gas soldering irons?

macumbista · Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:39 am Post subject: gas soldering irons?

Related to my solar-powered synth thread... I'd like to be able to work on small circuits outdoors, off the grid. Has anyone used these small gas-powered soldering irons? Any good ones?

macumbista · Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:49 am Post subject:

Just realized that anything involving butane is completely prohibited from airplanes. And since I travel a hell of a lot, that makes things a bit difficult. Oh well...

blue hell · Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:02 am Post subject:

Hmm .. yes ... I got one like 15 years ago and it was ideal to use on the ship that took me to the UK, on the flight back however I had to leave some stuff at the airport Wink

Lofi Ninja · Joined: Oct 25, 2008 Posts: 143 Location: Jupiter

You can get some that run of batteries. But I think your still going to have a hard time getting them on a plane.

LektroiD · Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:23 pm Post subject:

I think the heat may be a bit too much for PCBs (I may be wrong), but on the positive side, gas soldering irons have zero voltage leak at the tip.

blue hell · Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:30 pm Post subject:

Dunno, the one I had could be turned pretty low, but it's better to have it a bit too hot than a bit too cold IMO.

Ricko · Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:58 pm Post subject:

I have used a butane iron when seconded to a banana farm. I made the Velleman PIC USB interface kit successfully with it.

IIRC The heat control for small welds (individual pins) was really good, much better than my crappy electric, and fast but it did not have good heat retention so it was not so at good desoldering lots of pins at the same time (to remove a chip). Also the tip I had was not as dainty as I would like. It needed re-gassing every couple of hours.

I think I would prefer an good electric with temperature control, but the gas iron was perfectly serviceable. But obviously different designs will be better or worse.