On Sat, 14 Dec 2013 11:15:49 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
My trusty Portasol has, apparently, given up the ghost. I don't use it
very often, but when I need it (as I did yesterday), I expect it to work.
Yesterday it did not. I filled it with butane, turned it on, and no gas
flowed. The on/off switch feels kind of funky, and I suppose that after
the 20 or so years that I've had it, I can't complain.
So, today I went looking at Amazon, ebay, home depot, etc, and it seems
like there's a pretty huge array, some good reviews and some horrible
reviews for each of them.
I don't want to spend a LOT of money, but I don't want to but crap,
either. Any suggestions would be welcome.
I've got a couple butane soldering irons. They work ok, but recently I
had to do a repair on an alarm panel (fusible link was blown) and didn't
have one in the truck. Rather than a 45 minute trip (one way) back to the
shop I stopped by a local Radio Shack and found one that operates on a
couple AA batteries. Along with it I picked up a small roll of light
(thin) rosin core solder. I also bought a pack of batteries to go in it,
as I didn't expect them to last long. That soldering iron has seen half a
dozen uses in the field now, and at the moment it sitting on my work bench
because I just used to to make up some battery packs. It still has the
first set of batteries in it. The pack I bought has come in handy, but so
far not for that iron.
I would not use it to try and solder a T-tap in 12 ga electrical wire, but
it does a great job for fine soldering of 22ga stuff, circuit boards, etc
and its great in close quarters were I am not 100% certain of the
flammability of the surrounding dust and the glow of a butane iron makes
me nervous.
I don't know what its life actually is because I don't normally use it on
the bench, but I've had it for over a year. Normally it rides around in
my tool pouch in the truck.
P.S. I think if I needed more heat and used it for longer at a time I would
look for one of the old oversized Weller butane irons.
The one you want for heavy work
http://www.masterappliance.com/heat-...torch-ut-100si
Good **** Maynard!!
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