I have been repairing some circuit boards on Ham Radio's and was really getting somewhat frustrated with a 15W AC plug in soldering iron as I was performing these repairs at my computer desk which has limited space to start with but a great adjustable light. Always looking for the right place to lay the iron down and keeping the cord out of the way.

I went to Radio Shack to pick up some internal repair parts and spotted a battery powered soldering iron for about $20.00, Model #64-039. It is powered by 4 AA batteries. It has a push/pull slider switch with an activation button in the center of this switch.

When the slider is pushed forward and the button is pushed it heats the iron up in about 7 seconds to about 365* and will eventually reach a max temperature of 1050* if the button is held on continuously which on circuit boards you don't do. It is rated at approximately 15W. When the Iron is activated it also turns on a white LED light that shines at the tip of the iron and illuminates the spot that you're working.

The tip is quite slender, long and pointed. I found it to be quite comfortable to be working within such close quarters of these small circuit boards. Those of you that have been doing the IDM 140 Volt Mod know what I am talking about. One slip and you reach for the wallet.

The one negative that I found was that I needed to keep wiping the tip with fine emery cloth so I could carry a tiny drop of solder to the area that I was working. If only I had a third hand this would not have been necessary. Hopefully this tip wiping will correct its self with more use.

This will be very handy when working under the dash or around the engine compartment or anywhere else you may be. Particularly if your not next to an AC out let or just to lazy to string an extension cord to plug your iron into.

This is a very versatile tool and a nice addition to my tool box.

Rog

 

Good find and thanks for passing it on. Rep points sent.

 

Rog, I want your tool box. Please include me in your will.

 

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I have been looking for a decent replacement for my Butane powered soldering Iron I purchased about ten years ago from Radio Shack, the tips are about gone I I couldn't find replacements, I have tried several other Butane solderers and the Weller battery (rechargeable) one and they ALL SUCK WIND!!! I will run down ASAP and pick one up!!! Besides the fact with the Butane powered ones you have to be real careful no to ruin your project or burn yourself!

REP SENT as well

Thanks Rog!

 

WILL? What do you know that I don't??

Rog

 

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Old time ham radio operator here, call WA7ACP, now inactive. That was back in the 60's and 70's. First person to decode the above code gets a rep, expect Rog.

 

Well, the spaces did not turn out as planned, so lets try again this way

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The code was easy but what's a "rep"?

 

Rodney here there are reputation points. If someone makes a good post you go to the upper right hand corner of the post box and there are a balance scale icon there. CLick on that and leave either positive or negative feedback and a comment. This adds to your little green squares below your post count. for each 100 positive rep points you get an added box. You start out with one box then once you get over 100 points you get a second box.

 

The only problem with those little battery powered soldering irons is that they use current flowing through the graphite tip. One little slip and you can burn out sensitive electronics.

 

We use them all the time at work in the lab. We have three of them charged up all the time. They are perfect for small circuit boards and such. The secrete is to get them hot and tin the solder to them before applying to your work. Of course we also have the medium irons then also the big Weller guns for the really big stuff. My preference for small stuff is what kawa has indicated, however they do take some getting use to.

 

Thanks TJ

I tried to reply with just "Thanks TJ" but it wouldn't accept that because I didn't use 10 letters?

 

Yeap........(I use those to get my character count)

 

The first code is HiRog
The second is HiRod

That is if it is morse code

 

Yep, you got it, rep sent. Darn, I hate those typo's, even in morse code. Or I've turned dyslexic in my later years.