Where have you been all of my life?


GatorDave

Railroading Fan~Gator Fan
The other day I was in Walmart looking for some solder. As I was wandering up the aisle I noticed the butane soldering irons. I thought that these must have some drawbacks... I mean, no cord and fast heat times... must be too good to be true. I took a chance and bought one. The first time I used it I was sold. It heated up much faster than my electric iron and soldered just as well if not better. And the best thing is that it can be turned off between jobs, decreasing the chance of me burning myself or something else. The electric ones take too long to heat up to be turning them off.

I know I sound a little over excited about this, but I just love it. Anyone else use a butane soldering iron... and does anyone need a slightly used electric iron. I have no use for it anymore!:D Dave

P.S. What's really sad is that I took a picture of it...:rolleyes:
HPIM0915.jpg
 
Radar,
It is refilled using the standard butane lighter refill bottles. They are cheap... a couple of dollars if I recall correctly. Once it is filled it last quite some time. I would say that I soldered probably twenty joints before I had to refill it. And I left it on a few times when I knew I would need it again soon. Refilling only takes a couple of seconds.

The model that I bought came with several tips. It has a wedge tip for everyday soldering like rails. It also came with a pointed tip for precision work.
The iron can also be used as a mini torch and came with a "blade" so it can be used as a hot knife. Another feature is that it works like a heat gun as well. This is handy for shrink tubing for wiring. How's that for a review?:D Dave
 
This my beauty heats in less than a minute and you can control the temp for large or small jobs.
T2200.JPG


got it for Xmas.

Ken.
 
This my beauty heats in less than a minute and you can control the temp for large or small jobs.
T2200.JPG


got it for Xmas.

Ken.

Ken,
That's a nice rig ya got there. My reason for liking the butane iron so much is that with my track plan, I have to move around and duck under. I like that the iron is cordless and small. The setup you have is perfect for a workbench... I will probably be buyng something like that in the future when I get the layout up and running. Dave
 
Cordless is nice, but my #1 concern anytime I use a soldering iron - especially underneath a layout with wooden benchwork - is fire safety.

If I have to leave the trainroom for even 15 seconds to grab some tool or accessory I forgot, I always turn off the iron - no exceptions. I never know if somebody or something might distract me...:eek:

I have one of those butane 'pen' irons that I ordered from Micromark ~ 7 years ago, but I hardly use it anymore since I can't seem to put enough butane in it.
 
So ....how much did this little gem cost at Wallyworld?

It was under twenty bucks. I can't remember the exact price... I bought a lot of other stuff that day. For some reason I can't seem to walk into Walmart without spending a small fortune! Dave
 
Cordless is nice, but my #1 concern anytime I use a soldering iron - especially underneath a layout with wooden benchwork - is fire safety.

If I have to leave the trainroom for even 15 seconds to grab some tool or accessory I forgot, I always turn off the iron - no exceptions. I never know if somebody or something might distract me...:eek:

I have one of those butane 'pen' irons that I ordered from Micromark ~ 7 years ago, but I hardly use it anymore since I can't seem to put enough butane in it.

Ken,
I agree. The last thing I do before leaving the train room is check the soldering iron. It's a habit that I have had for quite sometime. That's the beauty of this iron... when I come back, it only takes a minute to heat it back to operating temp.

As for not being able to get enough butane in it, it could have been the refill. I had one of the two that I bought that seemed to spray more butane out of the nozzle than actually went in to the iron. The other one worked just fine and would fill the iron completely. Might be a quailty control issue on the part of the folks who make the refill. Dave
 



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