gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

[arneson]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

We all must have a little "Pyro" in us.
I've never seen that iron before, strange long tip and catalytic chamber.
No valve in bottom for refill?
How about top valve for temp regulation?
Light fuse and get back.

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

@Gonzo:
if the tip is too fine, you can always clip it, to get a thicker tip, no?

@arneson:
so these "hard to melt" joints are done of leadfree solder?
Do I need leadfree solder to solder the new cap?

@Willawake:
your butane has no temperature regulation?
and yes, the tip is wobbly because that open structure, but in normal butanes that is not the case.
And butane is expensive only if you are going to use it frequently.


@Arneson,
how long will last a 200 ml can of butane? (4 euros)

[willawake]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

I've never seen that iron before, strange long tip and catalytic chamber.
No valve in bottom for refill?

the orange ring one is to open the gas (its either on or off basically). the black ring is to change the flame to blue. the blue canister is the whole point, you replace the $5 52g canister avoiding the tedious refilling via butane can. The flame is not very powerful, just adequate but working with acrylic etc its exactly whats needed. the soldering iron tip i think is just a gimmicky add on. might be good for plumbing.

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

@gonzo:
your 80Watt iron costed you 5€ only ???
or do you mean the spare tips?

[arneson]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

I carry a large refill can that lasts a long time, even though I get only a little bit in the valve, most of it sprayes in my face.
I also have a small can, it says 28grams weight, this one sprays mostly all over my hands.
Then I have the cute little individual refills, when I need one of those they have pre exploded in my hot car.
Of course I'm only kidding but, not really.
One of the best designs yet actually uses a real bic lighter, you remove the flint, drop it in the handle and viola, instant torch.

[Hagis2k]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Theese cartridges are really common,
i got an really expensive gas heated glue gun who uses this kind of cartridges to found theese cartridges way to expensive so i refill it when its empty with butane bottles from the local gasoline store

[willawake]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

wow never seen one of them before ....electric works fine though

oh yeah....mine is called a Spotflam the CV 360 is the cartridge

[Hagis2k]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Hehe remember when i did buy it it was late -95 was working for my fathers construction company we where rebuilding apartments and we needed an gluegun that worked on gas because we had no power in that area at the moment think i payed like 260$ for it back theb could say it quality still working fine as it where new 11 years after

[gonzo0815]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

@gonzo:
your 80Watt iron costed you 5€ only ???
or do you mean the spare tips?

No, i meant the iron complet. I bought this from Aldi, it was a soldering kit with one 30w iron, 1 80w iron, some solder, a sheetmettal iron stand and some solderinggrease. I have payed about 7€. those irons are as always, to hot, very fast oxydating tip due to the high temperature. But anyway, most unregulated irons have those problems. The tips are about 1,25€, but not iron plated nor somhow longlife. Thus i change it very often, but IMHO it is ok.
Despite that, for an neat soldering expereience, i have the strong feeling to advice some better, preferably tempcontroled iron. But as like the russians at the Mir, if you want to fix something, you can do it with anything, but you must have strong nerves.

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

those gas-powered glue-guns are so expensive compared with the electrical ones.
Fortunatelly, the gas-irons are comparable to the electrical irons.

@Gonzo:
7 euros for 2 irons, thats cheap.
Yes, I have been looking for cheap irons and found online 60 Watts irons for as low as 5 euros.
In my small town I don't think I can find anything like that.
I will try tomorrow.

In any case, I will buy a supercheap one. I don't mind if the tips get oxidized.
My iron is a 25W JBC, costed me 25 euros and the tip also dies quickly, and each spare tip is more than 10€!!! I say fu*k JBC. This time I will buy chinese stuff LOL.

It is disgusting that many online shops sell irons, but not spare tips. Of course they want you to buy the whole new iron once the tips get old. Fu*k them too!

(sorry for so much swearing)

[gonzo0815]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Hr hr hr , yes this sounds familiar to me. But i recomend an flat chisel like tip, with others i have no good luck in recaping. For most of those cheap ceramic heated and iron plated cheap chinese irons, there are no chisel tips availiable. I have one of those bought for about 7€, the tip is great, but not for recaping.

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Today I have finally bought a 3 euro, 40W, chinese iron.
It is 2-wire, so I am going to modify it to a 3-wire one before attempting the recapping (grounding the chassis).

Tomorrow hopefully...

