I would like to replace my old (read broken) butane soldering gun. I am pretty hard on them and found that I could never go back to electric.

So I am looking for a good high quality soldering gun not sure if propane or butane is better.

 

if weller makes propane or butane soldering guns, get a weller. they are the BEST electric guns, im not sure if they make propane/butane ones.

 

Thanks, I looked into weller and they do make butane ones... looks like a good range of price/quality too.

I am looking into this guy.
http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brand...c=037103472281


Anybody else have any other brands to suggest?

 

how do you ruin soldering irons?

 

well, to be honest i started with crap guns.

My first was a gun that Radioshack sells with the little light on it. Burned it out after only a few months.

Next i picked up one that was a little more expensive don't remember the brand, but got it at an electronics shop for about $25. I sucked and could not heat up smaller guage wire (read larger) that is used on my truck hot enough to melt the solder into it.

Third one i got i decided to spend some money on and picked up a nice electric gun for about $75. That one lasted almost a year, but i burned it out trying to solder wire that was WAY to big for it... (about the size of wire most people use to wire up amps needed 5 solder points... and it was kind of a emergency).

At this point i decided to get a butane one as it would not burn out... I loved it, it rocks haveing no cord. Just pick the thing up and go, but i dropped it alot and after a while it would not burn as hot as it used to, then a few weeks ago i wouldn't burn hot enough to melt solder on larger wires.

So now I am to the point where i would like a nice pro model gas soldering iron that I can throw around and has a nice warentee and that i can buy rebuild/replacement parts for.

 

I am on my 2nd one of this model:
http://www.action-electronics.com/weller.htm#Butane


The first one lasted almost 10 years in my toolbox. I've used it a lot, I carry that toolbox me with on a daily basis.

 

I thought the weller once were nice until I used a friends METCAL one.

It uses RF (radio frequency) to heat the tip - not a resistive element.

NICE...

Thin pencil in your hand.
Will heat up battery cables like NOW.

 

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages..._set.html?gid=

As much as I hate that as seen on tv stuff, these cold heat soldering guns are pretty sweet. My boss picked one up recently and I gave it a go and I was really impressed. I don't think it was this exact one though, I think the one he got was a weller? or miller?