Coldheat solder tool

Most such soldering irons are powered by electricity or gas and take longer to cool down. Cold heat soldering irons are somewhat different as batteries power them. Also, unlike traditional soldering irons, they heat up pretty fast and cool off almost instantly. Hyperion Industries using their Coldheat Trademark exclusively produces the soldering iron. It is the main feature that makes traditional soldering irons different from cold heat irons. Electric irons use a resistance heating unit similar to what is used in toasters and hair dryers.

An electrical current passes through the heating unit, and electrical resistance makes the unit hot. It is this process that makes the soldering iron take time to heat up and cool off. Usually, the heating unit warms the tip by transferring energy. The molecules start moving faster and faster as the system heats up, and when cooling off, the molecules begin to slow down. The time the bit takes to cool off depends on emissivity a measure of how efficiently a substance transfers heat to the surrounding.

Materials used to make soldering iron tips include nickel, copper, and chrome, and they have low emissivity. It explains the long time it takes for traditional soldering irons to cool off. Cold heat soldering irons, on the other hand, use the heating system used on resistance soldering irons. The irons use two probes that look like tweezers, rods, or pliers to pass current through the solder.

The solder then heats up fast because of the resistance to the current through the probes. They would die, either from the actual current grounding out through them, or the EMP. We actually have microarc welders where I work, but we only use them with solid metal. Joined Feb 3, Messages 1, Very good review on it, with an explaination of how it works, over at Modder'sHQ.

Found that while Googling for info on the tool. Ah yes, it's a microarc system Lunas [H]F Junkie. Joined Jul 22, Messages 9, Joined Feb 20, Messages 1, Click to expand Joined Jun 16, Messages 8, Joined Aug 13, Messages 2, Third, he obviously doesn't know the correct way to solder if he didn't heat the pads using the soldering gun resulting in the "tear drop drips" before applying solder.

If you are going to make a comparision, know how to use the tools first. Wow that guy had no clue how to do a review. Joined Sep 7, Messages I've been soldering for decades When the pad gets hot via the solder, you flow more solder into the joint.

I have NOT received it yet. I sent them an email asking what's going on. Joined Mar 22, Messages 1, Joined Aug 10, Messages WillowHawk Gawd. Joined Jul 7, Messages Rondu n00b. Joined Sep 28, Messages Zeratul n00b. In other words, substances like carbon have greater resistance. Moving current through substances with high resistance can create heat and sometimes light.

This is the same principle that makes light bulbs work -- a light bulb has a resistive filament that gets hot and bright when current flows through it. The heart of a Cold Heat tool is a broken circuit that travels from a few AA batteries to a tip that has two halves. The tip can look like one solid piece, but a dark insulating material keeps the two halves electrically isolated from one another.

When you turn the Cold Heat tool on, the switch closes a circuit that also includes a small light. This light lets you know that the tool is on. But a parallel circuit -- the one leading to the tip -- is still broken. This circuit remains broken until you put something conductive, like solder, in contact with both halves of the tip. The solder completes the circuit, also allowing current to pass through a second light.

Because of electrical resistance, both the solder and the tip heat up very quickly, and the solder melts. Dry skin doesn't conduct enough electricity to effectively complete the circuit, so the tip stays cool when you touch it. Most solders are alloys of tin and lead. Since lead carries certain health risks, lots of companies and organizations have researched and developed lead-free solders. The National Institute for Standards and Technology has compiled a database of lead-free solder properties here.

We've established that the Cold Heat tool has pretty simple circuitry. The circuit that includes the power switch also includes a small light. A parallel circuit stays broken until both halves of the tip come into contact with a conductive material. A small light on this circuit lights up when it's complete, also. The Cold Heat tool also has some electronic components beyond basic wiring.

A small circuit board is at the end opposite the tip. This circuit board has two diodes , several resistors and a pin integrated circuit. When both halves of the tip come into contact with solder, the chip routes power from the batteries through that branch of the circuit. So, when you turn the Cold Heat tool on, current flows from the negative pole of the batteries through a wire that leads to a small light.

From there, it flows to the circuit board and then to the positive battery terminal. As long as solder isn't in contact with both halves of the tool's tip, that's the end of the process. Once you apply solder, the chip routes lots of power through the portion of the circuit that includes the tip. The electricity moves:.

The tip is as important to the tool's abilities as the circuitry. We'll examine the tip, including what it's made of, next. The original marketing materials for the Cold Heat tool described its tip as a patented composite material known as Athalite. We suspect it's made from graphite a form of carbon or a substance primarily composed of graphite. Here's why:. If the tip is really made from a patented compound, another company owns the patent for it. Hyperion Innovations, maker of the Cold Heat tool and owner of the patents describing it, does not own a separate patent for a compound material.

In addition, the only patents that list Grigore Axinte -- inventor of the Cold Heat soldering iron -- as the inventor describe tools, not compounds. Unfortunately, graphite can be brittle. One of the most common complaints in product reviews and message board posts is that the Cold Heat tip breaks during normal use. Unfortunately, using the recommended light pressure on the tip wasn't sufficient to complete a circuit when we tried to use the tool.

Just after we successfully completed a circuit and melted some solder, our tip broke.