On Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:22:20 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:58:23 -0800, Gunner
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:17:44 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:40:41 -0800, Gunner
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jan 2013 06:59:09 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:19:52 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Larry Jaques wrote:

I don't remember if I posted this here yet or not, so...

I bought a ColdHeat soldering iron and it came yesterday. When I
tried soldering a couple of 18ga stranded copper wires together,
it failed miserably. It didn't seem to get hot enough to melt the
solder into the strands at all, although it melted about 1.5" of thin
solder.

Tips to get it to work (on the 14ga wire I bought it for) would be
appreciated. Would liquid flux help at all? It seemed like the
carbonized tip got nice and hot but the wire didn't.


It won't. It's the soldering iron Ron Popiel would have invented,
right after his "Pocket Fisherman" It's a cheap attempt at resistance
soldering that just doesn't work on anything thicker than 24 AWG.

Thanks, guys. I'd hoped it would work. I'll haul up an extension
cord and the trusty Weller pistol grip for the job after all.

Gunner, my buddy Terry has a BluePoint iron like yours which works
well, but this is in a semi-dark enclosed attic with puffy rockwool
insulation all around, even if it isn't flammable. I have a butane
iron from HFT and it works well, but I'm not taking that up into the
attic with me, either.

Why..you cant figure out how to make a safe "rest" for the iron?

Hell..use a bread pan with an inch of kitty litter in the bottom.

My attic's tight, with a low peak, 4'. I didn't want to drag a cord
around, over and under ducts, and now you're talking about taking a
lit flame and pan of fly-everywheres up there? Brilliant!


The soldering Iron I suggested...works much the same way as the
coldheat one does. It heats the element, which heats the wire, which
melts the solder. It just does it very much better. No open flame at
all. Its just a butane soldering iron that works very well and
delivers a goodly amount of heat. Flamelessly. Not a torch, not a
rosebud, no fire.

Shrug.

You could..pull the tip/loop off a corded gun and hold the wire
between the two stubs on the front of the gun and resistance heat the
wire with it...but then..you will need to pull a cable around behind
you.

I used a big Weller gun with no loop..to solder PL-259 connectors for
radio coax. Works very well for resistance soldering. Heats the shell
and tip nicely.

But..it needs a cord.

Right. My buddy, Glenn, used that technique to show me how to solder
the terminal on the winch power cable I put together. It worked
nicely. I should cut the tip off one of my Wellers and do that.


Dont cut the tip off..simply unscrew the two hold down "bolts" and
remove them and the tip.

Its getting harder to find good tips in small towns. Even at Ace
Hardware.

Screwing them back in when done is a 30 second task.




I need to take some more tubasixes up into the attic, too. Extend my
crawling floor. Then I need another foot of insulation up there.
Cha Ching!


Get some 1/2 plywood and cut them wide enough to go through the hatch
and at least be able to cover 3 rafters. Makes working up there more
"pleasant" by whatever one measures pleasant by. And you can leave em
up there. 3/8 works too, but it will sag more under you.


Thats one of the reasons after running an alarm company for nearly 2
decades..I simply walked away from a sucessful business and never went
back.

Attics

High Desert

110F outside...think of what they are like..inside

Gunner



The methodology of the left has always been:

1. Lie
2. Repeat the lie as many times as possible
3. Have as many people repeat the lie as often as possible
4. Eventually, the uninformed believe the lie
5. The lie will then be made into some form oflaw
6. Then everyone must conform to the lie