Dremel Versatip

[TaDa]

Is this tool half decent for soldering?
I need to do some open air soldering this summer and it seems a reasonable tool.

Would it be powerful enough to solder thickish wires to capacitors and tag strip
Would it be fine enough to solder transistors to pcbs/vero board
Would it be ok to shrink heat shrink to the exposed joins too.

Is there another tool on the market I should be considering (my pockets are not that deep though)

Cheers

 

[Sceadwian]

What particular unit are you talking about? You said open air, I'm assuming this means the gas powered one, not the wired one? The wired one is a dirt cheap 30 watt soldering Iron, nothing special at all. The gas one is capable of a bit more, but both require a bit of finesse as they're not temperature controlled. Either one will work just fine for general soldering work. You'd have to define 'thickish wire' to see if it'd meet your needs though. I would not use it for PCB work, you'd want a temperature controlled unit for that, the gas unit could be used for heat shrinking but you'd have to be careful, it being a small flame helps.

 

[TaDa]

Yes, sorry, the gas one - I'll be using it away from the mains.
I'll be working on camera flash guns so at thickish would be akin to 1.5 A mains cable - high voltage but low (or short pulse) current
Temperature controlled and 'cordless' sound exclusive (and expensive) is there something in the £40 range that'll do all I want?

Thanks

 

[Sceadwian]

You could use a gas powered unit for everything you want, if you learn how to use the unit you buy BEFORE you put it into practice. That kind of tool is HIGHLY limited by the users ability to control it. It's nothing more than a butane powered torch used to heat a tool. Brings extra tips =)

 

[TaDa]

Ok, so can anyone recommend an alternative?
I need to be able to solder away from mains power and I'm not going to lug a huge battery either

Are there any more subtle gas fired irons maybe?

Cheers

 

[bryan1]

For most work I do here on the farm I swear by my el cheapo $20 butane flame torch. Long ago the soldering tip wore out but for soldering end connections on thick gauge wire and using heatshrink these little tools are very handy. The hot air blower also does a great job and this $20 tool has outlasted several more expensive ones over the years.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Sceadwian]

I didn't say there was anything wrong with the Dremel Versatip Tada, though a simple Google search for butane soldering iron will net you about a hundred sites that sell them, probably one or two that are cheaper than Dremel (I'm not as big on Dremel as a brand anymore, I've had some really disappointing experiences with my last rotary tool from them) For the price there's nothing wrong with it at all, as long as the fuel is reasonable in cost.

 

[Dean Huster]

I use a larger Weller butane iron whenever I'm away from electrical power and it works well. And it does get hotternhades if you let it go. The hardest thing to do is to get it lit and then into the "catalytic mode" so fire isn't blowing out the exhaust. That can take a bit of time. It certainly takes a lot of patience!

Dean

 

[cowana]

I have one of these cheap chinese models, and I'm very happy with it.

**broken link removed**

Andrew

 

[Sceadwian]

Yeah it's the hotternhades bit that requires skill, or more to the point experience.