I was watching video clips on soldering guns. Isn't the soldering gun better than common soldering irons?
What I mean of soldering gun is like this:
I don't mean the soldering gun like this:
Or like this:
At least I think soldering guns are better common soldering irons in soldering passive components. For SMD and non-SMD.
What do you think?
Do you have any experience of using this sort of soldering irons?
You forgot to include this hilarious invention:
Believe it or not: Sparks fly out from the tip whilst soldering.
At least I think soldering guns are better common soldering irons in soldering passive components. For SMD and non-SMD.
How hard did you 'think' about that comment? Did you form your opinion from hard evidence or just make a wild guess?
My opinion is that I've used soldering irons for over 40 years of my life. Whilst I've known of the existence of soldering 'guns', I've not used one nor have I known of anyone else skiiled in the art using one. I can't see how one would accurately position the tip with a 'gun'.
Amin, how about these soldering irons that I own.
Isn't the soldering gun better than common soldering irons?
Depends on what you need to solder. Soldering guns are great for bulk heat, where you need the high wattage...such as soldering twists of large wires, or a larger wire being soldered into a ground plane or copper bar. Its raw power would simply wipe out a small chip like an 0805 resistor. Would you use a torch to install your water pipe, or a flamethrower?
Below, the screw terminals were quickly installed using a soldering gun
I've used a Weller soldering gun, many, many years ago!
It was my Dad's, originally.
It isn't designed for small electronics work.
It is very heavy, as it has a large transformer in the body of the device.
It isn't Grounded.
It "buzzes" when you turn it on, as one hears the transformer resonate.
The tip is way too large for any electronics work.
The one I used had a slightly different case, with more rectangular corners.
It also had a light bulb on the case, under the "probes", that lit up when one pulled the trigger, making it easier to see what one was soldering.
It had two power levels, pull the trigger 1/2 way for 1/2 power, or all the way for full power.
I can't imagine even holding the device in my hand to solder a couple hundred joints on a PCB.
It was heavy and awkward to hold, balance wise.
I do recall using it for soldering the braided shield on RF coax cable to the very physically large RF connectors used back then.
One really needed the extra heat, and the RF connector acted like a large heat sink, and it was tough to get it hot enough to solder the shield.
I haven't seen my (dad's) soldering gun in years.
If I have need for one, I'll have to borrow one from Ross!
JC
Web photo, a Weller soldering gun with a light bulb!
JC
I've used one of Wellers those too (with the torch and everything). This was decades ago before I had a proper (Antex) soldering iron. I suppose it was OK for securing OC71s and BC107/108s into small magazine projects made up on Veroboard. I couldn't envisage the prospect of using something like that for modern, small pitch SMD.
.
Probably a large part of the reason I'm only a bit mangler these days rests with things like that Weller!
Soldering guns are also good for soldering line cords into pcbs (such as a gnd lead into a gnd plane). Our soldering station just created blobs of solder, not really flowing. Getting out the soldering gun solved that quick--the solder flowed like meted butter. The 14gauge cord was simply too much for our solder station. That may be a consideration when purchasing a station...since you can get various capacities.
Web photo, a Weller soldering gun with a light bulb!
Haha-with an Archer label (when Radio Shack sold electronics)
Here is another style I use...I look like Dr. Smith
Like others, here, I have used both soldering iron and soldering gun.
The gun has too much power for fine work, like SMD but not enough to solder sheet metal. It is great to replace a part in that 5-tube radio I used to have.
Each has its place. Even soldering irons are not universal. That is why the better ones have changeable tips for different kinds of work
Jim
Haha-with an Archer label (when Radio Shack sold electronics)
I couldn't resist getting one of these "USB" soldering pencils from eBay for about $5 after getting "suckered" into buying/trying "cold tip" sparker "revolutionary new design" irons described above. Like so many wondrous goods from China on eBay, this little thing [ https://www.ebay.com/itm/Profess... ] simply does not work as delivered. It needs at least 1.4 Amps for the tip to warm up in about 15 seconds, which is about twice as much power as a standard USB port can deliver.
But if you replace the USB with a 1.5 Amp +5Volts supply, and replace the stupid touch switch with a real press-down/release switch, then it works OK. I've used it for about 18 months or @ 2000 solder connections and the tip still heats up to solder melt in about 15 seconds.