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Hi, the 40W chinese electric iron didn't work for recapping my mobo.
It is not hot enough to remove the legs of the old capacitor.
I have bought the Velleman 50W soldering station, and it didn't work either.
I finally decided to leave the legs of the old capacitor in place, and solder the new one
there.
(in fact I already did this at the beginning, but one of the legs got broken and I wanted to do a decent repair)

I have also bought the Velleman butane iron torch but I am having problems: when set to maximum butane output, there is sputtering and the flame breaks up and dissapears. (the nozzle spits liquid butane: PUF PUF PUF).

I don't know if this is due to the cheap butane I am using.
I have tried 2 different bottles of butane:
the first one CLIPPER I bought in a chinese bazar, for 1,80 €
the second one EXTRA+ in a tobacco shop, for 2,75 €.

Velleman email tech service says I should try a higher quality butane, for example WELLER butane.

But can I really blame the cheap butane refill for the sputtering?
or is it the cheap butane iron-torch?

[willawake]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

are you adding solder before trying to remove the capacitor?

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

yes, of course, I put solder for better transfer of heat, but the leg remained rock solid.
Those of you who recommended a 80W iron were totally right.
Now the mobo is working again, so I will stop experimenting (I don't want to fry it).
Someday if I get a discarded mobo, I will experiment on it, but not on this one.

[gonzo0815]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Thats sounds just like my experiences . The difference is, that the shop i went after i recognized that 30w isn`t enough power, had no gas powered iron there, but luckily some cheap tip for my 80w unit, wich i had laying around.
Anyway, for the amount you spend on all those not working irons, you better have bought a soild 80w station, or e.g an Weller line powered magnastat and tempcontroled iron (about 70€ here in DE, but with that mangatec this unit feels like and 120w iron, even it will not get to hot like those unregulated).

But regarding your gas iron, this could be realy a gas problem. In many gas bottles there are dust and inpurities, wich will extinguish the flame. And not forget, you have to wait a minute to let the iron stabilizing. Then you can increase the power.

What tip have you used with that 50w station? you should always try an chisel type as short as possible and thick. Anything else will not carry enough heat to the board.

Some members here do always preheat the board with an airdryer or an hot air gun. I have never done this, but this could probably work very well.

[argaclock]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

I couldn't find any cheap 80W online in Spain. Only 60W.
If I find a cheap 80W, I will buy it for the future.
The mobo seems to work ok now, so I will let it stay as it is.
I expect the other caps to fail eventually, and then I could try to use
the 80W if I have bought it.

I have run out of money now, so we will leave the Weller station for the future

Re. the Butane iron: I am having progresively better results now. Maybe it is because the second butane can is better than the first. Maybe the first butane clogged the nozzle, and now the nozzle is being cleaned with the new butane.
Or maybe it is just that I am now using a butane lighter to start the torch.
(before I was using matches, maybe they clogged the nozzle???)

Now it still sputters after the iron is just refilled (deposit fully charged), (the gas output is strongest then), and the flame goes out. But later, when the deposit is a bit decharged, the maximum flame holds on, with some fluctuations. When the deposit is at low charge, the gas stream is weaker and then the flame doesn't fluctuate: is perfect then (but shorter of course).

Yes, I am now starting with low power, and then increasing it.

One question: before refilling, do I have to shake the butane bottle? I am shaking it now (I Googled for this), but in the first refill I didn't shake it.

The Velleman station 50W has a fine tip. I bought 2 spare tips, so I could have clipped one of them to make it thicker, but I was tired of trying things and decided to leave the cap's feet in place.

Yes, preheat the board is a possibility... you can also put the iron in a closed box to reach a higher temperature... but you have to prepare the logistics to act quickly... and safely...
the dificulty increases.

[willawake]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

i am using a 60w ersa station. problem is that wattage is not the only parameter. there are other things like how well is heat being transferred to the tip and the design of the tip, whether it is of good dimensions and materials therefore maintaining heat and has a good area contacting what you are soldering. in the end cheap is not a good sign so with cheap go for higher wattage.

[arneson]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Different irons for different jobs may apply here.
If your on a motherboard ground plain 1000mf cap thats one type.
If your in a power supply near the mass of wire connections you definetly need more horsepower.
I'm going back on topic, I know, thats amazing for me...
The sputtering gas flame up issue has left me with two different fingers burned.
It seems for me that it happens after the catalyst screen gets poked or if the tip was made cheaply. Usually a new or better tip takes care of it no matter what butain I'm useing.

[gonzo0815]

Re: gas-powered irons? disadvantages?

Normaly you don`t need to shake the gas. I uually store the gas in the central heating room, to let it build up some higher pressure due to the higher ambient temp. As long as you got the tank full, there is nothign to improve.