Steve Nosko wrote:
Very good Ian.. I shold have remembered this. A good way to solder ceramic
substrated PA modules, as well. I have a hot plate.

However, with the PL259, you may have an issue with the coax dielectric
melting.
Or the PL259 dielectric. I see mostly cheapies
selling @ hamfests - Teflon's OK, though, no?.


I think you may have the wrong impression of this. It isn't the same as
using hot air or a hotplate to do the actual soldering.

In this case you're only using the hot-air gun to give the connector
body a moderate temperature boost of maybe 100-150C. It's still the iron
that melts the solder - the difference being that you can now use your
regular 25/45W iron.

The worst that happens with solid polyethylene dielectric is that it
softens; but then it hardens again. If the coax dielectric melts and
runs, you've heated the whole thing way too much, and for way too long.

The dielectric inside the plug is even less of a problem. If it doesn't
melt when you solder the center pin, it will also handle moderate
heating of the connector body.

So in practice there aren't any problems.


"Ian White G/GM3SEK" wrote in message
...
Highland Ham wrote:
"F8BOE" wrote in message
...
Hello,

It may sound funny, but that's why I never used a soldering gun and
perhaps
never will... My 25W JBC with 0.8 and 1.2 mm tips is quite fine for
electronic components and connector soldering.

You should be the one who takes an 18 wheeler to pick up a beer pack.
Shouldn't you? Perhaps a Mig welder could do the connector job... Hi!
I hope you'll never mount connectors for other Hams without any serious
DC
and HF shortcut tests.

100W+ soldering irons are pretty good for plumber jobs or for
desoldering
fast and clean, but definitely not for your aim.

73 de F8BOE Olivier ...-.-

For 'high power' soldering , I use a butane (cigarette lighter) gas
soldering iron with kathalytic burner.
Temperature can be adjusted by changing gas flowrate .
I use an iron made in Ireland ,make Portasol .High power tip/burner can
do
up to 100 watts which is more than adequate to solder (PL259) plugs.
Also
very suitable to make small enclosures from scrap printed circuit board
Very handy also for outdoor use .....since the tool is self-contained.
Nowadays there are a number of makes to choose from.
I would never use an electric soldering gun.


Neither would I. A normal small iron can be used for soldering large
objects, if they are pre-heated with a hot-air ("paint stripper") gun.

To solder a PL259, for example, pre-heat the plug body with the gun
until it's good and hot, but still some way below the melting point of
solder. Then put the gun down, and switch to your regular 25/45W iron
for the actual soldering. The solder will now melt quickly and easily.

Try it - it's so much easier than using a monster iron or an electric
soldering gun.


--
73 from Ian G/GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek



--
73 from Ian G/GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

I bought a Weller gun recently to unsolder some can capacitors from a
steel chassis. I was totally dissapointed when I got home and unpacked
the gun. This gun is not the same as my daddy had about 40 years ago.
It was a cheap piece of ****. I tried with all my might to get that
thing to work. The tip was flimsy, the set screws to connect the tip
were flimsy and the two tubes that come out were so flimsy that they
would short themselves out whenever a little bit of pressure was put on
the tip. I tried boosting the voltage into the gun until the core was
humming real good. With about 140v into the thing the plastic handle
was too hot to touch and I could see smoke coming out of the handle. I
took it back and told the guy at the True-value store it didn't work
and smelt funny when I used it. I told him I thought the secondary was
shorted. Heheh.

On 2005-10-27, David Thompson wrote:
My main use was to solder coax connectors. The Gun seems to work Ok on

For big soldering jobs like this I have a "Craftsman Professional Dual
Heat Soldering Gun". This is not the standard "big soldering gun". It's
got a 1/4" straight tip and it's very light. This will readily connect
several 10ga copper wires (which are fantastic heatsinks).

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00927320000

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

No Way would I ever use a 25 watt soldering iron to do pl 259s like
that F8 guy does..... wonder how many poor pl 259 connections he has
and does not even know it?

Steve W4SEF



On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 05:09:11 GMT, "David Thompson"
wrote:

My sister bought me a Radio Shack Dual Heat soldering gun (150W/230W). This
was to supplement
my 120 watt 45 year old Weller. This after my WW II vintage 120 iron died
on me.

My main use was to solder coax connectors. The Gun seems to work Ok on
soldering joints in say a SB220 amplifier. But the first thing I noticed is
that the tip is much to large to fit into the area where the PL-259 outside
allows you to solder that to the shield thru the wholes in the 259. No
problem but if you leave the gun on too long the area of the tip gets red
hot about 1/2" back from the actual tip.

My old Weller does a better but inadequate job of soldering the 259 shield.

Why does the gun allow the tip to get red hot away from the actual tip. The
tip is almost new. I notice its made from a silver metal not copper as with
most Weller tips. Radio Shack tells me its made by Weller
and they are not aware of the problem.

bad tip or maybe a bad winding in the gun? any ideas?

Dave K4JRB

No Way would I ever use a 25 watt soldering iron to do pl 259s like
that F8 guy does..... wonder how many poor pl 259 connections he has
and does not even know it?
======================
Perhaps is it useful to mention that PL259 type of connectors for 3/8inch
(10mm) OD coax are available with a cable entry as per a standard
N-connector eg a metal braid sleeve with rubber cable compression ring.
The only soldering required is for the centre pin.
The ones I use are of a high quality ,having a gold-plated centre pin . They
are made in Taiwan ; the UK price some time ago was GBP 3.00 (US$ 5.50) .
Perhaps a bit expensive but well worth buying.

Frank GMØCSZ / KN6WH