Soldering Gun: A soldering gun is a brute force tool, used for larger solder joints. If you are soldering heavy duty cables, speakers or terminals, then a soldering gun has the power you need. For finer, detailed work they are clumsy and awkward, so you will still probably want a soldering iron to go with your gun. It’s essential to ensure that the material you choose to make your heating element (resistor) can handle the electrical and heat load. This will prevent overheating and ensure safe and efficient operation. Homemade Soldering Iron Examples We’ll start with the soldering iron: a rather generic iron which uses the collar system to retain a tip over a heating element. In this case being generic is a good thing. Replacement tips can be easily sourced (even Haako tips will work). The iron feels good in the hand and the silicone cable never gets in the way thanks to its own weight keeping it fixed to the bench.

Still enjoying my Hakko FX888D. While there are higher end units with better performance, in terms of long term costs, it is one of the best value units. The main reason for this, is the cheap replacement tips, and the wide selection. Basic Soldering irons: If you are just trying your hand with soldering then perhaps an advanced soldering setup is not for you, yet. A simple soldering iron heats up to a set temperature, giving you the confidence to start soldering without having to tweak the settings. In its price range, there are units that will warm up faster,but they will not have as much thermal mass, thus forcing you to compensate by using a higher temperature than otherwise needed. Before you start making a soldering iron at home, it is essential to know the basic working mechanism of the tool. Soldering irons’ working principle is straightforward, but let’s go over it one more time.

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The section of pencil lead between the wires will work as the resistor and heating element. The resistance will vary depending on the distance between the slots. You can play and experiment with this factor to regulate the tool’s power and watch the results. You can cut a portion of a pencil and measure the resistance between both ends using a multimeter or ohm meter to make the maths and determine what power source and lead length you will need, depending on your desired power output or wattage. Safety Precautions Cover the rest of the screwdriver with the material you chose to make the handle to protect your hand from the heat generated while soldering. Cover the pencil with the heat shrink tubing and heat it to insulate the whole pencil and the connections. In the kit we get lead free solder, spare tips and a folding stand (which works but isn’t the nicest). Sure all of these aren’t the best quality, but if we are starting out they will do a good job until we move onwards.

An old screwdriver is a good base for making a cool homemade soldering iron. Things You Need (Materials List): In this article, I will give you some ideas to make cool homemade soldering irons. Let’s get started! The above data is provided to illustrate the calculation involved. When building your DIY soldering iron, do not use the 220V power due safety risks. MoxNix said:These are very far from "the best" they're cheap junk. For simple soldering stations you really can't beat Weller. Sure they're more expensive but not excessively so and they're far better. Your so called "professional" rework station is a joke. If you want to see an actual professional rework station take a look Pace products. https://paceworldwide.com/product-catalog/rework-systemsSo, making a homemade soldering iron is about considering what power source to use, for example, an old PC power supply, a USB charger, or a car’s battery. Now that we have left the boring math behind, let me give you some ideas to make your own soldering iron! 1. DIY Soldering Iron Using a Screwdriver Soldering irons are accessible, relatively affordable tools; however, sometimes you don’t have one handy or want to make your own just for fun. Sharpen one end of the pencil using the pencil sharpener. This will be the tip of the soldering iron.

isn’t a lot of money in the world of best soldering irons. It can buy you a cheap kit, loaded with accessories to sweeten the deal. Or it can buy you what is probably the most useful soldering iron a maker could have.We loved the Pinceil v2 so much we gave it an Innovation Award.Hakko are the Rolls-Royce of the best soldering irons. Its color-scheme may look a little Fisher-Price, but this soldering iron is a professional piece of kit. The Hakko FX-888D is a soldering station that offers excellent thermal performance, with a soldering iron that can reach 480 degrees Celsius. Tips can be easily sourced and changed, enabling precision or heavy duty soldering. Insulate the copper wire you wrapped around the screwdriver using heat shrink tubing or electrical tape to prevent short circuits and protect it from burns. It’s important to remember that if you connect the positive wire with the negative without zero or minimal electrical resistance, you will create a short circuit.

After letting it heat up, touch the solder with the screwdriver’s tip. If it gets melted, voila, your soldering iron is working! Some Considerations: BTW, I tried to use my IR temperature measurement gun to see what my iron's temperature was and it failed as the gun could not focus that small :) Of course, you can also consider using grid current, but remember that this is the most dangerous power source. Be extremely careful and use it only if you have experience working with high-current.Use the razor edge to create a slot on the part of the lead next to the sharpened section, and make another in the part nearest to the pencil barrel. The most efficient ones, are the tips like on the Hakko FX951, but it is a far more expensive unit, and the added efficienct is often not needed unless you are dealing with large ground planes, and want to do things like keep the solder tip at like 250C for your lead solder. Connect both ends of the wire (if you use alligator clips, you can make a safer and better connection) to the positive and negative ends of the power source. It doesn’t really matter what’s the positive or the negative since resistors don’t have polarity. When electricity tries to go through a resistor, the restricted energy is transformed into heat – fundamental physics at work.