33 replies to this topic

[Johnny]

Hi Guys,

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

 

Now,

What is the recommended wattage for soldering Retro chassis?

We are at the starting point of building a few chassis, and need your opinion on what to use.

I have not done any chassis building since the early '70s and need some info and tools.

 

I do have the Keith Tanaka/Mike Steube Scratchbuilding DVD.

[NY Nick]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year To you Too.

I have a Weller / Ungar 50W some times I use two at the same time.

[Bill from NH]

Johnny, in my opinion,  you need at least 50 watts, something higher might be even better. If you use a good amount of 1/16" sheet brass, an iron in the range of 80-100 watts would make your life easier. Personally, I use an old 50W Ungar that might be as old as you. Weller sells a modern version of this iron.

[gotboostedvr6]

I bought this one a few weeks ago.

http://www.ebay.com/...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

It is out of control hot. With 900mts3 tip it gets any job done.
You get 5 tips for $9

http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/B008J80YLA

[gotboostedvr6]

There are replacement reostates and replacement heating elements available for a buck each.

[penske]

I have a 100 watt iron myself.   I think it's better to have the larger wattage/ hotter iron.  You can always turn it down when max output is not needed.

 

but for the times when you do need the extra heat, just turn it up to full power.

 

Roger

[tonyp]

You want the hottest iron possible. I use a hako 601 turned all the way up. A super hot iron allows you to solder 1 part close to another with out the other becoming un soldered as you can heat the area you want super fast.

[slotcarone]

All good answers so far!!  Most important is making sure the parts are clean/polished before soldering and keeping the tip clean so it will transfer the heat.

[ejgehrken]

You want the hottest iron possible. I use a hako 601 turned all the way up. A super hot iron allows you to solder 1 part close to another with out the other becoming un soldered as you can heat the area you want super fast.

I swear by the Hakko 601 iron. It's easy to work with and makes it easy to get clean. consistent solder joints. 

[John Miller]

I've had nearly every iron available and the Hako 601 is the best.  Yep, it's pricey, but you get what you pay for.

[Tim Neja]

The soldering iron is NOT the place to save money!! It  pays for itself having the proper tool for the job!! Can't go wrong with the Hako 601!

[Michael Rigsby]

Not that I'm a picturesque builder, but I've used the Inland Deluxe 100 watt units in conjunction with a Hakko 936 for a few years. I've got one of these cheap Chinese Hakko knockoffs that I use for light work, but even with a 5/16" tip it doesn't have the oomph needed to sweat solder a guide tongue to a chassis plate without the body of the iron getting too hot to handle. I've had two of them fry like that so I'll stick to what works.

[bbr]

I bought this one a few weeks ago.
http://www.ebay.com/...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
It is out of control hot. With 900mts3 tip it gets any job done.
You get 5 tips for $9
http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/B008J80YLA

I have this cheap iron too, and it works great. It is a ceramic heater. Work as good as my hanko!

[Big Booty]

Ive used a 60W Weller with 2mm tip for the last 30 years, no problems.  Make sure parts are super clean and the BEST flux Ive come across is phosphoric acid.  (The stuff they put in Coke, registered trade name type Coke).  Solder flows like hot butter even on stainless steel sheet.  Phosphoric acid will only "eat" metal oxides, not the metal itself, leaving a super clean surface as you solder by excluding oxygen during soldering.

[Guy Spaulding]

All good answers so far!!  Most important is making sure the parts are clean/polished before soldering and keeping the tip clean so it will transfer the heat.

Clean and "polished", Mike? 

May I recommend clean and sanded.  The microscopic scratches from sanding help give the solder something to grab on to.  The "polish" comes after

[Guy Spaulding]

I bought this one a few weeks ago.

http://www.ebay.com/...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

It is out of control hot. With 900mts3 tip it gets any job done.
You get 5 tips for $9

http://www.amazon.co...g/dp/B008J80YLA

Fake Hakko = Fakko.  I got my first Fakko last summer.  Burnt up a tip last night, but Im sure my leaving it on overnight didnt help the life expectancy very much.  With a new tip, the iron still works great!  I like the light weight and instant super hot operation

 

But neither the Fakko, nor my trusty 50W Ungar/Weller can take the place of a Inland Deluxe 100 watt iron for sweating solder between two plates

[drrufo]

I have two problems with the Fakko. The litte yellow knob falls off unless I super glue it on and the switch doesn't have any resistance to movement. I have to check the temp every time I use to make sure it wasn't turned down.

