Cold heat soldering iron, any good?

I saw some posts a while ago when these soldering irons were on infomercials. I know some of you guys got some, and have had some time to really try them out... Obviously Radio Shack bought the sales rights for this and I was thinking of getting one. I have a 15/30Watt pencil iron I use at home, But but I have a bad habbit of leaving it pluged in and it eats tips quicker then my kids eat M&Ms. Anyhow, for $20 is it worth it? Or should it be avoided.

Radio Shack 'cold heat' soldering iron
TIA

Jeff

Re: RS bought it...is this iron any good?

You may be better off buying a timer to plug your iron into and just flip it on for 30 mins etc. I have two Isotip irons probably with similar output and find they fade too quickly to do anything but solder small components on circuit boards and a few larger things. I would check into tip prices for this it may take a special tip that could be even more costly than the ones you are already using, also would think nimh batteries instead of the recommended alkaline/lithiums if you plan to use it often.

Another idea is to put your iron on a power strip with a ON indicator on it and place the strip in plain sight so you cannot MISS it is left on.

Re: RS bought it...is this iron any good?

The cold heat is a strange beast. I have one and would not recommend it for doing mods. It shoots high current through the piece that you are trying to solder. This may damage delicate semiconductors. You also have to apply a little pressure, so you can't solder two wires that are properly twisted and tinned but hanging off the edge of your vice.



I will occasionally use mine for places where I'd have used a propane powered iron in the past.

Daniel

Re: RS bought it...is this iron any good?

thanks guys, Given what you have said, I like the timer idea Lynx. If I get a portable one, I will most likely get a standard battery powered one. I don't really care for the gas powered ones (too hard to control temp). And for little field fix work, the old style 2 sub c batt powered ones will work. If they still make 'em that is.

Jeff

Re: RS bought it...is this iron any good?

i've not tried one yet but will soon (a friend bought one).. anyhow.. like described above.. it works like a spot welder.. using high current to melt the solder.. presumably it's only very low voltage, so not sure what the issue will be with ESD problems, but it's not for making small connections that's for certain.. however.. for bigger things like soldering a normal switch it could be ideal so i can't wait to try it.

I have used the iso-tip and they work awesomely well. i've wired up many a car stereo with a good ol iso-tip.. classic problem of NiCAD batts as usual.. but when it works it works very well.

-awr

Re: RS bought it...is this iron any good?

Yeah, the high current heats up the 2 part graphite soldering tip. This is a neat trick to limit the power drain to when it's really needed, but it uses the wire as a conductor.

My fear would be blowing out a sensitive part if the current ends up running through the part instead just the1/64th inch of the lead that it's supposed to.

Daniel

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

i have to mention that i just got the 'cold heat' soldering iron as a gift, and.. i've been soldering for about 27 yrs (i'm 36).. and it's quite a little thing.. it is not going to replace any mainstay soldering tools, there are better ways to solder most things... however.. for certain applications it's perfect. Say you want to solder a wire to a switch or solder lug on a speaker, larger items like this.. it's awesome... took a while to figure out how to use it exactly...the commercials are misleading, making it look like it works as fast as spot-welding (which is basically what it is)... it uses the concept of 'spot welding' to use the item you are soldering to generate the heat.. the tip is actually a semiconductor (made of mostly carbon it would seem)... split in two, so power goes down on half, through the conductive item you want to heat, and back up the other half).. The 'trick' is that it takes a while.. soldering on to some fairly small terminals it took 12-13 seconds to heat it up nice n not to make a clean solder joint, but it worked perfectly, with no pre-heating like a normal iron, no plug like a soldering gun.. and when it's done, just like they show in the commercials.. it's instantly cool enough to touch with your finger.. technically.. it's probably 300-400 deg.. (it was just in liquid solder).. but is made of carbon with virtually zero specific heat so your cool finger cools it down so quickly you don't feel it. (just like how you burn your hand if you touch a pot in the oven, or the grates.. but not if you touch the same temperature aluminum foil).. In any event... for those types of jobs, not having to plug, not having a big bulky gun, not having the dangers of the heat of the iron.. it's genius.

I would definitely NOT attempt to use the coldheat in any semi-conductor situation.. it would probably work fine on axial lead devices like resistors or capacitors, but requires fairly big items to short out the split tip to make it work properly.

ps... to the original poster or forum moderator.. can you rename the title to something helpful like "Cold Heat Soldering Iron".. it was impossible to find this thread.

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

Where I last worked they had a fuel powered pen like unit from radio shack. It uses butane fuel and I kind of liked it. I have the regular ones from radio shack and despite the way for warm it, they work well.

