder has not bound to one or both of the pieces being connected. Usually it's caused by only melting the solder with the solder pencil onto the pieces instead of heating up the pieces and melting the solder from the heat of the pieces instead of the tip of the soldering pencil.

The cold heat soldering iron is probably not designed to create quot;cold solder jointsquot; otherwise it would be completely worthless.


Originally Posted by JacksonMIAIt works exactly like they claim - gets quot;hotquot; instantly and cools nearly as quickly. But as the others said, there are very few practical instances to use it. And the tip broke on the one I had, too.

haha mine came with a broken tip. the guy at radio shack gave me a new one. i thought the slot made it easier to put wires in and solder, but its not very practical. if they made it so that you can turn a switch on/off to make it instantly hot/cool, it would be great. i thought it was good, but then i realized how much time i would have saved using a traditional iron. not worth it.ill keep just cuz it looks so cool

It might be OK for a quick emergency fix at a gig but outside of that, no way. I'll stick with my Weller station.

thanks boys! yet another money saying decision has been made based on forumite wisdom.

I own one of these but have yet to try it... I bought it at least 5 months ago and never opened it... I do have 4 or 5 soldering irons downstairs... not bad units but i do want a professional iron with a heat controll... I find that the 25-35 watt irons work well in most cases but there is the odd time i wish i could get a bit more heat when i have a lumb of solder i don't want on the back of a pot....

WhoFan


Originally Posted by WhoFanI own one of these but have yet to try it... I bought it at least 5 months ago and never opened it... I do have 4 or 5 soldering irons downstairs... not bad units but i do want a professional iron with a heat controll... I find that the 25-35 watt irons work well in most cases but there is the odd time i wish i could get a bit more heat when i have a lumb of solder i don't want on the back of a pot....

WhoFan

My wife got me a nice Weller station that has the temp control, goes from 5-40 watts. Perfect for soldering anything from circuit board level to the back of pots. It cost like $50.00 or so. She left the price tag on the box, that's how I know what it costs.

I got one from Radio Shack and it sucked. Took it back. Just give me a good 25 watt Weller and a stand for it and I'm a happy soldier.

...and the horse says...NAY
-Mike

looks like a big NAY !! not even 1 forumite said yes.

thanks again boys!