solder gun

[Douglas Wheelhouse 1]

Hi to all & a merry Christmas,

I have recently purchased a Parkside 180 watt solder gun, & having never used or seen one before don't know how its supposed to operate, I plugged it in & after 6 or 7 seconds the tip began to glow red hot, Is this ok or not?

Douglas J Wheelhouse

[Allan Bowker]

180 watts - wow! you can do some serious soldering with that!
The tip will glow with that much power behind it, keep an eye on your electric meter!

I have an unregulated 100 watt iron that glows red after 15mins, I just switch it off for a few mins in between.
In truth it's overpowered for my modelling needs, the solder just fly's off the tip and doesn't flow when too hot.

In hind-sight I only needed something around 70watts but I was fed up with the 25watt ones I'd had previously.
I need to buy a regulated temperature solder station next time round.

[Douglas Wheelhouse 1]

Hi Alan ,

Thanks for your reply. I think I have done wrong as solder will not tin the tip. We live & learn I suppose.

Douglas

[Erfolg]

Douglas

It could be that you have oxides on the tip. Have you tried cleaning the tip of any rubbish/oxides etc?

The problem then is to tin the tip before it oxides again. I would try using cored solder initially. If the oxides form before the flux protects it. I would let the tip cool, then try cleaning again and protecting with a passive flux, like Frys.

Of course the real issue is the lack of temperature control on the tip.

BEB advocates pulsing the trigger, as a means of controlling tip temperature. This does work, but still requires you to judge how hot the tip is.

The forte of these soldering guns is in soldering conductor wire to plugs. As they can pump a lot of heat, quickly into the joint, making a neat joint. It requires a degree of skill to exploit this characteristic.

For other uses such as electronics, I am tempted to say they are useless. Perhaps it would be better to say for that type of work they are less than ideal.

[steve-richards]

I got a 800 degree gas solder iron from maplins for £25

great for the field

Steve

[Shaunie]

Solder guns make a great deal of power but have low thermal inertia. It's a shame that no-one makes one with some sort of thermostatic control. If it heats that quickly then you will have to learn the knack of pulsing the trigger according to the thermal requirements.

If the tip is plain copper then clean it with wet and dry or a file and re-tin it. Take care not to get it too hot afterwards.

I have used them but find them cumbersome and tricky to use. Nevertheless I have a couple of friends that got on quite well with them.

Shaunie

[crispin church]

i got a solder gun and i use it more for cutting / melting plastic and foam

its great for deglueing a joint but watch CA the fumes are really bad

if you wire brush the hot tip

[Barrie Dav 2]

A decent iron will have a plated tip (it looks shiny from new). Never use anything but a damp sponge or cloth to clean a plated tip. If you use anything abrasive you will destroy the plating and will need to buy a new tip. Plain copper may be cleaned with an abrasive. Why use a plated tip? Because amongst other things they are easier to clean in use by just a wipe on the aforementioned damp material and cleanliness is essential when soldering. Do not overheat the tip.

[flight1]

Hi

question is what do you want to solder 180w is huge and only for the largest of jobs and it will be hart to control the temperature of the job at hand and it will all get to hot too quickly.

I have this from maplin and it does most jobs well http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/50w-solder-station-n78ar.

heres a basic guide for soldering it is easier to give a link but also there is a lot of guides out there

http://www.leadsdirect.co.uk/technical-library/soldering/basic-soldering-guide/

[Erfolg]

I tend to agree with you Barrie, a decent soldering gun/iron will have a tip which does not need cleaning other than wit a non abrasive material.

However as the tip of Douglas's soldering gun will not tin, I am assuming that the tip is not treated or has an oxide film or just gunk. Although I was none specific on cleaning, I did envisage a damp cloth initially whilst warm. If that does not work, then one of the wives pan scouring pads (scotch pads). If that does not work, then you have to move up to something yet more abrasive.

Once cleaned, it will need tinning again, thereafter, care taken not to overheat the solder, and regular cleaning,

I agree that soldering guns for me have limited uses. In my case for the Lipo connectors and the heavier duty silicon covered battery/esc wire. They certainly can pump some heat into a joint quickly.

For all other work, I use a motley collection of old fashioned soldering irons (electric).

I also use lead/tin (Pb/Sn) solder, as the melting point is generally a good +10c lower and it flows better.

[Douglas Wheelhouse 1]

Hi to all

Just to say thank you to all who responded to myposting, I will try to master it. I bought it solely for soldering undercarriage wires. Thanks again

Douglas

[Barrie Dav 2]

Just a point Douglas, there is a cheap little book (£3.99) 'The Art of Soldering' by R. Brewster. Published by Babani Electronics Books - Google it - which covers most of what anyone would like to know about soldering and the necessary materials, irons etc.

[Douglas Wheelhouse 1]

Cheers for that Barrie, will check it out, Have a good one.

Douglas