Cold Heat Soldering

thecolourbox

Hi all

Anybody know anything about these, Cold Heat Soldering things? 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/cold-heat-25w-battery-powered-soldering-iron-kit-a09ua

Seems like a soldering pen that heats up and cools down really quickly. Would they work for fx pedal  building or pickups? Easier or harder than normal soldering?

Thanks

Nomad

The word "gimmick" springs to mind, although I could be wrong since I haven't used one. The fact that it comes with tools and stuff suggests to me that the iron itself isn't up to much, and I don't like the idea of having to feed it batteries. Could be handy as a portable thing for when there's no power nearby, but for bench use, I'd get a mains powered one.

The fact that you can stick your finger on the tip just after using it, without getting burnt, is a great feature for those that stick their fingers on otherwise-hot soldering iron tips. So far as I'm aware, and in my experience (and I work in place where soldering occurs regularly), people grabbing soldering irons by the wrong end is an extremely rare event. So rare, that I fail to see what value this has in making that safe, given that it appears to be something of a compromise compared to normal irons.

thecolourbox

The last time I soldered, I was 14...and I did burn my finger a bit but yes, i take the point it does seem to be potentially a bit lame. I believe it's also distributed by JML which doesn't inspire much confidence...

JXG

I've finally learnt that if I drop a soldering iron, DON'T try to catch it! I still stick my finger on the end sometimes to see if it's hot though...

lasermonkey

^ I think we all do that....once! It's counterintuitive not to catch something if you drop it, but I have managed to train myself not to catch hot or sharp things.

If you do have to use your finger to check if a soldering iron is hot, put a dab of spit on it first!

Sporky

Isn't the cold heat an arc-based iron, and thus unsuitable for use with semiconductors?

Danny1969

I wouldn't bother with it for normal soldering. If you want something very portable then I normally use a Gas iron, much cheaper to run than batteries and great for soldering up ladders. For all bench stuff though a normal soldering station is much preferable and controllable 

Sassafras

I got the impression that these are more like miniature stun-guns than proper heated tip soldering irons.

Fatfingers

Danny1969 said:

I wouldn't bother with it for normal soldering. If you want something very portable then I normally use a Gas iron, much cheaper to run than batteries and great for soldering up ladders. For all bench stuff though a normal soldering station is much preferable and controllable 

You should never solder up a ladder - it just isn't strong enough.

strtdv

I got THIS on special offer a while back, cost about £40, and it does a great job.

JXG

^ handy to know, my xytronic soldering station seems to be on its last legs/knackered. It's had 10 years of almost daily use though so can't complain. Been trying to track down replacement parts, but they'd be 40 squid