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

I have two isotip irons they still sell them but they are not cheap and both of mine the batteries have lost it.
I may convert thes to nimh subC batteries if the chargers will handle them properly. I wont bother putting more nicads in them they fizzle out since I dont use them often enough.

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

I'd pretty much roger up to what andrewwynn said. When it works it's brilliant. But you have to practice at it, and as gadget_lover noted, you have to apply a fair amount of pressure to the joint to establish a conductive path. This makes soldering wires kind of difficult as they tend to just push out of the way.

Fun gadget, and handy for special uses, but didn't replace my iron.

Cheers,
Bob

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

re: 'fair amt of pressure'.. i've found that it's more of how and where you hold it more than pressure.. the problem is getting a good enough contact between carbon and metal... i've found more luck with very light pressure but using the very tip of the split point.. .Bob's summary is clear and concise: "fun, handy for the right purpose, won't replace your current tools'. you definitely have to have things held together first.. twisting a wire onto the terminal for example.. or at least have it set up where it holds itself.

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

Thanks to all who chimed in. Putting all this together, it dosen't seem like a replacement for a thermal iron. I have 3 children and a wife that dosen't like my crap.. I mean stuff lying around. My 15/30 Watt R/S iron eats tips and takes a while to cool off. Being on a budget (like us all) I will probably look into a battery powered one. Thanks

Jeff

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

I was lucky to get an iron plated tip for my 50 watt ungar. First tip I had on it I only had to replace after 30 years because it got weak at the screw in point and broke off. I don't know if they make iron plated tips any more these days.

Another note: I saw a battery powered iron that runs off of either 2 or 4AA alkaline batteries I cannot remember which. I am almost sure it would love some high output nimh I was curious if anyone had gotten one of them to check out.
I may check into one of those instead of fixing my isotip irons because you could carry extra batteries to swap out and even a fast car charger for AAs would be a plus.

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

Think I'll stick with my butane-powered irons... They worl on anything from SMD to tinning high-current board traces. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

oO

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

I use mainly my butane iron. I too have the problem of leaving a normal one plugged in for "a while" and my test bench has a power strip with a light on the switch and I still leave it on. The butane iron makes a hissing noise so I know when it's on. I have bought several iso-tip irons and still prefer the butane one to them. Just have to pack more butane if you plan on being away from a hardware store for six months or more in some far off place like Iraq.

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

I just got a Cold Heat soldering iron today.
Cost was $19.98 from a catalogue.
Included the soldering instrument itself, one tip for it, a hard-sided storage case for it, and a wire stripping tool.
Might as well provide a photograph of the iron itself...BRB...


Measures approximately 7.25" long (including tip), ~1.8" high, and 1.0" wide.

I haven't done anything but melt a bit of solder yet, but I actually *have* it available for future soldering jobs.

It operates from four AA cells, has a 3mm white LED under the tip that stays lit whenever the power switch is set to "on", and a rectangular red LED on the top front of the instrument that comes on when a circuit is established at the tip.

I can see this as being handy whenever you need to solder something and do not have an AC receptacle handy, but in my opinion it will not replace a traditional soldering iron.

They recommend using solder of 18-20AWG in diameter. I don't know what diameter in AWG my solder is - it reads 1/32".

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

1/32 = 20 AWG.

I like mine.. it's a little finicky to get a closed circuit at times, but when it works it's a charmer.. doesn't work as fast as the commercial, but having it 'cool off' so fast is very nice, quite a safety tip.. i've burned myself enough times with iso-tip and other soldering irons in the past.

the 'quotes' on cool off is because it's kinda a misnomer... if you were to measure the tip right after soldering it'd be 400F or more.. it just is that it's made of carbon so has no heat capacity.. the water in your skin has soo many times more heat capacity, the 98F in your skin might only have to heat to 100F to drop the carbon from 400F to 100F... (small exaggeration but you get the point)... kind of like how you can grab 400F aluminum foil out of the oven w/o burning yourself, but if you grab a 150F iron pot you will burn yourself (twist of irony since aluminum is a MUCH better conductor of heat.. just that aluminum foil has no mass).

post when you have used it for a 'real' job and let us know the results.

-awr

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

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andrewwynn said:
1/32 = 20 AWG.

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Thank you very much for the information. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


[ QUOTE ]
andrewwynn said:
post when you have used it for a 'real' job and let us know the results.

[/ QUOTE ]
I intend to repair the horn on my housemate's electric wheelchair with it; when I do, I'll post my findings here, fair enough?

Re: Cold Heat Soldering update

I think that this is posted elsewhere on this board but I bought mine (with Coleman markings) at Costco for $15.99.

It came with solder, 1 tip and the case. Well worth it.