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Now that is a proper soldering iron!

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    #1

    Now that is a proper soldering iron!

    I was just cruising on eBay to look at the current prices of cheap 60W irons just for the fun on it, and then I saw this:
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/American-Bea...item27e8d101dd
    330 Watts of PCB-melting power - WOW!
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    #2
    Re: Now that is a proper soldering iron!

    Yeah buddy! That was the first type soldering iron I ever used when I was in the 7th grade.

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      #3
      Re: Now that is a proper soldering iron!

      When I was in the USMC, we were training in the desert and the XO wanted to set-up a large, ground-mounted antenna on the other side of a hill so that if our communications resulted in getting an artillary shelling, the antenna (on the other side of the hill) would die, and not us. I was a Tech, and not a radio operator, so I had never seen one before. Opened it up and it the center pin RG-58 cable was broken. Had the idea that I could scavenge one from another piece of gear, so all I needed was a soldering iron. Opened up the tool kit (for the 1st time ever) and inside waiting for me was a monster soldering iron just like this one.

      Heated the skinny, gold replacement pin up to desolder it from the wire and complete melted the whole mess. Literally liquified the gold pin.

      20 years later, I realize that the whole thing was training, and that I had been set-up. The XO didn't really need the antenna set-up, they knew I was a Tech and not a Radio Operator, knew I had never seen one of these 70 foot tall VHF antennas before, and they deliberately broke the brand-new antenna and then gave me a 12,000 watt wood burning soldering iron and it had the predictable result. I spent 3 years thinking I was the stupidest Marine in the world, and never suspected that I was their primary guinea pig.

      "Hey, lets send the guy into this situation and give him this hardware and see what he does with it."

      Had I known, I might have stayed in. Anyways, that's my story about trying to use a cherry-red fireplace poker to perform a delicate solder job.

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        #4
        Re: Now that is a proper soldering iron!

        Good story. We tried out best in the Navy to do pranks. It's kinda cool your XO was in on it when you think about it.

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          #5
          Re: Now that is a proper soldering iron!

          Do people mostly dislike the hot copper type of solder guns? (the one where there's one loop of metal wire with a large current passing through?)

          True I don't think many of even these gun-type can get to 300W but never thought pencil type irons could get that high...

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            #6
            Re: Now that is a proper soldering iron!

            I got at work similar type only heated with gas!
            copper iron tip
            Just cook it! It's already broken.

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