Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => AmpTools/Tech Tips => Topic started by: Colas LeGrippa on December 05, 2011, 03:04:53 pm
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Hi everybody!
I just want to share something I have discovered 'bout soldering guns. I never wanted to pay big money for cheap copper tips that don't last too long. So, I started, a couple of years ago, to use no 10 solid copper wiring ( used for 60gal water heater for instance ),. But copper being copper, it did not last much longer and I had to strip the wire before making my own tips, that was fine for money saving but the best was yet to come. Last week, as I was walking around in an cheap electronic store ( chinese, I mean...), I saw a roll of 15 feet of aluminum ground wire for antennas, about the size of the hole in the nut of my soldering gun, if you see what I mean. Well, aluminum conducts heat much more than copper and it doesn't wear out as fast as copper either. Being bare, i don't have to strip the coating out. And very easy to cut also. They were selling aluminum tips long time ago, but I just can't find them anywhere since a long time. So, to make a long story short, self made aluminum tips are magical.
Colas
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I never thought of that. I've also never ever seen an aluminum soldering gun tip.
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....with an aluminium tip. my soldering gun can even melt ( not instantly, though ) big chunks of tin on the chassis of old amps. If I strip out completeley an old chassis, to remove EASILY chunks of solder, I use a heat gun , this is THE TRICK of all time, but don't think meanwhile it is is a hair dryer..............It melts easily and almost instantly all the solder from a PC board from which you want to salvage parts. It can even melt parts themselves if you don't take care....
Colas
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NEVER use soldering gun close to guitar's pickups. magnetic field can destroy pickups. That why I never use soldering gun . Even in the amp. this is not a good habit to have this tool on the bench.
Weller Soldering station ; The good tool
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if you approach a soldering gun close to a ''regular'' tv screen, you'll magnetize it and the colors will be permantly altered . You'll need a de-gaussing coil to fix the problem, but it's not quite sure if it will get back to whah it was before. Some say strong magnetic fields, close to electric transport lines or to cellular towers can be harmful to humans. I believe that.