Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ok, I know that soldering joints is not always appropriate for auto connections, particularly with joints that are susceptible to vibration, but I do like to solder and heat-shrink quite a few wires.

My question is for those who do this a fair bit - which soldering iron/gun?

I have been using an old basic 30W iron forever. It takes ages to warm up, which is not ideal for the odd quick use.

I have seen soldering guns, that run upwards of 100W and presumably get hot very quick. I am not thinking of using it for electronics - just auto/marine connections.

Another type I am interested in is some sort of portable unit. I used to have a small gas iron but I found that it still took ages to get hot, and ages to cool down, used heaps of gas and was not easy to use. Maybe I just got a bad unit/brand...

So what are others using? Is a gun the way to go?

thanks,
Grazza

Hi grazza, in my trade I have used heaps of different types of soldering irons and for field work or for that quick one off job on the 4x4 while at home, rather than run out the extension cord, I use a Weller gas soldering iron.

I don’t know what type of gas job you were using but the Weller heats up very quickly and on more than one occasion I’ve used it to solder cables as thick as battery leads without any trouble.

Cheers

I have a 30W soldering iron and also an 80W one that cost bugger all from supercheap. The 80W one is quicker and good for reasonably big sizes of cable.

I think I'll get a gas one as well soon.

If you solder and heat-shrink properly, I don't see why this would be bad for auto use. I would like to know what would be better if it's not a situation where you can just replace the wires in full.

I use a butane (gas) solderig iron one for most work - up to 50w
And a Turbo Torch (straight flame) for thick battery type stuff

Paul

weller pyro-pen for a gas iron.
Used it daily as an installer for a couple of years. bought it 12 years ago, still going strong, design hasn't changed.
takes 20-30 secs to heat up. never took any notice on how long it took to cool down.

Not good enough for 4 gauge cables. I use a small blow torch for this sort of stuff.

Cheers
Matt

What do you think about those torches that run off an LPG bottle? I was going to get one with a 1.2m hose and use it with a bbq bottle, for various soldering including radiator repair type stuff. Any good?

I've got a 15w iron (only use for delicate work), 30w, 60w, 250w and a fine propane torch. I recently bought a 12v adjustable iron for about $10, and use it for almost everything these days, probably because most of my soldering is done on the car and I'm too lazy to run an extension cord...

I have a few various ones, gas, 12v, 240v.

The most used and one i would recommend the most is a Weller Portasol Gas Soldering Iron.

I've had mine for years, but it's essentially the older version of this kit
http://www.portasol.com/docs/Super%20Pro.pdf

Not the cheapest about and going to guess about the $120-$150 mark for that kit like that these days. But it's certainly worth it, the quality is far and above anything else on the market, even over other Wellar products. Very solid aswell, which is something most gas irons don't have, the typically feel and are flimsy around the tip part where it comes out of the base.

A cheap 12v job is good to have around aswell. (about $10-20)

the professional irons with a seperate base station and transformer are the go, i have an oldish weller, base runs from 240v and then 24v to the iron (handy when you accidentally solder the cord to the iron.. you dont die!)

they are temp controlled so can be left on for longer and they cycle at a constant temp instead of just constant heating like the cheapys. so they last longer too. and mine heats up in 8 seconds flat!

use these alot for electronics but they work great for auto except the big 4g stuff where i use a small torch.

bigcam wrote:the professional irons with a seperate base station and transformer are the go, i have an oldish weller, base runs from 240v and then 24v to the iron (handy when you accidentally solder the cord to the iron.. you dont die!)

they are temp controlled so can be left on for longer and they cycle at a constant temp instead of just constant heating like the cheapys. so they last longer too. and mine heats up in 8 seconds flat!

use these alot for electronics but they work great for auto except the big 4g stuff where i use a small torch.

i have a goot solder station i use for electronics

a cheapo 50watt from supercheat i use in the garage

and a butane gas torch i use for the phat cables.

I've got all sorts of sodomy irons, including a specialist thing for surface mount devices. After spending all the $$$$, I still find the really old farkin big plumber's iron with a filed down really fine tip is my favourite. I don't even bother with the others any more. Plenty of heat when you need it, but fine and delicate enough for the most sensistive jobs, a quick touch and you're done.