[Boatanchors] soldering/desoldering on boatanchors

[k0ewu at juno.com]

HI about soldering devices.  If you are lucky enuf to find a GE
 iron as used in the old fone office switch rooms -wonderful. These 
are 100 watt irons made for continuous duty, they have a tapered 
or chisel tip, iron plated and  a very long cord, 10/12 feet.
They will last last--.
I normally use a Weller pencil iron, the heat is decided by the
tip used. A no 7 is normal here and when more heat is needed the 8
is used,but when chassis soldering is neccesary the old GE iron 
comes out of hiding, go have a cuppa whatever, takes a while to heat.
and of course- NO soldering paste except for chassis work then 
clean with denatured alky.
Solder- use 60-40 only and if you can get the eutectic stuff even
better(63/37) the lowest melting point of all.
old jack    K0EWU

On Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:57:06 EST WA5CAB at cs.com writes:
> Gene,
> 
> What I had tried to say the other day was that tip temperature and 
> wattage 
> are independent variables when the iron is being designed.  Rated 
> temp 
> temperature of an iron will be at some standard temperature and 
> pressure and probably 
> something like 30-40% relative humidity.  And touching nothing else 
> (but air).  
> When you "load" the tip to solder or de-solder something, the tip 
> temperature 
> will drop, how much depending on wattage, tip size and thermal load 
> (thermal 
> resistance).  If the iron is temperature controlled, more watts will 
> be fed 
> into the heating element to try to hold the temperature up.  But 
> eventually it 
> will run out of oomph.
> 
> Also, rated tip temperature and wattage are not directly related.  
> For 60/40 
> tin-lead solder, you need a tip temperature (working) in the 850 F 
> range.  
> Regardless of the wattage.
> 
> For soldering something like a twist-lock capacitor that's soldered 
> to a 
> chassis, or the top caps on rectangular can military capacitors 
> (like the triple 
> .05's in BC-312/342's for example), you need a tip, to begin with, 
> with more 
> surface area.  Not just higher wattage.  The tips on guns don't vary 
> that much 
> in size.  Regardless of the wattage.  Even if you double the size 
> over the 
> typical, you still don't have much surface area to work with.  For 
> doing what 
> you're trying to do, I'd recommend an iron of 120 or 150 watts, 
> rated at 850, not 
> 1000/1050 F, and with a diamond or pyramid tip of 5/8" or 3/4" 
> diameter.
> 
> On the subject of soldering guns, I'll only say that I've got a 
> Weller 
> somewhere, just in case I ever come across anything it's good for.  
> If you must have 
> a pistol grip unit, I recommend the Wahl pistol grip rapid-heat 
> iron.  Among 
> other places, they're available from McMaster and Sears.
> 
> In a message dated 2/16/2006 9:10:51 AM Central Standard Time, 
> ehertz at tcaf.org writes: 
> > Well, if anyone is interested, the radio shack model 64-2185 does 
> not do a 
> > good job for melting big solder joints. I am working on 
> desoldering a can 
> > type capacitor from a PCB (oops, did I say pcb? I meant chassis 
> ;-) ) and it 
> > just can get the solder melted enough to do a good clean up job. 
> This is despite 
> > an 840F high temp.
> > 
> > However, the unit does seem very nice for regular work, so I'll 
> keep it.
> > 
> > For desoldering bigger jobs, I am now considering getting radio 
> shack model 
> > 64-2187 150W/230W gun type. Any opinions on this amount of 
> wattage? I know 
> > that I have to be careful to not destroy everything in its path at 
> this 
> > wattage.
> > 
> > By the way, I know the real way to go is a hakko/weller/Xytronic, 
> but if I 
> > told my wife I just paid $300 for a soldering iron, she would 
> promptly solder 
> > together parts of my genitalia.
> > 
> > Usual disclaimers, I do not own radio shack or even work there.
> > 
> 
> Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
> <http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
> MVPA 9480
> <wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
> <wa5cab at houston.rr.com> (Backup email)
> _______________________________________________
> Boatanchors mailing list
> Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE **   
> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **         
> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$      
> http://www.w9wze.org    
> 
> 
>