ColdHeat soldering gun

Bought one, tried it, didn't like it, returned it.

I'm all about the butane torches. Although I tend to get a little to into it, like the last time i was softening some styrene to bend it. Lets just say I had to start over.

I recently bought one of these units from Radio Shack ( it carries their name, too ). This little dude does exactly what it's advertised to do. I have no trouble soldering connections using the smaller gauge wires--14 gauge and smaller. It is not designed for the larger things; so it is not going to work on them--DUH.
For the larger items, I have a butane micro-torch that works fast and clean.

I agree it has its limitations,but it is usefull you just need to practice with it,its like a small arc welder and can be a pain,but just like when I learned to arc weld it took time to get the hang of it,all of my first attempts I would get my welding rod stuck to the steel.I had better luck by ordering a fine pencil tip from the cold solder web-site,but you will go through the batt. fast.

I got one for Christmas, and tried it out on a small model-related job that involved soldering pieces of brass wire together. I used small-diameter, lead-free solder from Radio Shack. The iron worked fine; the tip is a useful shape and I found I could do work in pretty close quarters with no heat sink. (In other words, the iron heats only a small area, and cools off fast.) My only complaint was that the batteries wore out in a hurry.

None of this contradicts what other Forum members have said about the tool's limitations. I suspect it doesn't have enough oomph for big jobs. But for small stuff on ship models, which are my primary interest, I see it as having quite a bit of potential. It's small and handy enough to let soldering take place on the model - which can't be said about a soldering torch. Its portability would also be valuable to people who do a lot of traveling with their models - particularly such folks as RC enthusiasts, who operate their models outdoors.

Thanks for the info guys, I think I'll pass too....

What he said. My electrician bought one, but hadn't used it. So I pushed him to try it on the jobsite. Didn't do squat. Save your money.

Hi all..I bought this on TV and it won't melt the Silver Solder, but will very small diameter low heat Lead Solder w/acid core... okay for soldering speaker wires but thats about it!!...Save your $ and buy a good one..I bought this, then had to buy another..With the money I've spent for this and the new one I could nave bought top of the line and saved money..."RC"

Thanks for the heads up. Too good to be true usually is.

Just saw it yesterday. I teach electronics for the military and one of our guys tried one out. It's worthless. It would never get solder melt, no matter what he tried. I wouldn't bother with it. The idea behind it seems kinda sketchy anyway..... I'd stick with a regular iron from Radio Shack. Something with a built in digital thermostat so you can set and monitor temp. Just my opinion though.

It's hard to say with commercials. of course they all make the product appear to be the next wheel.

The claim is that it will hit 800 degrees at the joint. The demos they do look they are using rosen core solder.

The thing that is suspect is that everything they solder in the commercial is a loop, like a necklace, or wiring in a guitar. So, I don't think you could use it to join 2 separate pcs. you would have to ground the work out.

The price is so low that I may just give it a shot. Small PE parts are pretty light duty.

I saw this on TV too and I was wondering the same thing. I've been thinking that soldering some of the bigger PE pieces would hold better than using CA on them. Am I way off base on this one?

don't think it'll do much for soldering large amounts of brass..... But i could be wrong....