what does everyone think of this? I'm talking about the #84450. How hot does it get? Would it be ok for N scale?
save your money.
grizlump
It would be a bad move, believe me.... I had one, and pitched it!!!
Bob
Don't bother. Get the ISO-Tip by Wahl. Get a quality iron. You will be happier.
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/25595/347214.aspx
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Looked at the add for the 84450. It looks to me like something for doing a couple quick wiring jobs at a time. Maybe a couple steps above that cold soldering iron that was popular a couple years ago. A 1050 degree tip temperature is really useless for any normal soldering. About the best thing I see in it is the built in light.
The Isotip IMO, would be vastly superior if you need a cordless iron. I had one (if it's the same Isotip shown in the catalog, 50313) on my bench at work for almost 28 years. In that time, replaced the tip once, and the battery pack twice. The battery is a pair of NiMH AA cells. A lot cheaper in the long run than 4 AA
Very fast heating, but no temperature control, it was OK for soldering through hole components and splicing wire up to maybe #18. I could get maybe 18-32 wire joints between recharging. Also found I could replace maybe 5 or 6 14 pin chips on a board on a single charge. Fully recharged in less than an hour. I didn't use it for surface mount or finer pc board material because the tip got way too hot. Sometimes took the Isotip with me on customer visits and field test calls. Other people at work trying to use it without understanding it's capabilities and limitations found it was too easy to damage semiconductor components and delaminate traces. In spite of training programs on soldering that we took, a lot of people I worked with persisted in thinking that the hotter the iron the better.
Again, I found it to be useful in limited situations. IMO, It's too hot for really fine work and doesn't have enough tip mass for heavy work. Still probably much bettter than the 84450.
thanx guys. So everyone agrees that the one by Wahl is the way to go, huh? OK, then I'll get that one.
I would not consider the Wahl as "the only way to go." Far from it, there are many other choices available unless you absolutely must have one that does not plug into a wall socket.
My personal favorite is the Xytronic Auto-Temp 379 temperature controlled soldeirng station. I have been using one of these for over 15 years and have never had to replace the tip yet.
http://www.amazon.com/XYTRONIC-AUTO-TEMP-379-SOLDERING-STATION/dp/B0002UU8YQ
A little more expensive, but you get what you pay for.
N scale baby!!!
25W or 40W at Radio Shack run $15 and extra tips are $1.97 I think. I have one of each and have never looked back. I use the 25 for attaching 22g feeders to my track and the 40 for track to track connections an feeders to the bus. Works great.
The unit I've been using for a couple decades both at work and at home is a Weller adjustable heat dual station unit with 25 and 40 Watt irons. I have a number of other irons and torches, but the Weller does about 95 of all my soldering, with another 4% done by a Bernz torch. I haven't used either of my guns in over a decade.
I can think of a number of things to say about ANY cordless soldering tool (except a torch) - but I don't want to get an e-mail nastygram after my post gets deleted.
Since a fair percentage of my soldering involves assembling raw rail into specialwork in place on wood ties on the layout, I do make heavy use of a gun - an ancient Weller with a hefty chisel tip. For fairly obvious reasons a torch wouldn't work, and small pencil irons simply don't generate and transfer enough heat.
Where the small iron comes into play is inside a control panel, or inside a piece of rolling stock. For that purpose I have several 20-25 watt irons, plus a temperature controlled soldering station. When I really get rolling on the inside of a panel, I may complete a hundred or so joints in a single sitting. Unless that cordless has a battery like the one in a drill, it will run out of juice long before I run out of things to do with it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with LOTS of soldered joints)
Worthless piece of junk
51% share holder in the ME&O ( Wife owns the other 49% )
ME&O
Like I say, a cordless is not my first choice, but I had good service out of the one at work, when used in it's intended setting. It's not a general use iron, it's utility is limited, but I have run into many instances at work where the Isotip is the best choice in a given situation. I have also wished I had one at home. I've had many instances where a cord would be extremely awkward, both hobby related and in home/car repair.
I personally wouldn't try an iron that used dry cells.
I design/build radios and other electronic projects as well as play with trains. I've tried three different cordless irons on both radios and track. Useless doesn't quite describe how I feel about them. To be honest, I haven't tried one in a year or so but unless there's been a quantum leap in design/performance I'd stay away from them for track work (or any other use).
I do keep a cordless in my field kit, but I'd much rather bring a generator or a 12 v power converter and use a "real" soldering iron rather than futz around with a cordless. If there is home power available there's simply no reason to use a cordless - ever.
Just my opinion and it's worth what you paid for it.
Well once again I realize I should research the "Forum" before I buy anything. Just spent $16.00 on a Weller cordless solder iron at Lowes. My bad - this thing might melt butter on a hot day. I have misplaced my good iron and can't find it.
