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Soldering - Coleman Cold Heat


KealyPaul
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umm.. well first its not made by Coleman.. they just are one of many fools to brand it.

I was concerned about using it and found one at work. Someone had bought it. Not sure how long it had been in the bottom of the tool box but I put batteries in it.

and..

IT SUCKS.

It could have been damaged and so maby my impressions are not appropriate. But seriously, it was ass.

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I could be wrong, but, it's my understanding that the solders that are based on a conductor in some sort of binder (such as conductive epoxies) are ok for small jobs and repairs, but add impedence to a circuit.  So....  Based on that, again, it would be ok for small jobs/repairs, but not so good for an entire board.

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Yea, I bought one from Radio Shack some time ago.

The tip is huge, which is the first problem.  It does heat up and cool down just like they say it does, and could probably be nice for a portable repair tool (it would do jacks and cables nicely).  However, the tips are very easily breakable, it didn't take me an hour of foolin' with it to break mine. 

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Some of the reviews I was finding online about it mention a small spark when the connection is made. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be soldering ICs with something which sparks.

Just spend the $95 on a WES51 and don't look back. It's an excellent basic iron, and with another tip or two (I personally like really small conicals) and a spool of good solder.

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Just spend the $95 on a WES51 and don't look back. It's an excellent basic iron, and with another tip or two (I personally like really small conicals) and a spool of good solder.

I'll second that.  I use a 1/64" conical for most work and I've also got a 1/16" flat top for making cables.

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I'll second that.  I use a 1/64" conical for most work and I've also got a 1/16" flat top for making cables.

That's exactly what I use, and I also have a 1/32" conical because sometimes it's a bit nicer for soldering some connectors. Depends on the need, really. I can change the tips while everything is hot using a pair of channel locks, so it works out great.

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I can change the tips while everything is hot using a pair of channel locks, so it works out great

Yes.  People take note of this:

USE A TOOL TO CHANGE YOUR TIP!  The weller has a nice easy screw on sleve for securing the tip which makes it rather easy to forget about how hot it is.  I've nearly grabbed it on several occasions...  :o

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Some Other Tips:

- Use ONLY distilled water on your soldering sponge. Using tap water (or bottled, or anything else) will cause minerals to build up, damaging the tip.

- Change your sponges once in a while. Most electronics suppliers sell them, and buy whatever kind you prefer, cutting them to fit the stand if needed. I personally prefer the serrated ones, but there are also some with punched holes, and bunches of other styles. I replace mine every couple of projects, or once they begin looking a little burnt.

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USE A TOOL TO CHANGE YOUR TIP!  The weller has a nice easy screw on sleve for securing the tip which makes it rather easy to forget about how hot it is.  I've nearly grabbed it on several occasions...

well, I've got no clue what "coleman cold heat" means, but if you're talking of an iron to solder with about 300 °C:

!!!  DO NEVER CHANGE THE TIP WHILE THE SOLDERING IRON IS ON  !!!

...forgive me screaming and being that rigorous :), but first this is dangerous, because it's obviously quite hot – and second: I killed my first soldering station doing this. At first I thought it has been a coincidence, but afterwards I found again the manual (cleaning up the cupboard ;D), which said quite clearly, that the iron will overheat and damage the heater (death to the iron) if the tip is removed while it's on.

Take care,

Michael

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Some of the reviews I was finding online about it mention a small spark when the connection is made. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be soldering ICs with something which sparks.

Yea, the guy at my local electronics shop said that the so-called "Cold Heat" irons are only good for things that are not static sensative(ESD) like cables and such because the way they work is by "arc-ing" to the part being soldered, activating the iron! So, I wouldn't have much use for it personally...

- Use ONLY distilled water on your soldering sponge. Using tap water (or bottled, or anything else) will cause minerals to build up, damaging the tip.

That's an excellent tip! I didn't know that. I'll have to try it next time I solder...Thanks c0nsumer

-tel3

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Ahh, Radio Shack soldering irons.  I had a trusty 15/30W switchable that served me for about ten years now.  Yesterday I went looking to see if I could get a new, pointier conical tip for the thing (instead of the rather blunt one that came with it).  In the store, they had a replacement tip of the original style, but also a nice pointy one for their 15W soldering pencil.  So I asked the manager, "Should this 15W tip work in my [points to other soldering iron] slightly different iron, as long as I have it set on 15W?"

"It should!" he says.  Good enough for me, so I spend my two bucks and go home.  Swap in the tip, plug in the iron, and SPARK!  Put the original tip back in, and it doesn't heat up.  Take the whole thing apart, the wires inside have been vaporized.  Go back to the store, tell the manager he's a bloody idiot, and head to a different electronics store for a new Weller iron.

I was going to get a WP25, but I figured with the amount of soldering I plan to do over my lifetime, getting something better would probably be the best idea, so I splurged and got a WTCPT instead.  Woo!

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well, I can't repeat it often enough:

go and buy a temperature controlled iron.

It does not need to be the most expensive, but esp. if you're trying to solder directly on ICs (which is needed for example for the FM/OPL project), you need to controll the current temperature or you're endangering the chips.

I got this one: http://tinyurl.com/kgyvn (Link to reichelt.de).

It costs 45 EUR and is quite perfect for all kind of jobs.

Regards,

Michael

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Looks like everyone agrees that the Cold Heat is pretty much useless for any serious work. Apparently mine had been broken before I got my hands on it, because it sounds like some of you had at least a little success with it.

Irons irons irons.. wow what a lot of opinions. Personally, I have found the no need for an expensive iron. Weller's SP23L has been very reliable to me. They are cheap enough to have several irons in the various tool kits I cart around.  I only wish Weller would make a cone tip for it. I would consider buying a station, just so I could use a cone tip.

I honestly dont know why someone would recomend a hundred dollar iron, for a job that a $15 iron can do just fine. A 25 watt iron will do just about any job. I have only ran into one or two jobs where I needed more heat, and even with surface mount, have not needed anything less. I mean.. how often have you turned the knob?! REALLY? I would say 99 percent of the time, when working with a station (job site), I have never had need to touch the knob.

Tip maintanace and soldering skill is really everything. You could spend hundreds of dollars on a station, but it wont make your solder jobs look better.

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I honestly dont know why someone would recomend a hundred dollar iron, for a job that a $15 iron can do just fine. A 25 watt iron will do just about any job. I have only ran into one or two jobs where I needed more heat, and even with surface mount, have not needed anything less. I mean.. how often have you turned the knob?! REALLY? I would say 99 percent of the time, when working with a station (job site), I have never had need to touch the knob.

Couple of things...

One, a temp controlled station tends to heat up a LOT faster (cold to 700ºF in about 35 seconds on my station) and they maintain the temp a lot better, even when doing large connectors.

Two, if doing SMT or soldering directly to ICs I do crank it down. Especially if doing $5 - $10 SMT parts. Conversely, if I'm doing rather thick connectors sometimes I'll want to go up to 800ºF.

And I agree, an expensive iron won't make your soldering better, but it will be a good enough tool that you'll get consistent results, leading to better soldering.

I've worked with 25W stick irons for a while (decent ones, Weller WP25, with good tips) and there's a night and day difference between it and the cheap (but still industrial grade) Weller station I have.

-Steve

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So I asked the manager, "Should this 15W tip work in my [points to other soldering iron] slightly different iron, as long as I have it set on 15W?"

"It should!" he says.  Good enough for me, so I spend my two bucks and go home.  Swap in the tip, plug in the iron, and SPARK!  Put the original tip back in, and it doesn't heat up.  Take the whole thing apart, the wires inside have been vaporized.  Go back to the store, tell the manager he's a bloody idiot, and head to a different electronics store for a new Weller iron.

Andrew, that's sucks! :(

I'm not sure if you've notice that most Radio Shack employee are not that good in electronics, at least on Most of the store that I visit.  :(

No offense to you RadSnack guys with electronic skillz!! ;)

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Yeah, I half-expected at the time that the Radio Shack guy was an idiot, but hoped that he wasn't.

But here's the beauty of it:  using the WTCPT is several times faster than fighting with the crappy RadioShack garbage that I was using.  I managed to finish all my soldering on Sunday as a result.  There were a lot of narrow areas where I needed that fine conical tip (that was another key bit, getting the right tip) and it was just so fast.  Plus it heated up quickly, delivered consistent heat, etc.  100% A++ would buy again!  ;)

Another happy convert from a crappy iron to a good iron!

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Yeah, I half-expected at the time that the Radio Shack guy was an idiot, but hoped that he wasn't.

But here's the beauty of it:  using the WTCPT is several times faster than fighting with the crappy RadioShack garbage that I was using.  I managed to finish all my soldering on Sunday as a result.  There were a lot of narrow areas where I needed that fine conical tip (that was another key bit, getting the right tip) and it was just so fast.  Plus it heated up quickly, delivered consistent heat, etc.  100% A++ would buy again!  ;)

Another happy convert from a crappy iron to a good iron!

I just finished 2546 solder points on a 9090 board set. This is about 2/3 of the total amount of soldering needed. I don't know how I could have done it without a good, comfortable iron with a really fine tip. That thing is an exercise in soldering endurance. (There is a photo of the boards here, with DIP28 chips there in the tubes for scale. Yes, they are huge.)

Definitely, definitely buy yourself a good iron if you plan on doing a fair amount of electronics work.

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