Butane soldering iron

I have one of these. Used it more for heatshrink than soldering, but seems OK.

Thanks.

Looks pretty good - and I might go for it - but my brain has been infected by seeing products that at least look OK in the £5 to 15 range! If I really expected to use it a lot, then certainly I'd be happy to pay more, but I don't think I will.

I got an Aldi one, been satisfied with it so far. £16 IIRC. It does he ashrink too, comes with a shroud designed for it.

NT

Unfortunately the current Lidl soldering iron is, literally a current one, it is battery powered. And looks exceedingly wimpy.

Having had an even better look around - I have ordered one. Afraid the P&P on that site raised the price too, too far so looked elsewhere and found slightly cheaper and free P&P (and a company I have used before).

I have one of these:

And it has been used extensively for all sorts of jobs and I've had no issues with it. Looking at the reviews on the Maplin site though it may be that they have changed the design (the blue of the handle is much darker on mine).

Mine lights easily (once you have the knack), lasts a reasonable time (but easy to refill in any case) and can get very hot (great for big terminals / joints) but can also be turned down for finer stuff. I even use it via the catalyst window for smaller heatshrink.

Cheers, T i m

Yes, it was just an example that had a reasonable description. I didn't buy mine there either, although they are good for some things - I have a pretty complete set of Dremel stuff. Used the Dremel tool (not the blowlamp) to fix a badly corroded and old fashioned slide viewer that needed 'modification' (seems that the C cells I had were a bit bigger than in olden days and jammed on ribs in the case).

I thought it was just us blind who got this kind of muddled stuff when reading pdf files where all the columns run together? Brian

Can you actually describe the sort of use it will get? Despite doing probably more soldering than most, it's not something I've actually got - or felt the need for.

I generally I find I use mine for working on cars and motorbikes. Typically fitting tow-bar electrics, alarms, charging / aux power leads etc. This is both soldering wires together (after joining them mechanically) and then heat shrinking ... or soldering wires to earth tags etc. I *much* prefer that sort of solution than any form or crimp but I understand crimps can work ok and are probably quicker if you are doing something commercially.

I'll also use my gas iron if I want to do some basic (not PCB typically) soldering quickly as it has a very fast heat up time and more powerful than all but my bigger irons. Also handy were I might not want a mains lead getting in the way or wrapped round stuff or might need to also use an extension lead.

If soldering away from home I'll fill it up before I leave from a big can and take a small refill canister with me.

Cheers, T i m

Ah. I use proper crimp terminals for this. Of the same type the car makers use. You'll not see such terminals soldered on a car. But you do need the correct (and expensive) crimp tools. As well as having to get the bits mail order. But if I do need to solder such things my 50 watt low voltage iron copes. I've also got a 150watt induction type that heats up pretty quickly. But both do depend on having mains. For very large cables, I'd use my jeweller's blowlamp.

I've certainly seen them, but somehow managed without. Could be useful for a field service kit, though.

If anyone has a 24v thermostatci iron, eg TCP, they will run on a car battery, just.

NT

Interesting. Although if working on the car etc I'm not going to be far from mains.

As so often, not very clearly. I happened across a need for soldering some audio wires in a low-fi device where the original wires were poor quality and badly soldered. Cost of replacement is unappealing being about the same as a butane soldering iron! Also, have several times wanted something to use on heatshrink.

After that, who knows? Hence worth getting something flexible which might be found useful in many ways.

hairdryer or hot air gun is better than a gas torch.

Maybe - but if you saw my hair you would not expect me to have a hair dryer, and I haven't got a hot air gun either.

Hope was, and is, that a modest butane device will cover several bases at least adequately for my limited needs. Rather than having several devices that will each be used very rarely.

I have the Aldi one too - £15 IIRC when I got mine (probably a couple of years ago). It gets lots of use at repair events as a hot air gun for heat shrink and removing broken phone glass. As a soldering iron, the temperature control is difficult (easy to get too hot), but it works.

I know it doesn't apply to you, but when you look at the £350,000+ fla ts in London .

an example

Where do people park their cars, especailly if they need to do work on them .

I have one in my RS 'Professional tool kit .... 512-610' over 20 yrs old and still works fine. I'd still use a mains iron by choice - but useful in locations where there is no nearby power.