I've used a Weller soldering gun, many, many years ago!
I have one of those in my toolbox.....
I've had it for many, many years since the days I used for fix B&W TVs! And as I young apprentice back in the late 60s in Italy my boss had one (not that brand of course).
"Instant" heat and fast cool down, it was very good to even solder electro's negative tails directly to the radio and TV chassis. Nope, no SMD in them days!
It needs at least 1.4 Amps for the tip to warm up in about 15 seconds, which is about twice as much power as a standard USB port can deliver.
https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/hakko-fx888dweller-wtcpt-it-not#comment-2524446
Amin, how about these soldering irons that I own.
In shop class we called those "Soldering Coppers". They were great for soldering 0402 chip resistors. The smaller coppers were better for TQFP packages.
Isn't the soldering gun better than common soldering irons?
At least I think soldering guns are better common soldering irons in soldering passive components. For SMD and non-SMD.
And you wonder why you are having trouble getting a job? C'mon, really?
Heres a homework assignment for you. Get a scrap PCB with SMD components on it. Try removing the components, then resoldering them back on in different locations and post pictures of before and after. Make sure the components are real close together too.
Jim
...It is very heavy...
...The tip is way too large for any electronics work.
+1000
The aussies here are old enough to remember the ‘scope’ soldering irons. These used a carbon slug and a lever or ring to activate the heat. Temperature control was by observing how much you melted everything! Great for doing valve work, but i’m a generation too late.
Russell, my first real iron was an Adcola (circa 1963)
I first started with a soldering gun in Romania. Even at an electronic club we were using them. I only used a soldering station after moving to Canada.
My mom bought me the first soldering gun and I can't describe how happy I was. People were building them by themselves. We were using a copper wire, about 1.5mm in diameter for the tip. It has an advantage that you can pick an amount of solder on the tip, let it cool until you get to the real location to solder, so you free one hand to handle other things while yo solder. Also, because the tip cools fast, that solder can stay there for as long as you want, where for the the soldering iron it oxidizes.
I used it for TH and SMT (we called them SMD surface mount device instead surface mount technology) work.
The problem with the SMT is that the iron achieve higher temperatures than needed because the temperature is simply not regulated. For higher temperatures, we used a shorter copper tip, for lower, a longer wire. Some repair-man were using two different sizes soldering gun.
At the club we were learning about audio amplifiers and everybody was building audio amplifiers, as powerful as we could. Big transformer secondary copper wires needed to be soldered, 2N3055 has two pins that also needed wires while on the heat sink. The ring terminal also needs a wire for the collector.
The project at the club started by routing the PCB on a paper with a 5mm grid. Then we were punching the PCB through the paper for drilling. Drill bits 1mm in diameter were like gold. In communist time you could not find them in a store. After drilling we were painting the PCB with a solution of tar and gasoline. Etching was done with nitric acid or iron chloride. You kept the PCB in acid for too long, everything was gone including traces. Too less, the board had short circuits in between the traces. The most awaited step was populating the board with the soldering gun. It was a delight. µA741, A709 and TH TTL were the ICs that we were using at that time.
Anyway, working with it you start to develop some skills and you turn it on on short pulses to somehow regulate the temperature.
Here’s a bit of history:
https://stevenjohnson.com/soldering/weller.htm
Amin, how about these soldering irons that I own.
The first and only time I saw these at work was when my parents hired two people to add a water collector to our house roof. They soldered galvanized steel sheet with them. Always had two at work, another two in an improvised barrel coal fire. The water collectors are still there this day.
Yep... they were used for SMD (surface mounted DRAIN pipes ) 
The aussies here are old enough to remember the ‘scope’ soldering irons.
Yep had a couple of them too, don't know if they are still hiding somewhere.
How hard did you 'think' about that comment? Did you form your opinion from hard evidence or just make a wild guess?
Thank you Mr.Kartman for reply,
I always suffer of non-uniform heat "conduction" in my soldering iron. In many cases it's a big issue to have a well propagation of heat in the tips. The more sharp/big the tip becomes or it get far from of the heating element, the less heat in the tip.
