[Elecraft] Soldering Iron Temp.

[Lyle Johnson]

Never confuse HEAT with TEMPERATURE.

700 degrees is a high enough TEMPERATURE.  Much more and you risk damaging
the board.

But, if your iron lacks HEAT capacity, you may be tempted to crank up the
TEMPERATURE to compensate.  If you have to dwell on a joint for an excessive
period of time, your iron does not have enough HEAT capacity.

Placing a too-hot iron on a joint, thus depending on TEMPERATURE to overcome
a HEAT problem, may result in thermal shock to the board and/or components.

When I needed more HEAT when assembling my KPA100, I used two 700-degree
irons (that's why I have two hands, I guess :-) to get enough HEAT into the
joint without risking too high a TEMPERATURE.

FWIW,

Lyle kK7P