Cold Soldering Iron

[tansis]

Just in time for christmas,
the humble soldering iron has been re invented..


https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?t...=/ap/20041125/ap_on_hi_te/tech_test_cold_heat

www.coldheat.com

 

[checkmate]

Looks cool!

 

[panic mode]

i don't know... i've seen commercials but did anyone really try it?
i mean someone other than people surrounded with pets and kids
while working on arts and krafts...

 

[JimB]

I have no direct experience of this tool, but from what I have read on other forums, it is a waste of money.

From the description I would not bother with it myself.

JimB

 

[pike]

seeing that it runs an electrical current through the solder, if you were to accidently bridge 2 pcb tracks you may instantly kill the circuit your putting together because of the amount of current induced in the tracks.!!!

my verdict: clever and simple, but impractical!!

 

[Mr. D]

Several of my electronics students bought them in hopes that it was the "wave of the future".
It is not.

It is supposed to work very much on the same principle as an arc welder, and it does, but that's not a good thing for soldering.

While it does work (I guess), I wouldn't go rush out and buy one.
Why?

The tip is too large for small work.
The power is not adequate for large work.
The tip gets flux residue on it and then can't make the electrical connection needed in order for the thing to work.
The tip is too fragile.
The tip is too flat for rework.
The tip stays hot for a good while after use (just like science suggests)
blah blah blah etc. etc.

Just thought I'd pitch in a word since I'd messed around with one.


The cheapest conventional iron works much better and will last MUCH longer.

Mr. D

 

[Optikon]

Several of my electronics students bought them in hopes that it was the "wave of the future".
It is not.

It is supposed to work very much on the same principle as an arc welder, and it does, but that's not a good thing for soldering.

While it does work (I guess), I wouldn't go rush out and buy one.
Why?

The tip is too large for small work.
The power is not adequate for large work.
The tip gets flux residue on it and then can't make the electrical connection needed in order for the thing to work.
The tip is too fragile.
The tip is too flat for rework.
The tip stays hot for a good while after use (just like science suggests)
blah blah blah etc. etc.

Just thought I'd pitch in a word since I'd messed around with one.


The cheapest conventional iron works much better and will last MUCH longer.

Mr. D

Very good! Thanks for sharing all that...I was thinking along the same lines when I saw it.. Sometimes I think people are attracted to items like this just because it is new, different, looks cool etc... but in the end, if its not good, it'll never get used.

 

[Noggin]

I was attracted to this item, not because its new, but because if it were as good as it seemed it'd be almost Godly But someone at work bought it basically said it was an ESD gun and could fry anything sensitive that was on the circuit and should only be used on a bare PCB.

 

[evandude]

it's the kind of thing that could possibly be very useful if it were designed right, and more importantly designed to be a QUALITY tool, not something you'd buy for $19.95 + S/H from a television infomercial, to be used by the average american arts & crafts aficionado and wannabe home handyman.

 

[nithy]

i have not heared of such solders but i guess whether it works on principle of ordinary solder

 

[tweetyhack]

My landlady bought one. I used it. Not that great of a tool. A little gap and when bridged with metallic material, produces heat. It also sparks which would be harmful for sensitive electronic components. It's like putting current through a wire. 0 resistance = high current = high heat.

 

[zevon8]

It's a new twist on the decades old method of resistance soldering. As stated above, heat is produced by passing current through the material to be soldered, the work piece heats up due to its resistance.

Resistance soldering has its uses, and can be an effective method, but in my experience it is only really useful for soldering things like terminal strips or pieces of metal that would require a large capacity iron. Items where the thermal inertia of the piece is such that heat would need to be applied for too long with too large an iron, ( or flame ) in that damage to the surrounding area is possible before the work piece is hot enough to be soldered. One big drawback is that the work piece needs to have decent electrical contact over most of the soldering area to avoid a cold solder joint.

Companies like American Beauty have made resistance soldering tools for years. It takes practice and an understanding of what is actually happening, to get consistant results with this method, in my opinion.