OK - guys what do you recomend for track laying and soldering feeder wires - I do own extension cords so unless someone knows a really good wireless then tell me what's your recomendation
Weller 20-25 watt pencil iron will take care of most things (rail, not so much, as Chuck mentioned above).
it WILL work... but the results will be hit & miss. I don't have one, but the best bet for that would probably be a soldering gun...
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
I've probably got 3 or 4 cordless soldering irons of various brands, power sources etc. and ain;t none of them ever worth a hill of beans. Unless your in a business where you don't have access to 1120volts a/c I would stay away form anything without a plug attaches to it. I have a preference to Weller soldering iron/pens as I have had good luck with them and have not had to shell out a great deal of money for them.
The Wahl Iso-Tip cordless works very well for a cordless soldering iron. I used one at my first job, for work out on the shop floor. Plenty of 480V 3-phase outlets for the machine tools but not a lot of 120V outlets - plus dangling cords over moving machinery is not exactly a great idea. FOr quick repairs away from a handy outlet it's avery good tool.
For bench soldering though, I wouldn't use such a thing. I have the same Xytronics soldering station that cacole has. Far less expensive than a Weller station, and to me it works just as good. I have used it for everything from circuit board builds and decoder installs to solderign track and building turnouts with Fast Tracks fixtures. The key tolong tip life is that this is a temperature controlled system so the tip only heats to the set temperature - an ordinary pencil iron continues to heat as long as it's plugged in.The hotter the tip gets, the quicker it oxidizes. I wish I had purchased one of these a long time ago. I never really had problems with a variety of pencil irons, but despite proper tinning and cleaning, eventually the tips just get too worn out to work well, which is when you start doing thigns like melting ties when soldering feeders or de-laminating pc boards.
The final weapon in my soldering arsenal is my 100/150 watt soldering gun, which I use to solder my feeders tot he bus. 45 watts od the soldering station, or a small 15 wtt electronics iron, will not work for heavy wire like this. The high power gun makes quick work of things, and the light that shines on the tip helps for under the benchwork. In the past I had multiple irons in different wattages depending on if I was soldering tiny decoder wires, building a circuit board, or soldering track, plus the big gun. Now I have only the Xytronics and the soldering gun.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I have said that I found that the Iso-Tip does have value in certain limited areas.
As Randy said, too much heat can ruin a tip quickly. I once went on vacation, after giving a new engineering co-op some instruction and guidance on proper use of my Weller soldering station. Came back a week later, found the station shoved back on my work bench, totaly inoperative. Tip looked like it had been under salt water, or acid, for some time. Seems he forgot what I'd taught him, ignored some of the training literature I'd left with him, turned the temperature control to 850 degrees, then left on a customer trip with a couple other people without turning the iron off.
Best part is, I had to repair and/or scrap several prototype boards he had been working on the day before they were needed. Think of how much fun it is to be trying to solder 32 gauge jumper wire to 0.020" pitch pins on chips, and even trying to replace some of those chips, when PC board traces have been debonded and broken from excessive heat. And doing it under a deadline. Or even more fun, having to undo jumpers from an 80 pin microprocessor, replacing the chip, the restoring the jumpers because the $180.00 chip was damaged by an 850 degree iron.
Oh, we also had a temperature calibrator to check our irons. The Wellers were about the most accurate of the several brands we used. They could usually be set to within about 20 degrees of the dial setting. others could be more than 50 degrees off, usually high.
As far as cordless soldering irons go, the Wahl Iso-Tip is probably the best kind. I was a field technician for many years and I kept one in my tool kit for the times when a corded iron wasn't available. They aren't meant for hours of soldering, just for the occassional job when an iron isn't available or when you want to make just a couple of connections and don't want to be bothered plugging in an iron and waiting for it to heat up.
I use a 45 watt iron with interchangeable tips at home. I have an older model Dremel tool which has a separate speed control. I plug the iron into the speed control and set the dial to about 2/3. I figure that gives me the equivalent of a bout 30 watts for most electronic work. It gives me the ability to crank it up to the full 45 watts for joining heavy wires. It's like having two irons in one. If I just had a 25 or 30 watt iron for the electronic work, sooner or later I'd have need of a higher wattage iron. If you look around, you can get in-line lamp dimmers from some hardware or home products stores that you can use to dial down the wattage of an iron. If you don't want to go to that trouble, then use a 30 watt pencil iron. It will be good for 90% of your work.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
I'd heard enough negative things about cordless tools (Dremels and soldering irons) to make me avoid them. I have an inexpensive roll-around cart from Walmart with a surge protector attached to it. I can roll it to wherever I'm working on the layout, and have a ready source of power. I also have 2 outlets permanently wired to the underside of the layout, so I don't need an extension cord strung out all over the floor. Personally, I use a Weller dual power soldering iron 15/35 watt pencil iron.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR