Dude seriously??? I have absolutely no idea why this video would be in my suggestion box but I’m a heavy line mechanic at a Toyota dealership and I’ve been having some issues repairing damaged wires in certain make and model wiring harnesses mostly because the wire gauge is to big making it take forever to solder a single joint with my propane iron and cumbersome if not impossible with my 120V iron. In addition to that, some of the crazy positions I have to twist my body in just to get to these wires under the dashboard is nothing short of hell on earth and you absolutely just gave me the solution to my problem when I least expected it. THANK YOU!!
I've had one of these for years, and I always hated using it. Found this video and it changed my soldering life! I have a ton of projects I've been avoiding and ones I want to redo now, and I'm excited about it! Thank you!
When I was 12 in 1967, I bought my dad a soldering gun for Christmas. Since I could solder better than he could he just let me have it. It was the same model as the first one you showed. I still use it for heavy work like soldering larger wires together or to a board. I've never even changed the bulb.
Wow! I've used a Weller 8200N for almost 40 years and never knew that the first click on the trigger was the higher power. I also never realized that I needed to loosen and tighten the nuts periodically. Thanks!
On the original tips it was recommended and I did it was to silver solder coated the tip end to reduce corrosion of the tip and was tinned with solder using borax as a flux. Made the tips last a long time. Since the current in the tip was current limited by the transformer, you can hold the trigger continuously.
My grandfather's weller which is now mine, takes no time to get to working temperatures, I remember when he didn't have a proper replacement tip, he used a metal coat hanger and trimmed it down to about 3" and it worked...
I just happen to have some 14 AWG copper wire and it fits great on my 80watt soldering gun. The best thing about using copper wire as the heating element is that, you can design what ever soldering bit you want. Great job on the video!
My original Weller has a hole in the case, but it still works! Guns are great for chassis grounds, stained glass, cables, hoses, carburetor floats, toilet floats, toy steam engines, big resistor dummy loads, antennas, etc. Silly me, I go buy tips. No more no more! Thank you Mr. C!
This is how I did it as a teen in the early 2000’s once the tip broke on my dads old Weller gun like that, and I wanted to use it / had a few feet of old house wiring. This was the only soldering iron I had access to at the time and used it best I could for tinkering with electronics until I got a cheap pencil style. I had a few feet of old Romex, and it made tips for years. Been subscribed for quite a while, have watched a lot of videos, but this one was just recommended for some reason and figured I'd comment as it brought back some memories.
Bought my first one in 1955 and its still in use. Remember that electronics is not the only application for a soldering iron. Give it another 20 years and everyone will want one.
Thank you so much Mr Carlson. I first watched the video 2 years ago and this has helped me immensely in fixing generators. My solder joints end up so nice that I've gotten more work because of it.
I used to run through soldering irons like CRAZY in my younger days working as a mobile electronics installer at a car stereo shop. It didn't matter how much I spent, I could buy *anything* from any vendor and it would be clapped out within a month. The absolute *VERY* best non-HF soldering irons like these here, in my humble opinion, is the $19.99 jobber from Radio Shack. It had the janky cheap soft-metal screws which cinched down on the soldering tip, and they always stripped out (the head, not the thread), but a few twists with pliers on the outside shoulder of the screw head and they would work like a top. The weller, craftsman, and even the more expensive Radio Shack guns would always die within months, but I could get 2-3 years out of those $19.99 cheap radio shack guns, with continual use, in a car stereo shop, 5-6 days a week, with no problem. Enjoyed the video, as always, Mr. Carlson. Thanks for the tip... on tips!
Good tip. I´ve got a couple of that type of gun (75W) and when I needed to test CT ratio, I managed to inject more than 100 amps by replacing the tip with a short loop of 10AWG cable through the CT primary. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the great tip. I bought an exact gun on nextdoor for $5.00, and the tip was broken, so I just made a small loop as you did. Now it's my go-to for chassis and #0 gauge wire and big lugs. Or course the bulb was burned out, so I replaced it with an LED type. It's indispensable to me now. Thanks again.
My dad showed me this 40+ years ago! he was an electronics repairman who got his start in WWII as a radar technician / operator and went on to repair radios and early televisions. His first amateur radio transmitter was made from an old Setchell-Carlson television. I've saved much of his old tools including his old 550!
