[mythtv-users] Soldering iron vs. soldier gun (was: Help with a semi-busted hard drive))

[Brian Wood]

On Feb 13, 2006, at 2:48 PM, Clyde Stubbs wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 07:21:28AM -0500, JDeGraw wrote:
>> You will need a variable soldier gun to fix it. The average run of  
>> the
>> mill soldier gun does about 30 watts of power. This will melt  
>> everything
>> around it and damage the board. You need about 15 watts I do believe.
>
> A soldier gun?? We're trying to fix the thing, not shoot it!
>
> Don't even think about using any kind of gun, solder or soldier,  
> for this work.
> A soldering iron is the correct tool.
>
> Also, it always puzzles me why various wattage ratings are tossed  
> around as being
> the "correct" value for various applications. The only type of  
> soldering iron
> you should use on something like this is a temperature controlled  
> unit, like
> the Weller TCP. I have no idea what its wattage rating is, probably  
> 60W,
> but this is irrelevant since the tip temperature is controlled.
>
> Using a small non-temperature controlled iron is actually a Bad  
> Idea since the
> longer the tip is in contact with the work, the more the surrounds are
> heated. Good soldering is done at the correct temperature, very  
> quickly!
>

It's pretty neat the way some Weller temp control tips work. The tip  
has a fixed "curie point", which is the temperature at which a  
permanent magnet looses its magnetism. So the magnetized tip pulls a  
reed switch on to heat it up and when it hits the curie point the  
current switches off.

This allows you to get different temperatures by simply using  
different tips.

Pretty neat IMHO. So much for today's physics lesson :-)