In a message dated 8/25/98 7:22:26 PM Central Daylight Time,
w7why@mail.coos.or.us writes:
<< It seems like everytime I pick up the soldering gun to
use it, it doesn't work right. I have to take some pliers and loosen the
nuts that hold the tip in and re-tighten them. Are there any good tips
that I can get to get rid of the problem? I can set the gun down for a
minute and when I go to use it again, it won't get hot again. It gets
very frustrating. 73 >>
The best answer is to 86 the soldering gun. They are designed to put out an
infinite amount of heat for a very short time, rather than a controlled amount
of heat consistently. The elements oxidize in the clamps because they are
annealing.
It's a pain, but any ham who does any building or repairing needs a 100 watt
iron for coax connectors and ground braid, a 40 watt iron for coax connector
center conductors and for general soldering and a 20 watt iron for small PC
Board work. Once you have the right tools, there are three secrets to good
soldering. Cleanliness, Cleanliness and Cleanliness. You need a damp sponge to
clean the iron tip before EVERY time you solder.
It's a pain to wait for the iron to heat up and to go dampen and clean the
sponge, but you will find your frustration barometer go down quickly once the
soldering gun is in the trash compactor.
Tom, K5RC
(former NASA Soldering School Instructor)
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