Cold Heat Soldering?

I'm sure that somebody has already brought this up so I did try to do a site search first, but we all know how that goes.

Does the cold heat soldering iron work at all?

Seems like a physical impossibility to me, but I'm not all that smart.

There have been some threads in the past in the "electronics/batteries" board and the "knives/gadgets" board (easy to find, just punch "+cold +heat +soldering" in the search field and set the time frame longer than a week).

I don't have one myself, but from the discussion I learned: It works; the tip is split, the heating circuit is completed by the soldering joint. The tip material allows for rapid heating and cooling.

It requires some changes to your soldering procedure. Most people are not overly impressed by it.

i was interested in one...but not sure if i would like it.
i know that folks that are more skilled with soldering are generally put-off by the Cold Heat iron.

i wonder if it would be appropriate for the casual solderer--a person (like me!) that makes only simple solder joints, like attaching wires to a luxeon solder pad, or joining 2 wires.

my wife nearly got me one for Christmas, but i asked that she hold off for a bit.

Bob

I tried to use my Cold Heat soldering iron to solder leads to a Prolight LED (the pads are very similar to those found on LS LEDs) a few days ago, and was not successful. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif I ended up having to use a regular plug-in soldering iron to do the job.

It may be able to solder wires together or solder components to a PCB, but on a device with significant heatsinking directly under the solder pads, it's no good.

thanks for the clarification, Craig.

i will stick with old reliable.

Bob

P.O.S.

I bought 3 for work. Two arrived with broken tips. The tips are VERY fragile. The tips are not for doing detailed or fine work.

They do work as advertised tho, heat up and cool down very fast.

My Pace Solder Station is way way better.

Heck, a $5 R.S. 20w iron is better!

Here are some past threads on it- I've come to the same conclusion; as neat as it is, it just doesn't work as well as a regular, Hot Heat iron.

New Soldering Tool...

Cold Heat soldering iron


This is something that I came across for $49.44; anyone out there tried one? My Weller butane iron is what I use most because it's so portable, but this seems like it's pretty versatile in being able to serve as a small torch also.


• This butane torch kit offers a great value with additional tips and case included for the less than competitive torches alone.
• Designed for under dash work as well as bench work.
• Piezo electronic automatic igntion for easy starting.
• Convenient flame adjustment dial on torch.
• Consumer Products Safety Commision approved child safety design.
Comes complete with:
• 10mm Chisel Tip
• 1.6mm Conical Tip
• 3.2mm Chisel Tip
• Hot Blower
• Heat Reflector
• Hot Knife
• Tube of Solder
• Sponge
• Wire Brush
• Molded Storage Case

i hate my no heat - cold heat soldering tool

I should sell it

where do I get more info on the butane one in the blue case ?

[ QUOTE ]
markdi said:
where do I get more info on the butane one in the blue case ?

[/ QUOTE ]
I was hoping someone here has the blue case butane one-
The place I saw selling it has it at the bottom of this page.

Cold heat sounds pretty cool though!!

If you need to try it for yourself, Costco has it now for about $16.

the cold heat soldering thingie sucks

if it was a flashlight it would be the worst flashlight ever made.

save your money.

just think


thousands of people who never soldered before are using the cold heat thing to solder for the first time.

I have been in the electronics industry for over 22 years
I learned how to solder when I was around 11 or so.

I am glad I did not try to learn to solder using the cold heat thing.

I can use a bic lighter and a length of 12 guage copper wire and my needle nosed vise grips to make better solder joints than any one using the cold heat thing for a identical solder job.(maybe not in every posible situation)

I agree, it sucks.
It's what $19.95 whirling down a {vulgar term for feces}bowl looks like. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif :toliet: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Kinda funny watching the infomercials for it, and they make it look like it's welding the chain onto some jewelry. Somehow they rigged it to make it look like it instantly attached the chain onto the piece.

it might be really great for a very specific kind of joint
and you have a lot of practice with it.

trust me you do not want one.

I should give mine up for a cpf group pass around
but the thought of some one spending 2 bucks in postage to disapoint themselves bothers me.

Hi all,

I actually posted to one of the review threads listed above and think that the "Cold Heat" iron isn't that bad.

Don't expect to be using it for fine electronics soldering though.

As I mentioned in my review post, I used it to solder the wiring harness of a car stereo that I installed. For this type of job, it works perfectly. I was able to solder the wires when needed, without waiting for the iron to heat up. It took only a couple of seconds to make a good, solid joint and handled the entire job with plenty of power to spare.

I was also able to set the iron down on the passenger seat within 10 seconds after using it. Which was very handy since I didn't have all of the wires stripped and prepped, nor did I have all of the heatshrink slipped in place beforehand. I also had to switch wires when I discovered that the wire color chart in the instructions had the left and right channels reversed.

So while this isn't the best tool to use for ESD sensitive components, or components attached to large heatsinks, it's not a bad product either.

Regarding tip life.. I've had this tool for a while now and have only broken one tip. This happened when I dropped the iron, tip first onto my marble floor. The key here, is to remember that pressing harder will get you nowhere with this tool. The idea is to solder with the tip as close to the joint as possible and let tip melt the solder and the solder transfer heat to the pieces to be joined.

I generally don't use it for most jobs, since I have a soldering station right at my desk. But it does replace my butane iron in my travel tool case.

pb

I just took it off my website's "Coming Soon" sections because it's a piece of {vulgar term for feces} and I can't solder with it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

i got to try one out and found it to be a real p.o.s.
i will keep my isotip and portasol for portable use.