Amazing soldering tool

[jimandy]

Anyone had any experience with this soldering tool recently advertised on some cable channels that features instant heat up, instant cooling? Sells for $19.95 and they throw in a wire stripper. What they claim is you can touch the tip seconds after using and you won't get burned, carry in a pocket and never catch your clothes on fire, etc. etc.

[frhrwa]

scares me....

[sundancer87]

I'll bet it does all it says, I'll also bet you don't want to try soldering anything on a populated circuit board.<p>You kind of have to look at the people depicted on the commercial. Do we really burn ourselves like that? If we are like them, then we don't need to be around electricity, heat or water.<p>I've looked at them and decided they would be OK for some applications, as long as you can stay supplied with batteries.<p>If you are looking for portability there are the butane solder pencils and the DC ones. But be careful, they'll burn you as well.

[Mike6158]

<p>You know what they say...<p>Where there's smoke
There's mirrors

[High4Volts]

We somehow got one of these at work and believe it or not it does work ok. You can get different type of tips for it. I wouldn't use it for precision stuff though. And it does heat up fast and cools in a few seconds. The only problem i found with it is I dropped it about 6" on my desk and it chipped the points where it makes contact with what you are soldering. I haven't tried to use it after that happened. I think someone told me at work they found it at the local Ace Hardware store.
In my opinion, for $20 it's worth it as a backup cordless.

[jimandy]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> [from high4volts] i found with it is I dropped it about 6" on my desk and it chipped the points where it makes contact with what you are soldering. <hr></blockquote><p>Are the tips replaceable?

[High4Volts]

oops i did fail to mention that yes they are. They have them listed on this website.

[Chris Smith]

They are the space shuttle ceramic tile material, metal-ized to conduct heat through electricity, hence they cool down real quick.

[dacflyer]

is it me or does that thing seem to operate like a mini-arc welder or spot welder..i see a small spark of light when they use it on tv..
it might be good for electrical,,but i wouldn't think it'd be safe on electronics..sensitive electronics at that..

[jimandy]

Ahhh. Space age material, replaceable tips. That does it. I'm gonna buy me one of these. But I think I'll go with the TV offer so I'll get the "free" stripper. Already have a stripper but I figure two strippers in the house are better than one. <p>Ooops. Don't tell my wife I said that.

[philba]

lol<p>I'll pass on this. I sure don't like the idea of it anywhere near sensitive electronics.

[Dean Huster]

Sounds like a resistance soldering tool of some sort. I'd bet that it has a limited mass that it can handle. Resistance soldering was usually used to quickly solder turret terminals and such things on crowded connectors. You didn't burn wire insulation as easily with it. But the tips still got a bit toasty. After all, heat is heat and metal does conduct it.<p>Dean

[jimandy]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> Resistance soldering was usually used to quickly solder turret terminals and such things on crowded connectors. <hr></blockquote><p>Wow, I've never heard of that. Sounds like arc welding in miniature.

[Enzo]

Resistance soldering is vaguely related to arc welding. It works, but I wouldn't want it on my circuit boards. When my old Weller gun tips would burn through, I discovered early on that I could touch both ends of the broken tip to the work and continue to solder. Exactly the same as these new things. <p>But it does send its current through the work to function. So I would limit it to soldering wires and non-electronic things like leaded glass work.<p>The reason the tips don't heat up a lot is that the work itself is what is heating up. The the tips just heat up from contact.

[Chris Smith]

The bright light comes from the led Illuminator.<p>Other than that, its just a different type of metal "in ceramic" tip.