Hot-Cold soldering iron

[Anonymous]

Can anybody tell me if this new Hot-Cold soldering iron is any good? How good is it for installing receivers in locos, wiring leads to rails, and soldering rails and joiners? Any input would help before I purchase this thing.

[nolatron]

I got one but didn't find it that great. Problem I found is to activate it, the solder has to make contact with both points to short it basically and turn on the heat.

I found it this huge pain when trying to solder track, and just went with a traditional soldering iron.

[davekelly]

I heard the wire stripper that comes with it is worth the price. Is it?

[Anonymous]

I prefer a conventional Iron. Get hot or go home.

The wirestripper is a "gimmik" you should already have one in your tool box. If not then I bet Lowes or Home Depot may have a good one for 10 bucks. As long as it is not made of plastic those strippers should last forever.

[topcopdoc]

I bought one also and it did not perform the way it was advertised. It does not get hot enough for soldering track. It may be good for small wires on an electronic board. The wire strippers work good and it is not bad for the price.

[grayfox1119]

It is not designed for serious soldering, such as Model Railroading. Save your money.

[Leon Silverman]

The general opinion of the cold-heat soldering gun is that it is unsuitable for heavy duty or model railroading use. The Same could be said about the wire stripper. It is advertised as being able to strip up to four wires at once and able to handle 12 gage wire. The wire stripper will self-destruct if you attempt to strip two twelve gage wires simultaneously . Stripping one wire at a time and it probably will last forever.

[bcammack]

If you want an "instant heat", rechargable iron, buy a nice Wahl Iso-Tip unit, not something that's being hawked on television.

[Javern]

glad this topic came up, I've often considered ordering one but won't now

[Anonymous]

I tried one of those Cold irons and although it would work, it was to finicky for me. As mentioned by others, you have to get the tip and solder in the right position to short out. So, I took mine back to Radio Shack.

What I wanted originally was a portable type iron, that's why I tried the Cold iron. After returning it, I grabbed their butane iron. Now this works great for my needs. Heats up quick, moves freely around and is small and nimble. I use a lighter to start it and not the flint wheel.

Cheers,
Eric

[rlbeetle]

I bought one of the cold irons too. It does heat up fast if you can get it to turn on and it does cool off fast. But like others have said it is a pain to get to short out the tip.

[claycts]

My $.02 I just got ,ime on thr mail from Taylor Gifts. The wire stripper BROKE 1st try on 12 gauge wire. The tool is another story. SO FAR I have tried it on speaker wire connection, no problem. Tested on a breadboard, FORGET IT never did get a hot joint all joints where cold and a pain to line up. THe instruction says to "touch the aplit tip to the WORK and then add solder" Sometimes your are the wimdshirld and somtimes you are the bug in this xase SPLAT!

[scottlamers]

So what does everyone suggest for soldering irons. Can you get away with just a regular pencil style iron, or should one look for a temperature controlled iron?

Thanks,

Scott

[CP5415]

I got mine as gift for Christmas.
I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

Gordon

[Javern]

pencil style is easier to use and keep the heat pinpointed to a specific area without melting ties, I use a jumbo gun style but I've been soldering for years and am able to quickly solder and not melt everything. I like the lights on the gun style also. If yer just starting i'd go with the low watt pencil style first

[Anonymous]

The cold soldering good for printed circuitboard work and 22ga wire or smaller.
This type of soldering needs a different technique to solder. It limits the heat to the area at the tip.
This Hot-Cold soldering iron will not work for large wire or for large areas

[Anonymous]

I wish I had read this post before, then I would know not to buy this piece of junk. I cant even get the solder I have hot enough to melt with this thing. Don't even get me started on the wire stripper. That thing would break if you tried to strip a phone line, forget about wire. Do you think if I used a "lighter grade" solder, I could use it. I don't have a problem shorting the tip its just getting the darn stuff to melt. O yeah do both the white and red lights have to be on when its soldering? Only the red goes on when I solder with it.

