Cold Heat Solder - Gimmick???

[TygGer]

Has anyone tried the Cold Heat soldering iron? I'm wondering if it's BS or not?

Cold Heat

 

[Chronoshock]

Heard it was good, not sure where I heard it from tho was somewhere other than the informercial though

 

[Eli]

Nope, it's not a gimmick. I've heard nothing but good things about it...

I want to try it myself....

 

[Slappy00]

i dont think that makes sense "cold heat" a double negitive. I would imagine that it probably uses some sort of electrical current that causes heat to build up when the tip is pressed to solder and a ground source. If you notice there are no vocal assertions that you can use this on any type of IC circuit board, although the pictures imply that. I would think its no good at any type of soldering were electricaly sensitive componetnts are present.

 

[Slappy00]

"The spark (arc) is caused electrical current passes from one half of the tip to the other. Although the tool's spark should not damage any electrical or electronic components, we recommend caution when soldering sensitive components. Also, ensure that the tool is not used in flammable or explosive environments, such such as near gas or gasoline fumes."
^from the site

 

[Eli]

Hmm..

 

[BeauJangles]

someone posted a review of this thing here a few months ago, and it wasn't ver positive.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yes, it's just a resistive soldering iron. Nothing new. Professional ones have been around for years. It does in fact pass the current through the item to heat it up. It has two tips very close together. You short out the tips on the item you want to heat up. The tips do not get hot, the item that shorts them out does, so the "cold heat" stuff is just marketspeak. The tips are fragile and wear out easily and if you get one tip on one leg of an IC or transistor, and one tip on another, you can damage the component since the current will pass through the device. The batteries do not last long from what I have heard. The tips are made of fragile carbon or graphite.

It is an impractical toy copy of a resistive soldering iron, imo.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Yes, it's just a resistive soldering iron. Nothing new. Professional ones have been around for years. It does in fact pass the current through the item to heat it up. It has two tips very close together. You short out the tips on the item you want to heat up. The tips do not get hot, the item that shorts them out does, so the "cold heat" stuff is just marketspeak. The tips are fragile and wear out easily and if you get one tip on one leg of an IC or transistor, and one tip on another, you can damage the component since the current will pass through the device. The batteries do not last long from what I have heard. The tips are made of fragile carbon or graphite.

It is an impractical toy copy of a resistive soldering iron, imo.

Ahh, I see.. mybad.

 

[Slappy00]

err what he said

 

[TygGer]

I see...

How much do "good" resistive soldering irons cost?

 

[Modeps]

wasnt this just posted yesterday?

 

[LTC8K6]

A typical pro one looks a bit like a fancy pair of tweezers with a control box. They can run from the hundreds to the thousands, I believe. They typically have variable power and a variable timer to prevent overheating the component.

Resistance soldering unit.