Soldering irons revisited bubba

[Lawson Cox]

I have been doing a little more investigation into various brands of soldering irons/guns and believe I have settled on a Weller high power gun. I will pick one up later on in the week. Thanks to all those who voiced their opinions.

A word of thanks to Jim Linder (Bubba) for the "freebie" soldering gun he sent to me. I especially like the extra "cooling vent" in the rear Jim. As he advised I shouldn't have any trouble with it overheating. I believe that it will be fine for small stuff.

Also, Jim sent along a bottle of his "special mixture of soldering flux" I guess it is. It says it's good to put some in the distributor or points to get you sparking. Or, you might even put a drop or two on your H.A.M.B. sandwich. I haven't opened it yet, but I feel confident in saying it is probably hot enough to weld the hinges of Hell solid.

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

You've got to have a pretty hot gun to solder the starter brushes onto the field coils. I usually use a heavy soldering iron. Walt

[Fibber Mcgee]

I missed the last thread but if Wellers high powered guns aren't any better than their standard guns I'd stay away from them. I'm sort of an amateur radio restorer and have gone through several Weller guns before I quit using them. I've got a Weller from the 50s that pretty nice but I've had better luck with older irons ,once they're hot they stay hot. I use an old bigger Vulcan most of the time ,it takes five minutes to warm up but after that it works great.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

You might want to wipe that gun off and plug er in. I think it is a 225-240 watt unit which is the best they ever made.....might not need to buy a new one.....

[JSeery]

I've had a lot of trouble with Weller guns, they are very poorly made IMHO.

[Karl Wolf]

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I have sometimes used a carbon core from a d cell battery, hooked up to a 12v battery with small jumper cables to solder... (Sorta like an arc welder)
It heats up in a hurry... Not for small work.
Wear protective (dark) glasses.

Karl

[VeryTangled]

Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

Also, Jim sent along a bottle of his "special mixture of soldering flux" I guess it is. It says it's good to put some in the distributor or points to get you sparking. Or, you might even put a drop or two on your H.A.M.B. sandwich. I haven't opened it yet, but I feel confident in saying it is probably hot enough to weld the hinges of Hell solid.

Picked this soldering flux up in Auburn last month....

[Lawson Cox]

Originally Posted by BUBBAS IGNITION

You might want to wipe that gun off and plug er in. I think it is a 225-240 watt unit which is the best they ever made.....might not need to buy a new one.....

Looks like it is 200/275 Watt. I plugged 'er in and it seems to get hot enough, but haven't tried to solder with it yet. Will do that tomorrow, hopefully.

[rotorwrench]

Weller guns can be problematic but most of the guns made now days aren't any better. I have an older Weller that I have to take apart and clean the connections on every so often to get it to transfer heat to the tip from the induction tube assembly. They generally have a trigger switch that gives high induction current on the first setting and low on the full pull. They heat up incredibly fast on the first pull setting if everything is right with them. For heavy duty work a guy needs a big iron. They used to heat them up with a gasoline fired torch back in the day. I still see some big electric ones now and then on the flea-pay.

[redmodelt]

Re: "They used to heat them up with a gasoline fired torch back in the day." At least of of still does!

[HCO41]

Apparently the Weller guns have gone the way of many quality tools/products of yesteryear. I have a Weller D-550 that I aquired in the mid sixtys and it has never let me down. Contacts at tip juncture should be cleaned every so often as normal maintenance.
Howard

[AlDeBear]

Lawson, In my 20 years servicing electronics I soldered a few things. I learned this;

1)Keep the tip nuts on a Weller gun snug using a regular 3/8" (?) open end wrench (not the skinny thing that comes in Weller solder gun kits) It seems the tip nuts and the solder tip expand and contract at different rates. Over a short time the nuts become too loose to transfer the heat from the gun efficiently. It can be frustrating until you get the hang of checking the tip nuts regularly.
2)Always "tin" the solder gun tip (wet it with solder-it will transfer the heat better)just before soldering.
3) Use ONLY resin core flux solder.
4)Heat what you are soldering (wires/component leads) and let it melt the solder. You'll get better connections.
5) Keep a small wetted sponge handy to clean the soldering gun tip between jobs.
6) Make a good mechanical connection before you solder the pieces.
7) If you find yourself needing/wanting to solder and the tip has broken (they will 'break' at the very end) you can use a piece of similarly sized, single strand, copper wire.
8) The 200 watt temperature on your gun is more than enough for automotive wire soldering with the exception of perhaps battery cable or ground cable connections.

There Lawson you have 20 years of experience and haven't soldered wire one! Hope these little tips save you some frustration and help you get good solder joints.
I was glad to read your surgery was a success and that you are now 'back at it'!
Regards, Larry

[Lawson Cox]

Thank you Larry, and others who have given me tips along this venture. I have soldered in the past, but it has been years ago, and I can certainly use a refresher course in my advanced years. (LOL) I have also watched several videos on the web, and have picked up some useful information through that source as well. A friend and I, well, mostly the friend routed the wires for my turn signals, at my instruction, only to realize that I had misdirected him and I had to re route the wires. I re soldered all of those wires and feel I did an acceptable job on it. Then the turn signal unit went out on me for some reason and I am going to have to do a lot of it over. It truly has been a learning experience for me.