I have a pretty old 100W American Beauty soldering iron I inherited from my late grandfather, and at some point, I got a new 43D diamond shape solder tip for it and generally cleaned it up, the idea being to use it for soldering chassis connections like ground connections on some Fender amps that a regular soldering station can't handle. The thing is, it's not working as well as I'd hoped, and I'm wondering if I really need a 43C chisel tip for better heat transfer or if I should just buy something like a Weller 175W iron for these tasks.
One observation: The solder tip does not fit snugly in the barrel of the iron, and since I only have this one iron, I don't know if anything is missing, like a sleeve that should be inside the barrel. (I don't have one in known-good condition to compare it to.) Rust had roughened the inside of the barrel, but I removed the rust with Noxon 7 polish a few years ago. Still, I wonder if I'm getting optimal heat transfer to the tip. Is the tip supposed to fit snugly in the barrel?
I can tell that the heating element is drawing 100W, so that's not in doubt. I'm just not sure it's getting where it needs to go.
Or is a 175W iron really needed to do these jobs properly?
One observation: The solder tip does not fit snugly in the barrel of the iron, and since I only have this one iron, I don't know if anything is missing, like a sleeve that should be inside the barrel. (I don't have one in known-good condition to compare it to.) Rust had roughened the inside of the barrel, but I removed the rust with Noxon 7 polish a few years ago. Still, I wonder if I'm getting optimal heat transfer to the tip. Is the tip supposed to fit snugly in the barrel?
I can tell that the heating element is drawing 100W, so that's not in doubt. I'm just not sure it's getting where it needs to go.
Or is a 175W iron really needed to do these jobs properly?
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I have an old Weller D550 "class" iron, only 1 click on the trigger though. It solders tabs to steel chassis just fine; just used it to do so the other day. (I walked down to the shop to see what model it is and both stickers have come off the sides, so \o/ )
I remember as a kid being shown how to make a replacement "tip" for those out of a hunk of solid copper ground wire from a Romex cable scrap. Never could figure out why just the tip part got hot - because of the tight bend?
I remember as a kid being shown how to make a replacement "tip" for those out of a hunk of solid copper ground wire from a Romex cable scrap. Never could figure out why just the tip part got hot - because of the tight bend?
I did talk to someone at American Beauty -- an American company still in business and supporting their products(!) -- and the man I spoke to said I probably need an oxide-removing metal brush they sell to clean the barrel of the iron. And a chisel-tip will probably work better than the diamond tip I bought a few years ago. If that doesn't work, they can refurbish the whole iron for me.
Oddly, Vulcan is still in business, and still in the heat business, though not soldering irons. They moved from Mass to a field in Maine.
https://www.vulcanelectric.com/about-us/
I have not asked them if they service old irons because mine works fine.
Being the old fart that I am, I've held onto an old Vulcan Mercury 100 watt iron with a chisel tip.
I've no probems using it on heavy chassis work.
I've no probems using it on heavy chassis work.
I have a cheap 60W quartz iron for that kind of thing. If I need more heat I use a butane torch like this:
I'd like to see how that butane torch works in a crowded chassis like my console's tuner. 😆
Without burning up things.....
Without burning up things.....
I learned to solder in HS where they were still using large copper tipped irons heated in gas fired ovens.
The gas was not natural but rather manufactured from Pennsylvania coal floated across Lakes Erie & Ontario to the Toronto waterfront.
The gas works was there for many years until natural gas was piped in from Alberta. Manufactured gas contains some Carbon Monoxide, not good.👎
Getting serious about electronics I got a 100W type, just something from a hardware store. But eventually it was strictly Ungar & Weller.
For plumbing it was always a torch. But that Vulcan iron looks very authoritative, might work.
Also used a carbon tipped iron right out of the 30's, powered by the 6V battery in the car I was working on.
Acid cored solder, it really stuck!👍
The gas was not natural but rather manufactured from Pennsylvania coal floated across Lakes Erie & Ontario to the Toronto waterfront.
The gas works was there for many years until natural gas was piped in from Alberta. Manufactured gas contains some Carbon Monoxide, not good.👎
Getting serious about electronics I got a 100W type, just something from a hardware store. But eventually it was strictly Ungar & Weller.
For plumbing it was always a torch. But that Vulcan iron looks very authoritative, might work.
Also used a carbon tipped iron right out of the 30's, powered by the 6V battery in the car I was working on.
Acid cored solder, it really stuck!👍
I have had good results with my trusty life-long friend, the Weller 100/140 solder gun. I can melt the blob of solder in the center of a heavy Fender chassis with it, if not the whole blob, at least a pool in it large enough to take a wire. And that is just using the gun as intended.
I have discovered from times a tip wore through, that I could take the two ends of a broken tip and poke them into the solder blob and do what I call resistance soldering. The current of the gun tip now flows through the joint directly, letting it self-heat. It works remarkably well.
I have discovered from times a tip wore through, that I could take the two ends of a broken tip and poke them into the solder blob and do what I call resistance soldering. The current of the gun tip now flows through the joint directly, letting it self-heat. It works remarkably well.
Blahaha It wouldn't? Actually, that's a lie. The flame is quite directional.
I'm thinking this is about new builds though... You would torch solder the ground to the chassis before you build the rest 🙂
The old copper radiators were soldered using hunks of metal attached to handles, heated over coal or gas, those are the heaviest duty soldering tools I have seen.
The joint would be prepared with flux, tinned, and with both parts in place, wiped down with the hot tip.
For some reason, never saw blow lamps or blow torches used.
This was done after repairs, or cleaning, very common before coolant and distilled water was used, any old water would be used, some would have a high deposit problem.
So dismantle, clean, joint, back to work.
Another lost skill, hardly any one can do it now.
The joint would be prepared with flux, tinned, and with both parts in place, wiped down with the hot tip.
For some reason, never saw blow lamps or blow torches used.
This was done after repairs, or cleaning, very common before coolant and distilled water was used, any old water would be used, some would have a high deposit problem.
So dismantle, clean, joint, back to work.
Another lost skill, hardly any one can do it now.
Plumbers on copper tubing, A/c repairs, there also soldering and brazing skills are needed.
Even trucks now have plastic header tanks and aluminum tubes in their radiators here.
Even trucks now have plastic header tanks and aluminum tubes in their radiators here.
What is the hourly wage for a skilled worker there?
We pay about $1.20 per hour.
That changes tthe equations also, the labor cost adds to the repair cost.
We pay about $1.20 per hour.
That changes tthe equations also, the labor cost adds to the repair cost.
Depends on which trade. Shop charge to an end user is ~ 90$/hour on average. Probably the tech gets about 20$ of that if they are lucky.
I was scorned by other techs (not companies, just tech who feel if Long and McQuade can charge 90$, so can they?!) when I dared to offer free estimates and 30$/hour labour. They want the aforementioned 90$ (for the estimate and per hour "because it took time to estimate it" and I guess I can undercut them because I work from home and I'm not greedy 😀
I was scorned by other techs (not companies, just tech who feel if Long and McQuade can charge 90$, so can they?!) when I dared to offer free estimates and 30$/hour labour. They want the aforementioned 90$ (for the estimate and per hour "because it took time to estimate it" and I guess I can undercut them because I work from home and I'm not greedy 😀