Keggo

Hey Guys... I just bought a Cold Heat soldering iron from Radioshack. So far, I LOVE IT! It works really good! I've only been soldering l.e.d.'s w/ resistors, but, it's working great! If any of you are wondering about it, I must say, for work that isn't too intricate, I HIGHLY recommend it!

midiwall

Yeup, they're pretty cool. Ceramics in action!

A head's up... I was just in CostCo tonight and they're selling the "as advertised on TV" combo pack of the Cold Heat iron and the wire stripper for $17.99.

Keggo

Maybe I should take mine back to radioshack and get it at Costco! Hahaha, thanks for the info!

DudeBud

any chance you could tell me what costco?

jimbo74

i saw them at both my local costcos.....

cabbage

Same thing (Coleman right?) at Harbor Freight without wire stripper for $15.99 I think its ok, was kinda hard to use when I was cramped down sodering behind the kick panels.

DudeBud

is this that one you guys see at costco http://www.coldheat.com/NR/store/ind...utm_medium=ppc

jimbo74

yup..... that is the one i saw... same on they have on tv

Yoda

Costco in Issaquah and South Center had them

midiwall

And Kirkland.

They had the unit alone for a while and then when I was there Tuesday they had a new blister pack which was the set (iron and wire stripper).

DudeBud

thanks im going to go get one

anthony1

iTrader: (1)

It works great if the surface is not too small. For connectors, I still rely on my solder iron. It seems there's two forks that have to make contact with the surface and cause a short which then heat the tip. It's good for like one time solder kinda thing.

94x4

I've mentioned the use of these before in the "Stereo" thread... they trully do work great for stereo installations and other such applications (I've resoldiered the contacts on one of my auto alarm remotes and it worked impeccably, uh, AWESOME).
The key to it all is to not use pressure, only contact as the carbon tip is fragile.

krasher

Huh. Mine was a royal POS. The tip broke and it managed to solder its own tip together, so, yes, no more contact. BUSTED.

X-mas present from my pop too.
Ah well. At least you guys are having luck.

Keggo

You can buy new tips for it... and when you're soldering are you contacting the solder directly? I've found the cleanest and easiest way is to heat the metal that will be soldered and hold the solder to the metal... and VOILA! A perfect joint! You can get the new tips from any RadioShack.

midiwall

This is the proper way to solder or braze no matter what the tool. You _always_ want the solder (or brass/copper when brazing) to flow into the heat on the metal, never down the tip to the target.


I have a ColdHeat now and I can see why people don't like it.

I was soldering a T connection in a power lead install the other day, so I had a power lead floating in the air, stripped in the middle and a 3rd lead to attach to it. I had a heck of a time getting enough tension on the wire to maintain a solid connection with the ColdHeat so that it would work. I tried a few times, but was thrashing and in a werid position so I finally gave up and went back to my butane iron. I had it done in seconds.

I'll keep mine, and it'll get used, but I'll need to practice a bit to find a way to grip a wire with my pinky/ring finger then guide the iron with thumb/index/middle while guiding solder with my left.

PirateFins

Here is a nice little trick for a non-wire holding, strong solder joint. Please use saftey glasses.

Strip the wire you are using to connect a little longer than needed ( I usually strip it 2x's as long.
"Tin" the end of the wire by flowing solder onto it, after there is a good amount of solder remove the heat and quickly give the end of the wire a flick of the finger (away from you, and this is what the glasses are needed for the most) to remove the excess solder.
The strands of the wire are now soldered together :Tinned". Take a pair of needle nose pliers and make a J with the end.
Put the J over or through the contact point. Use the needle nose to crimp it down so it holds itself in place and is touching itself.
Solder the wire to the connection point. Cut off any excess wire end that is not needed or sticking out.
This allows you to hold the heat with one hand and the solder in the other without having to hold the wire.

Hope that helps out for some.

Keggo

This is kind of the way I do it... I don't tin the wires though (which I probably should on some wires, but haven't had a problem yet). I pretty much just take both wires, make the ends into j's (some wires aren't as maleable as others, which is why tinning is a good technique), hook the two "j's" together then loop the wire(s) back around and twist. This to me puts less stress on the solder itself seeing as how there are two types of joints (solder, and loop). In your case Midiwall, just do the same with the third wire. This is pretty much the same as Pirate's, just a different "version" so to speak... Then of course heat shrink the motha... hahahah

midiwall

Yeah, I always make a mechanical connection first, and I'm a stickler about tinning.

The issue here was that the wire where the splice was going was too long to get any tension on, so the wire wouldn't provide any resistance to my pushing against it. Given that the ColdHeat needs a pretty consistent connection across the tip to work, it wouldn't stay put and heat things up.

Since the ColdHeat heats the work and not the tip, I couldn't just lay the wire into residual heat on the tip - you have to short the slit in the tip.

89macrunner

what i do is i put some solder on the wire and let it dry...than i put the wire with the solder already on it next to what im going to solder it to....than i just heat the solder and let it go again

is this wrong?