soldering iron?

Can anyone recomend a soldering iron for repairs to looms? Had a weller which died but didnt get hot enough in the 10 sec per min allowed. Also had a cheap one which didnt get hot fast enough but managed to melt the sleaves of my fleace before it died.

I have a gas Aldi one which has always worked great for me, just done my wiring loom with it which requires shortening

Big Weller one 45watt i think, ancient old thing but your soldering large lumps, compared with a PCB, outside in the cold. Few bits of card or ply to stop the breeze helps. Or get one of the gas ones from screwfix - lent mine out and never got it back so it must have been good!

Weller are(were? mine was liberated when I finished my apprenticeship about 20yrs ago) good.
I think mine is 40W. Tips also make a big difference to heat transfer.

Not sure on up to date models though, sorry

i hvae a small one from an rs catalogue lighter gas heats up quick, only prob it runs out of gas fairly quick other than that i would recommend it.

weller W61D will do the job and very common

work bought a gas one from snap on and its poor compared to my cheapy 240v from maplins.

Thanks for replies but why can you only hold the trigger for 10-12 sec bursts? Didnt seem long enough to me but maybe thats why it burnt out.

Get a proper one not a trigger thing
I've got a weller
A Clarke gas one
And one on the end of a blow lamp for heavy stuff

I use Metcal at work and at home, no complaints here but I've no idea what they cost.

parptoot said:

I use Metcal at work and at home, no complaints here but I've no idea what they cost.

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Only £162.00 on ebay

mick the builder said:

Only £162.00 on ebay

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Merlin's beard!!!

A bit O.T.T I suspect.

mick the builder said:

Only £162.00 on ebay

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Ha ha only a tad more expensive than my Aldi special at about £10-15

SteNova said:

Get a proper one not a trigger thing
I've got a weller
A Clarke gas one
And one on the end of a blow lamp for heavy stuff

Click to expand...

Weller died and my big lump of copper on the end of my blow lamp was used for lead and zinc work. Bit awkward for wiring

I think I got my home one off Ebay for about £45 many moons ago. I think it was a company liquidation sale or something.

Another +1 for gas.

You can vary the gas control to cope with the gauge of wire you are dealing with or the outside temp, wind condition etc. No lead to get in the way.

I have a 200W trigger-type, 60W and 40W 240V sticks, one gas and a big copper fitting for my propane blow lamp.

For some reason i don't seem to have any soldering problems!

I've got 3, personally.

A Weller gun (very handy for wiring that is Rover-sized), a termperature-controlled soldering station with interchangeable tips (OTT unless you like I tend to fix things like printed circuit instument panels and electronics) and a heater tip for my gas torch for larger work.

The first two will run very handily off a small inverter, so quite usable in the garage/yard right on the car. The latter, of course, just needs gas and a spark lighter...

When it comes to the Rovers, the usual soldering equipment is the soldering gun, with an assist from a heat gun for shrinking insulating tubing over the sol dered joins.

If the cost of such items is putting you off, have a look in boot sales - I see them all the time in near-new condition for a few dollars.

I use a gas soldering iron in my truck and landy.

i have this for bigger stuff

Antex 50W Temperature Controlled Iron Type TCS 220/240V | Maplin

and this for smaller PCB stuff
Antex 25W Soldering Iron Type XS (Silicone Cable) | Maplin

i use the 25w with a small fine tip a lot for pcb stuff and joining loom sized wires and the bigger one for soldering wires like the ones for connecting up the battery, and other heavier jobs