A real soldering iron

[Joe Gwinn]

I mentioned an old 500-watt soldering iron I bought for $2.00 at a used tools store. All it needed was a new power cord. Anyway, here is a photo. The gridlines are 1" apart. The iron weighs 1.25 Kg (2.75 pounds). The tip is copper, the body is mild steel, and the handle is painted wood (with an airspace near the tip to keep the handle from getting too hot).

[Alex/Tubewonder]

Now show us how to use this on SMD components

[David Schwab]

Wow, that's a big sucker! I have an old one that's pretty big... but not that big.

[Joe Gwinn]

Now show us how to use this on SMD components

It's easy ... the SMD components pop like corn in a popcorn popper.

[Possum]

....

I remember one exactly like that in the showed scene from the movie "Psycho." What a horrible way to die....

[Possum]

....

I type too fast when I get up....THE SHOWER SCENE FROM "PSYCHO"....

[jonson]

I type too fast when I get up....THE SHOWER SCENE FROM "PSYCHO"....

That's cus your hand is still vibrating.

[David Schwab]

I type too fast when I get up....THE SHOWER SCENE FROM "PSYCHO"....

You know... that's what that button is for...

[LtKojak]

You know... that's what that button is for...

You told'em? It supposed to be a secret...

[Stealth]

That's beginning to look a lot less like a soldering iron and a lot more like a stake for killing werewolves. Vampires, even, if the handle is hawthorn...

[Possum]

...

Edit button, where the hell is that? Oh, ok now I see it, didn' know about that. Now how do you do those quotes thingys?

[JasonG]

I wonder if that was meant for auto body work. Body men used to use hot lead, something like that could help you smooth it out before sanding.

[David King]

Back when Plumbers worked with lead (Pb) pipe, all joints were sweated between the pipes with a thing like this. Before electricity, they usually had a coal or charcoal filled bucket to keep several of them hot while they worked with one. I have some I got from my grandfather that are about 18" long and weigh 3-4 pounds each. (He wasn't a plumber but a physicist at Bell Labs.). He dream in later life was to create a water sprinkler that watered evenly over a perfectly square patch of lawn. I don't think the corded ones were big enough for his uses but I remember him firing his up over the gas stove in the kitchen and taking them out to his workshop next to the garage to try soldering his pile of brass gears, cams shafts, pipes and nozzles together.

[Joe Gwinn]

I wonder if that was meant for auto body work. Body men used to use hot lead, something like that could help you smooth it out before sanding.

Could be.

[chevalij]

Could be.

I recognize that iron. It's from the old double bar ranch down the road!