new soldering tool

[IG-88]

Have any of you seen/used this yet?

http://www.coldheattools.com

Wonder how well it works?

[mairsil]

I would be really skeptical based on two things:

- it only costs $20 (less than that because you get "extras").
- it runs on batteries.

0-800

[IG-88]

Ya, I was thinking 1-2 "welds" and its dead or something.

[Bgnome]

Have any of you seen/used this yet?

http://www.coldheattools.com

Wonder how well it works?

apparently we have:
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=21483;start=msg173722#msg173722

[SirPeale]

There was a recent thread @ the KLOV forums regarding this very tool.

The concensus was that it sucked.

[clanggedin]

I ordered one a few weeks ago. I have heard both good and bad with this.

THe Xbox mod guys love this. but the MAME guys hate it. Who do I believe?

I'll give my full review once I have it.

[RandyT]

Heh.  The nice thing about patented stuff is you can find out how it works pretty easily.

I think this is the one:

The present invention provides a soldering iron with a graphite tip having two separate halves that are electrically isolated from one another. When both halves of the tip are applied to an electrically conductive material, such as the material to be soldered, an electrical circuit between the tip halves and an electrical power source is completed. Therefore, the tip can reach operating temperatures quickly. When the tip is removed from the joint, the electrical circuit is broken and the tip material may quickly cool to a temperature safe for human contact. The tip material permits higher power outputs than other battery operated portable soldering irons and permits over 300 joints for each full charge.

Sounds interesting, but I can see a couple of potential drawbacks.

1: Limited tip possibilities.  The one in the pictures doesn't look small enough to do any serious electronics work with.

2: If you don't get good contact between the two halves of the tip, you don't get any heat.

Probably ok for the occasional odd job though.

RandyT

[clanggedin]

They have another tip for small jobs. If it was crap it wouldn't have won the innovative invention award

[Ken Layton]

Save your money and get a real soldering iron not this toy.

[NoOne=NBA=]

The only advantage I see to "heats up quickly/cools down quickly" is actually more a function of the cordless aspect.
The dog can't trip over the cord, and turn it into a BRANDING iron.
Not that that has ever happened at MY place, or anything.

(Actually it BARELY missed him, and hit the carpet).


It's not the soldering iron that needs to be hot to solder anyway, it's the connection.
Regardless of how hot the tip is when it makes contact, it still has to remain there long enough to get the connection hot.
Starting with the tip hot seems like a plus to me, if anything, because it doesn't have to sit there as long that way.