one of my favorite homemade tools.

[MCRIPPPer]

just wanted to show you guys a tool i made a while back. its a "portable" soldering iron. had an old piece of copper from one of those electrolysis copper dissolvers that go in a pool. i turned all the old corroded parts off and made this. it will solder several small wires before needing to be reheated, and it really shines when i need to solder big ole' wires. i was getting so frustrated trying to solder 12awg wire even with a 150w gun, but this thing dumps heat right in and solders it like a champ.



i highly recommend you make one or find one if you solder big wire.

plus you dont have to wait 10 minutes for it to heat up! just blast it with a torch and in 30 seconds you are soldering.

 

[JAndrew]

MCRIPPPer,

I've got a few small solder repairs that I need to do around the house but not enough to justify buying a soldering iron that I may never use again. Can you elaborate on you made this, the materials and how you use it? I'm not quite following but this could be a useful way for me to knock out these pesky loose wire problems. I'd be soldering smaller wires than what you're talking about but I'd imagine this tool could be scaled down.

Thanks for the post and thanks in advance!

-J.Andrew

 

[MCRIPPPer]

you could buy a 10 buck radio shack 25watt for small stuff.

if you want a project you can buy a piece of copper for more than a small electric iron, and have a badass soldering iron for big stuff. if im doing alot of small stuff i just plug in my small iron, because once it warms up it is very easy. you can easily make one of these "remote" irons by simply turning a tapered point on the end of a hunk of copper. i dont think you want to scale it down, because the mass is what makes this thing work. a good size is about 3/4 dia. x 1 1/2 inch at least. drill a hole and press the coper onto a steel shaft (or figure another way to secure it to a shaft). make a handle out of heat resistant material, becuase some of the heat will go down the steel shaft. then put some flux on it and heat it up with a torch and tin the end. go solder.

note: you need to use copper (or if your rich maybe use silver). steel wont conduct the heat fast enough, and wont hold much heat compared to copper. brass probably wont work very good because it doesnt have the same conduction as copper, even tho brass and bronze are largely copper.

 

[petertha]

Ive done a ton of soldering for RC electrics; batteries, components, tabs, wire as thick as 10 AWG. Its really hard to beat a Weller for the price. Link below is for the 80watt bigger tip (I think 3/8 dia?). Actually I use the 40watt little brother with 1/4" tip & it works on everything & including 12 gauge wire with ease. Both of these styles are much better than the old pistols.


http://www.amazon.com/Weller-80-Watt-Soldering-Iron/dp/B00018AR3Q

Ive also made my own insert tips out of plain copper rod or hammerheads for end-to-end cell soldering. I like to clean & coat the new copper surface with special tinning compound found at electronics shops, it makes the surface last much longer as it gets pitted rapaidly with (acid) flux. After many hours of soldering you can simply re-dress the tip & roll it in teh tinning compound again. This I found is much better & longer lasting than just using solder. Its very similar to a new tip from manufacturer.

But I have seen people make 'cordless' irons like yours for tin work & such where ven more heat mass is required & heat it with a torch or hotplate. Good idea.