[Guy Spaulding]

Yellow knob has not yet fallen off, but the dial face dissapear early on.  So I mark the dial, blue for warm, red for hot, and seldom adjust it anyway.  I'd expect the temp control to be the first thing to fail.  You could wrap a peice of tape around it to keep it from rotating.

 

It would be neat if this $13 thing lasted a couple of years

[Rick]

On the second season with the cheapo, actually put the smaller tip in because the 5mm was too hot. Would I use it to sweat on a guide tongue? No. I would grab one of my big spears with a 3/8" tip for more mass. But the cheapo will build a chassis with NP at all.....

[A. J. Hoyt]

I reiterate my recommendation of the old standard - a UG37 heating iron in a (plastic) Weller (or vintage cork insulator Ungar) screw-in receptacle handle with the PL133 tips, all available from TEquipment - they always seem to have these parts in stock. While there, check out the Weller solder station with the steel wire balls and rubber railed trough for cleaning excess solder off the tip (don't like the idea of a wet sponge anymore - too much shock to the metal). The rubber rails of the trough do not melt or smoke from contact with a very hot tip and captures the little solder balls when you scrape them off (for when you get desperate for just a touch of solder and you can't find the coil of solder on the workspace right in front of you - seems like this would be a "senior" thing but I remember not seeing the part or tool right in front of me from my younger years, too!

 

I went through two heater elements (crumbled apart on me with no abuse on my part) but were exchanged by Cooper Tools (don't know if they still own the Ungar - Weller line) in my first three years of scratchbuilding.

 

Since putting the computer fan on (blows across the tip and runs on a small power pack from a small electronics device, like an old phone charger - lots of those laying around if you don't throw them away) in parallel with the power dial for the iron, I have not seen ANY corrosion or crud on the tip in two years of pretty constant use. I bought a computer fan from Radio Shack (not the cheapest way to get them) but it has a great "neon light" feature when it is on, so I know the soldering iron is on (the fan is very quiet!).

 

I have used this iron for two years now without any issues. (Just used it Saturday to sweat solder a steel reinforcement over a JK kit car front chassis tongue, worked great! I could see the shiny melted solder all around and the outboard steel / brass tongue pieces were as close to parallel as I could measure!

 

Keep it in the slot (less damage to fix and a better race for everyone!),

 

AJ

[MattD]

After burning up a cheap iron several years ago (actually many years ago) I got  a plastic double wide electric box and put a receptacle on one side that is wired to a 60 minute timer switch in the other bay.   I keep this plugged in with my iron plugged into it.   When I need to solder, I turn the knob and use the iron.   If I don't turn the knob for additional time, it shuts off after 60 minutes.   Haven't burned up an iron in a lot of years now.   I also haven't left it on all night and burned down the house either.

[Ramcatlarry]

When all else fails, that little butane torch always gets the job done for assembly and when I decide to start over and take it all back apart to slavage all of the good brass parts.

[Jason Holmes]

Always Have used Ungar/Weller for over 30+ yrs and I just bought a Fakko with Tips because of this Talk we will see still Have 5 Ungars but will try this and see

 

 

Jason

[Michael Rigsby]

I took some time yesterday since my daughter who is visiting was spending some time with friends, and I reunited with an old friend, my original Ungar from over 40 years ago.  I found an online source for inexpensive 50 watt heater units, bought a four pack of PL-133 chisel tips and two PL-350 3/8" wide tips, put the iron together, installed a new sponge in the original Ungar 455 holder, and sat down to do some chassis building. I even rigged up a computer 80mm high speed fan with a speed control powered by an old Motorola phone USB charger to blow on the tip of the Ungar.

 

It was so nice to go back in time and use one iron for everything.  Solder flowed nice and clean, and using the temp control I bought, only had to turn the Ungar up when I needed it.

 

The Hakko 936 goes back to my flexi box and the Ungar and the Inland Deluxe are my building tools of choice.  Many years ago I used the Ungar, but I was using the all in one heater and tips and Cooper was having a problem with the cladding and I gave up on it.  After buying a few heating elements for dirt cheap, it's back in the fold.  It always was my go to iron.  Long live the original Ungar's........40 years and going strong.

 

Two more chassis done....

[Bill from NH]

Ungars are better balanced than most irons & just feel better in my old hands. There are still a lot of them around. I have red, blue, & black handles.  Would you share the name of your online source?