This is a great tip for anyone using a soldering gun like this. I have an identical Weller gun, and it's great for doing quick ad-hoc repairs especially of stuff like cables, wiring etc. I'll often help a friend in his motorcycle workshop, and he just happens to hate doing electrical work - the Weller is perfect for that. I also figured years ago (based on similar transformer-based guns produced in Poland) that replacing the original tip with something slightly thinner and shorter might make heat up much quicker. With a tip made from some scrap wiring, it heats up in 2-3 seconds, and produces enough heat to solder even quite thick wiring (I think we once used it for 4mm thick multistrand, and it worked fine). So yeah, it might be a 60's design made of bakelite, but it can still be plenty useful.
I was given a gun like yours. It had had a tin of paint over it which took hours to remove. If you think yours looks tired mine looks like it's been used for knocking fence posts in. I have stripped it and internally it looks fine. Mine is a bright red and about to be given the Carlson treatment for battery soldering. I have an LED lamp that says the 3 x AA batteries cannot be replaced and then tells you how to remove them for recycling - just 2 screws and 2 wires. Thanks again Paul.
Very useful. Thanks. I built one and it stopped working. It turns out the screw terminals got loose from me mashing the tips so this walkthrough helped me figure it out. The old tools often work better but you have to know how to use them!
What I'm using is a compact tip soldering pen (e.g. Hakko T12 series,...; practically all major soldering tool makers have this style, the hakko are available for really low cost; the replacement tip itself contains not only the soldering tip itself, but also the heater and temperature sensor, the handle is just really just the handle, connector for the tip and maybe a motion sensor for the idle function). These not only warm up quickly, but mainly have the temperature sensing junction directly in the bulk of their tip (it is all permanently assembled together). That means when you use it on something really sucking in a lot of heat like tye chassis, the thermostat immediately sees the cooling and blast the heater full power. As result, it becomes able to heat up even a thick chassis within a second, without needing to crank the temperature up at all (I use 275..300 degC all the time, only when stripping magnet wires, I crank it up to about 320degC because there it is just the temperature needed to decompose the insulation layer). So it warms up everything well, at the same time it does not overheat, so you don't have to bother with maintaining the temperature. I just swap the tips during use, as it takes just barely 10..15 second to warm up a completely cold one. For normal soldering (like point-to-point wiring,...) I use D3 (3mm "flat head screwdriver" style), for heavy chassis work a D5 (5mm), for fine job D1.2 (1.2mm). Plus they warm up very fast, so you may set the idle temperature of about 200degC after just 15 second (setting my thermostat allows me to do) on the stand, but when you pick it up, before you touch it on anything it is back on temperature, so it degrades the tin on it way slower. These are a bit more expensive, but you won't ever face problems like bad thermal contact, high thermal resistance, need to crank the temperature setting to insane values to be able to solder anything heavier and then face the short life of the components because exposed to such temperatures. My guess their seemingly higher cost will offset by just their longer life, not speaking about the amount of frustrations you save yourself from...
Back in the 1960's while in electric shop we used a longer wire in the think it was we!let's 100/140 watt soldering gun. Uses a #222 pre focused light bulb if my memory serves me right. My dad purchased one of these for me in 1967 and still have it. Became an electrician and seldom used it last 40 years. Keep a wet sponge to keep tip clean. Now stays would just drop a hole in chassis and use a crimp on lug for wire then instal a nut & bolt. Nice vidio. Did put together a 25" Heath kit TV, Tube & transistor tester & a scope back in the 1970's while taking a master correspondence class in electronics that the VA paid 90% of it.
Good stuff eh! My Electronics mentor used the higher watt gun you have, but always used o.e. tips. (He was an ex RCAF radar tech). I myself only have the low watt (Weller Gun, with standard tip) & a 100w heavy pencil for steel chassis, & a 25w pencil for boards. My 1st tech job yrs ago had a 65w Weller thermostatic controlled iron, & loved it.