[Anonymous]

I know this is probably a little late for scottlamers, but if you've got the money to spend on one, the temperature controlled models do have a number of advantages. Everyone talks about getting a low wattage iron. This is to prevent over heating of the things surrounding a solder joint. A low wattage iron takes a while to get up to temperature and has difficulty with bigger joints. A temperature controlled iron actually has quite a bit higher wattage but maintains the temperature it should with a thermostat. This means that when it is cold, it goes full throttle until the set temperature is attained. Then it throttles back to just enough average wattage to maintain the proper heat. Like wise when you try a larger joint, the throttle opens up again and acts like a higher wattage iron, but again only maintaining the desired temp. The only drawbacks I have ever found with them is a cord from the base to the iron that you wish is longer on occasion and the price.

[nobullchitbids]

I'll say the same thing, and ask the same question, which I asked in a parallel posting:

As with any soldering or welding device, none can do the job if they do not put out sufficient "volume" of heat for the work, and this is a function both of the wattage (or gas volume) of the tool and the capacity of the work to carry heat away (silver would be harder to solder than brass). Anyone who buys a tool too small for the job is, indeed, wasting his money.

But, what I am wondering is whether any enterprising model railroader, knowledgable of the physics of heat transfer, has recognized that four photo-flash batteries, even if new, never could deliver sufficient amps to most MR applications, but that a larger battery, e.g. a 6 v. motorcycle battery, well might. Modifying one of these "cold" devices to tap one of these larger batteries well might improve performance, provided the extra juice did not destroy the tool.

Anyone have any experience with this?

[davekelly]

What I really enjoy about the hot-cold soldering iron commercial is the guy showing how inconvenient regular soldering irons are. He pulls on the cord, it's not long enough to reach his project so he pulls the cord about three more times then looks surprised that the cord didn't stretch. lol I also love the nodding that goes on when the advertised project is used.

[cacole]

Any gimmick hawked on TV where they scream at you to buy within 5 minutes to receive $80 worth of additional products for the ridiculously low price of only $10, or die a miserable death, has got to be worthless junk. Just imagine how much these products really cost if they can sell them so cheap, and still make an enormous profit.

I would never purchase anything advertised on TV this way. When you find out that you have been ripped off, you can't get your money back.

[FCnota]

I must agree with everybody else. Its ok to use with a pc board & small wire, but not for any type of heavy use. It is nice and portable, and with a little pratice, I got mine to work fairly well. To solder track, large wires, I use a pencil tip iron.

[davekelly]

Cacole,
But do you ever see how happy the people are in the commercials are when they use the product? I personally think it is way cool and very customer oriented of the commercial folks to constantly be extending the "buy in the next 10 minutes" for several months. I do have a question though. Do you really think the stuff in the "buy now and receive ____ for free" are really free or do you think that it's some sort of gimmick with the cost buried in the cost of the main product? I love the ability to get for "only $29.95" stuff which "normally retails for $1500 or more in the stores!"

lol. Those commercials crack me up!!

[Anonymous]

I have a Weller 35 watt iron which I use for decoders, lighting , and soldering rail (HO or N). I also use it to strip decoder wire rather than trying using a knife or stripper tool.
Try it sometime it works great. Set the tip at 90deg to the wire aqt point you want it stripped then move to end of wire. Clean wire with damp cloth or sponge.
The main thing when soldering is to have a clean tip (when hot wipe with a damp cloth or sponge every time you apply the iron. It also helps to tin objects before joining them I.E. sweating them together . Ken

[dieselfan04]

Biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. Would not even melt solder. The free wire stripper works well so I don't feel as cheated.

[dragenrider]

I have to agree with the above comments: the soldering iron is a piece of crap. [censored] My pencil type iron is much better.

The wire stripper sent with it is kind of cheap, but if works well for me. [tup]