Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2018 11:57:07 -0800
From: "Richard (Rick) Karlquist" <richard@karlquist.com>
To: terry burge <ki7m@comcast.net>, john@johnjeanantiqueradio.com,
topband@contesting.com
<I've been shopping for them. You need a minimum of 1 1/4" depth for
<the PL-259. That rules out all the cheap ones. For ~$300 you can
<get an American Beauty with 1 1/2" depth.
<Does anyone have a better idea?
<Rick N6RK
## we used the american beauty and also other brands of solder pots at the
telco I worked at.
They were great for mass production of stuff like custom made extension
cords, where it split into a
... Y, with 2 short cables morphed into one. Every morning, one of us would
plug in the pot, no switch
on em, then hack saw a 2 inch chunk of solid solder bar off the 12 inch
length..then stuff into pot..and let it melt.
The bars were aprx 1 inch square.
Flux added to the wires, applied with thumb and finger, then dip into pot,
bam done. It would take forever,
using a soldering iron.
## Plan B, use an american beuty 100 watt soldering iron, with the .375 inch
diam chisel tip. Tip is .375 inch diam, then
tapered down on both sides, like a screwdriver. These come with the black
wooden handle and heat shield. You can
also get optional 150 watt elements for them. Both the 100 watt and 150
watt internal elements use field replaceable eles.
never changed out an element ever. We stopped using em in 1987. Before that,
they would be on 40 hrs per week, year after year.
## I have also seen the same american beauty iron, but with a 550-600 watt
element, larger diameter ele portion, just beyond the
round heat shield, and a bigger .5 inch shafted tip. Those are using for
plumbing applications.
## A buddy in Seattle tells me, for commercial applications, where PL-259s
are installed to make up jumpers, a 900 watt iron is used,
for both braid and center conductor.
## The bigger diam and much longer tips and 100 + 150 watt eles, ensure
no heat loss, bam done. Esp when using foam type coax.
IF using small 30 and 40 watt pencil irons....and foam coax, by the time you
get solder to flow into the 4 holes, the foam has melted.
So tinning the braid in a solder pot, or using a 100 / 150 watt iron makes
sense. Then its easier to solder the 4 holes..after the fact.
## The solder pots are the ultimate solution for a lot of various
applications. A real time saver. I don’t have a pot, but do have a couple of
100 watt american beauty irons...ours all had at least 10 ft cords on em.
Jim VE7RF
_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
|