Make your own Soldering tip, who'd thunked & go figure! Thank you. I wish I could go back 47 some odd years and start over. I'm still excited about electronics. I started in 1968 and graduated US Navy, Treasure Island, as an ET and worked for Sylvania as a TV tech and Micro-wave GTE and so-forth.
+Dan Todd Glad to read that you still have a spark for electronics..... (see what I did there :^) Welcome to the channel, your input is always welcome.
Seems I’m a late commenter but your “tip” is new to me as was searching for new tips for my 8200 and Sears 5366 that have been using for plastic repair lately so a lot of abuse on the business end. Looks like I found the solution and try some different ideas with making a pan of sorts to puddle better. So from a non electronic use side of the industry thanks and have a great New Years
Thank you-I have an old weller/130/100 I've had for probably 30 years. I was just getting into soldering and never could use it!!!. It has been in my closet all this time until I saw this video. Like to have never found it. Because of you, I have brought it out again. Thanks.
I learned to solder using the same 100/140 gun. I've made soldering tips in a pinch using 14 or 12 gauge wire except I tried to shape them into the same shape as the factory tips which worked well enough. Never tried the short loop like this and can see it could be quite useful. Thanks for the video.
I have the big one for automotive wiring projects. I love it. It is probably 35-40 years old and still going strong. Question Thinking about taking your course. I an have automotive circuit background and the furthest I got into electronics was rectifier bridges and regulators in alternators. Am a computer tech at a couple of schools and am studying for the Extra Class exam for ham radio. I feel somewhat lost. At age 61 is it worth it to do this? I guess my goal is to renew an old american 5 Sears Silvertone AM radio/phono amp I have sitting on my antique shelf.
Update. My soldering gun is not a Weller and I think it's lower wattage. I had some strange looking tips which I thought I might modify. I cut one end off and used just one leg bent in the same fashion as yours. The wire is slightly thinner and this has resulted in a much faster warm up time. They are plated but it must be the new style tip plating as it takes solder very well. Thanks again for this tip. I don't like the idea of cooking batteries and quicker is better.
I built my first Benton Harbor Lunchbox with one of those 200 W Weller guns back in 1963. I was 13, and it was all I had. Fortunately, back then everything used tubes and long-leaded components, not SMT's.
I thought I was the only one that did those tip's. I use to use mine for putting PL-259 on the coax. I made my tip's in the shape of the original tip. Thanks for sharing.
I was kind of exited when I noticed we have the same D-550 Weller. I found it interesting that mine says 240/325 watt. not a big deal but surprising non the less. I love your work, good job.
Outstanding Tip!! I have a new Weller 9400PKS and the tips it comes with were not getting hot enough even though this soldering gun is rated 100/140w. I simply used a 3 inch long piece of copper ground wire from of an old piece of Romex and perfect! Gets super hot really fast and I was able to heat up my application exactly the way I needed. Thank you for sharing this info!
Very interesting video about this Gates transmitter. I actually found one of these transmitters at an abandoned transmitter site some 20 years ago. Unfortunately most of the iron was gone, the tubes were gone and it had some issues with rodents too. Really a shame that happened to this great broadcast transmitter. I would really like to see a video on how you modify the frequency on these transmitters for amateur use. Great video as usual Paul.
enjoyed the tip on the soldering guns. also it is possible to solder to ALU. I have read a process, but one has to use oil to shield the ALU while heating. food for thought. Keep em comming , Greg
I have made many different style tips like this....coils, folds, hammered-flat blades, bends, even wrapped the wire around a larger solid to make a 'standard type point.'
I still have one of those weller guns that I bought as teenager in 1974! Thanks for the tips (pun intended!) on getting more life out of this old tool!
Just tried this with my old Weller 8200N 100/140, but all I had on hand was 12 AWG. It took a little while, like 45 seconds for it to flow, but I was able to make a nice connection to an old 2 gang electrical box, at least 1.5 mm steel. Nice tip!
I bought my first 140 watt Weller when I was 13 years old (50 years ago).It is used regularly in the field and I have kept it in nearly brand new looking condition. I dont think waiting 5 to 6 seconds is asking to much for the normal tip to get hot. My 200/260 Keller iron I just put a dab of hot glue on the side of each bulb that resolved the loose bulb issue.Hot glue is readily removed using regular rubbing alcohol.
