A horrible monster is born: Homemade soldering iron

[gannon]

Figured I might as well do something with all those soldering iron parts I have. Built this last night, the switch isn't wired up (figured I should replace it with a proper one first), but the entire heating unit can be swapped out just by pulling it off.


Really...big....

[Zereo_XI]

Thats pretty cool. Its a neat "Little" thing you have there.

[LoyalistRevolt]

Is that dangerous?

[bicostp]

Looks like it might have enough room for a house dimmer switch for a cheap variable heat system.

[gannon]

Shouldn't be dangerous, the only part that I see is the blue cap holding the iron in (the light refractor should act as a good heat shield).
There should be plenty of room for a dimmer switch actually, good idea. I was also starting to think I should add a small cable snake so the cord can retract into the unit easily

[CronoTriggerfan]

Nice man, nice.

[gannon]

So, just tested it out, works well, plastic near the heating unit doesn't heat up at all, and best of all, it's way too easy to hold
Time to market it as a kids soldering iron for children < 5

[Lucretius]

And here I thought this was just going to be a biopic. Boy was I mislead. D:

Sweet unit. Can't wait to here the horror story that's traced back to a pile of green plastic.

[Killer_Rabbit]

It doesn't get that hot? Really? How long did you leave it on?

Before I saw your last post, I was going to say "Gannon, I wouldn't try plugging that in unless you've got some serious insulation/heat sinking on the inside of the case. Otherwise, I'd guess that the entire flashlight case will start melting down in under five minutes."

So yeah, I'd leave it plugged in on a stand for a while to test it before you hold it in your hand to work with it. Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed that it works. I'm just concerned for your personal safety.

[gannon]

Oh, it does work, I've used it for soldering recently, out of gas for my pyropen
1 hour has been fine, doubt any longer would be an issue.

[Sparkfist]

So will that be what's used next time we meet up instead of Marshall's gas powered one?

Really clever. Do you really not have anything like a Radio Shack up there, no irons you can take from a class, or are you just be as cheap as can be? Never-the-less it's a cool thing, even Ben might feel jealous.

[gannon]

Well, there are radio shacks, but if I went to the store I'd just pick up gas for my pyropen

[Grandmasterjimmy]

Epic iron is epic. I bet you can hold it nice and steady.