soldering iron

[Tom Buchanan]

evening,gents..can anyone tell me how the old electric soldering irons were made?I would like to find about a 200 watt,but they're scarce,or I ain't looked in the right places.thanks,Tom

[Mike W]

Tom, the tips that go on the end of a propane torch work pretty good. They come with some of the torch kits. I have a 500 watt iron at work. It is very heavy.

[J. R. Williams]

Tom
The old Electric Irons were a steel cylinder with a bore to fit the Copper working part. The steel part has a resistance element inside with a cover cylinder. A new 200 watt unit from MSC will set you back $140+. They have always been expensive, as I remember paying about $25 for mine some 50 years ago.

JRW

[Locksmith]

What are you using it for?

[Optics Curmudgeon]

Check out http://www.hexaconelectric.com/, they've been around for years, I have one of their 500 watt irons.

Joe

[Tom Buchanan]

thanks for the replies,fellas,I'm adapting an iron with a slotted copper bar.it,s mounted upright and used to solder guards to blades.

[Evan]

Check anyplace that sells stained glass supplies.

[pcarpenter]

If you really need the iron to flow solder for you, you could make an iron tip and just heat it with a torch for short runs.

I have an inexpensive 200/100watt electric soldering gun, but that is not the sort of thing you would use to solder a tin box together for example.

For soldering stuff that needs more heat (including PL259's on coaxial cable) I have found that one of those mini butane torches is really cool. I bought it to light cigars and shrink heat shrink tubing and such, but it turned out to be a great soldering tool. It's got its own ignitor (handy) and you just wave it on and off the part to heat it. You have to start thinking differently when you use it because it still has the ability to deliver a lot of heat quickly, but it sure makes for better solder joints than an iron that is not really quite adequate and therefore will not heat the whole part to be soldered, evenly.

Paul