Weller Cold Heat Soldering tool

viewsonix

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I got this Weller Cold Heat soldering tool, and it's worked fine for me so
far. Unfortunately I took a misstep and i crunched the chisel tip on it.

Anyone know a good place to buy new tips for these things? I've googled around a bit and found nothing.
 
Those things are horrid. They put current through whatever they are soldering so be sure to NOT use it around game boards. If you are soldering wires in a cab then make sure the boards are unplugged.
 
God, I hate those. First day I had one, the chisel split in half. Next time I used it, I decided to "try it at home" when I saw the commercial that showed you could solder an object, then comfortably touch the tip because it cools down instantly.

That really fucking hurt.....
 
Those things are horrid. They put current through whatever they are soldering so be sure to NOT use it around game boards. If you are soldering wires in a cab then make sure the boards are unplugged.

The circuit is between the two contacts in the tip so how's that going to hurt electronics ?

Not that i like the idea...
 
Those tools are a great way to have troublesome cold solder joints.

I read threads quite a few years ago when they came out and not one was positive.
 
I'm seeing some cold heat tips on amazon (search for cold heat tip), but not Weller branded. Looking at the thing, I'm betting that it's the same, but I could be wrong, and they are kind of expensive (like $16) (http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Heat-Bev...LZG2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317305755&sr=8-2).

You might want to look at a Butane iron instead - Weller's got a cheap one on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Weller-ML500M...ref=sr_1_7?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1317305833&sr=1-7
I don't know how good that one is, but it's likely a more controlled heat source than the cold heat unit.

As to boards: The tips on a cold heat tool are WAY too big to be doing board work with them, and the heat is FAR to uncontrolled. You don't want to use that thing on a board because it's likely to lift traces in the same way a soldering gun would. You'll end up doing as much damage with the cold heat iron as you are fixing. Use it only on larger stuff (like harness wiring).
 
Well everything I was seeing when I searched was 'out of stock' or 'discontinued'.
I am using it to solder some wires to a button switch. I don't do board work. I hate using my soldering iron pencil cuz it's constantly red hot and i'm more likely to accidentally melt my hand than the solder with it.
 
thanks Ken, I'll swing by there and check. I keep ignoring Radio Shack, since they seem to have nothing but remote control cars and cell phones these days...
 
I hate using my soldering iron pencil cuz it's constantly red hot and i'm more likely to accidentally melt my hand than the solder with it.

At least with a normal soldering iron you're likely to make a good solder joint. They really should have called those "Cold Heat" tools the "Cold Joint"... I'm pretty sure you could make a better solder joint with a hot brick.

And I'm serious here. The Cold Heat is not a very good tool for much of anything. It might be OK for soldering two wires together, but for anything else, even the $10 Radio Shack 30 watt iron is better.

-Ian
 
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