In the video clips that I've seen, it showed that there could be more heat in the tip because it realses the heat as close as possible to the tip and it realses more heat(in the video clips that I've seen it showed that the tip becomes molten). And the operator easily solder their job.
Amin, how about these soldering irons that I own.
Ross,
My ancients centuries ago have used such tools to carve stones in Bardak Siah Palace or Persepolis. Or probably used them to create Toreutics on thier wine glasses.
You still use them!?
...The tip is way too large for any electronics work...
Thanks Doc,
But images on the net showed us some soldering guns with tiny tips.
...It "buzzes" when you turn it on, as one hears the transformer resonate...
Ah, your comment made me to get back to my diaries. I spent half of my childhood with a Micro Genius. Something like:
(Never forgot Super Mario, I always pushed the buttons on the game controllers as possible as to make that stupid Mario jumps from the holes while my tongue sticked out from my mouth and had fight with my sisters and brother because of excessive pushing buttons. What a good days! Good days! Please get back! Please! missed those days)
After around six month purchasing, the transformer of the console started "Buzzing". After about 2 month, the situation became worse. That buzzing sound became louder and borred us. It buzzed as a Phalanx (An example)was shooting near us. We almost found the problem. It was because the transformer became warm and warmer. The warmer, the louder buzzing sound. Thus we always put the transformer in the refriger to make it cold as soon as possible. Several months later, the transormer died and the age of video gaming ended to me because my parents never bought me another transformer.
Don't see me that way, it was Mario's fault. or maybe it was the designers' fault because they could place a fan on/in the transformer to cool it.
About your father's solder, probably you've used it for a big period of time.
I've used one of Wellers those too (with the torch and everything). This was decades ago before I had a proper (Antex) soldering iron. I suppose it was OK for securing OC71s and BC107/108s into small magazine projects made up on Veroboard. I couldn't envisage the prospect of using something like that for modern, small pitch SMD.
.
Probably a large part of the reason I'm only a bit mangler these days rests with things like that Weller!
Even for bigger packages? bigger than 1206?
And you wonder why you are having trouble getting a job? C'mon, really?
Heres a homework assignment for you. Get a scrap PCB with SMD components on it. Try removing the components, then resoldering them back on in different locations and post pictures of before and after. Make sure the components are real close together too.
Thanks Jim, but I'm doing embedded desgining as a hobby. Don't have any crtificate around electronic and I think it could be hard for me to find a job in embededd or electronic.
I always suffer of non-uniform heat "conduction" in my soldering iron. In many cases it's a big issue to have a well propagation of heat in the tips. The more sharp/big the tip becomes or it get far from of the heating element, the less heat in the tip.
What sort of iron do you have?
The quality of tips has a big contribution. I have a cheapy Chinese hot air tool and soldering iron that is a copy of a Hakko. The tool itself is ok, but the Chinese tips are poor. I use either Plato or original Hakko tips. The longer and thinner the tip, the more heat loss you get - you can't escape physics. So you need to crank up the temperature. The more you crank up the temperature the less the tips last.
The likes of Metcal and JBC are supposed to be better in this regard.
What sort of iron do you have?
I have two chinese version that don't remember their names. Also, have a couple Hakko tips that I myself have designed a station for them. Not bad. I like it. but haven't used it for about 3 years.
... but the Chinese tips are poor. I use either Plato or original Hakko tips...
I have several Hakko tips. I think T12. How do you distinguish a fake tip to the orginal?
I guess all of them are packed in the same way. Ain't they?
The likes of Metcal and JBC are supposed to be better in this regard.
And which one is the best? Metcal or JBC?
I heard the name of JBC over and over.
The longer and thinner the tip, the more heat loss you get - you can't escape physics.
I'm not nagging that why does the heat escape from the tip, I'm just saying that why don't companies desgin the tips so that provide sufficient heat for soldering? If longer or thinner tips are more exposed to the low-temperature environment, so it's a problem that the companies should figure out. We pay to buy thinner or longer tips to solder the components which need such tips.
‘Aint they’???? Aint necessarily so........
How to tell the difference? Difficult. If i buy from legitimate sources, then i expect i get a real Hakko part in Hakko packaging. As for the Plato ones, they seemed to last, so they appear better than the Chinese ones.
I’fe not used JBC, but have friends that swear by the Metcal. Prepare to pay for the privilege.