The engineer who helped me replace the final in a Harris FM30HD this weekend had his gun rigged the same way. I am totally going to find mine and do the same. I never thought about it and surprise this showed up in my video list today.
Smiling! Tricks I have done for years. Nothing more frustrating than to have a tip go bad and no replacement. The wire doesn't last as long but in a pinch it a good solution. Got the new Weller 260/200 and not only is it made cheaper but that reverse on the switch makes no sense to me, when I have used the 100/140 of mine for 50 years the other way.
I made one of these a couple of years back after watching this video and I still use it to this day to solder tin tabs on 18650's for small power packs. Thanks!
A weller soldering gun has low heat first and hi all the way back. Would believe a week ago my gun tip burned out and I tried a solid wire. Works great. And to think of all the tips I have bought.
I was thinking of doing this with a regular iron just because I don't have any fine enough tips for smaller-pitched or SMD components, glad to know it works. Although makes me wish the coil in the ancient Weller I had around didn't burn and weld itself together. Beyond easy repair at this point I think.
One great tip is air in a can. For a quick and messy desolder, heat up the through-hole, quick blast with the straw tip near the hole and you get a perfectly cleaned lead/pin hole while instantly taking the heat off the component. For extra cooling turn the can upside down and spray on some of the butane (pending extreme heat/open flame/sparks.)
Made tips like that for my old D550 Weller gun. Using conductivity data for copper wire from old Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, I calculated the current through the tip as roughly 400 amps. Wonder if a current clamp would verify that.
Many years ago, my good wife of 50 years gave me a Weller Soldering gun for my birthday. It took me may tries to even get it to heat up because of those stupid screw holders for the tip. I finally realized I had to clean the contact area of the tip before tightening those screws, I had turned them so tight that I actually bent the ends of the tip. I rarely if ever use the thing, but hesitate to sell it, as it was a gift, and I don't wish to hurt the good wife's feelings, her heart was in the right place.
This is a good tip Mr. Carlson I just got done rebuilding a Lionel transformer for my son and somebody had rewired it kind of goofy and globbed up all the solder. And the Weller 140 100 gun that I have the tip is wearing out and it's not getting as hot as it should so I'm going to try this out...👍
hey, all. I just tried this with my 100 watt weller junior and a piece of number ten wire and it worked surprisingly well. the wired heated almost instantly. the chassis took a tiny bit longer to get hot enough to melt the solder but still a lot better than what I had. think I'll get a bigger wattage gun from eBay .they seem to be plentiful there. thanks for the tip, Paul .
I have yours and the larger 440. It got progressively harder to find the Weller real copper tips, although the inferior (tinned) tips could be found. For chassis I use a Real-Man's Iron 100W iron. Bigger tip holds heat longer. I don't think either of them was as much as $20 (US) over 50 years ago. There was also a single 'speed' Weller gun that I've seen. An 8100? Thanks
Ages ago I bought a pot of flux for soldering to aluminium chassis' and brackets. LA-CO brand. Now, they make fluxes for all sorts of metals but I found that their Aluminium Flux lets me solder to Steel and Iron too. It's pretty nasty stuff, you have to be careful using it. Keep it from skin or eye contact, corrosive, toxic etc. But it works a treat. I commonly used a brute of a 100W element iron for heavy work but I managed to melt some cheap connectors with it. Probably plated pot metal. So, I bought a gun type just to apply a little Less heat ... I have nice regulated bench irons but my long time favourite for lighter work is still my trusty 25W Antex. Never let me down that model. Eminently portable too.
Ahh, Paul has spent years using roll-your-own copper tips, as a lot of fellow users have with our Weller and other brand solder guns. I utilize 10 ga here as a usual, 12 ga only if I run out of the 10. I usually solder with my temp controlled solder station, but a Weller soldering gun is a staple of need here as well, especially for any older or newer chassis work. Thank you, sir, also for ID'ing the "RA" liquid flux you use and discuss. After using paste flux when needed for so many years, I tire of it, and will locate some of the 835 1L pronto.
Paul, can you verify You Tube message and maybe also in your Channel page that this is the 835 flux that you use and refer to ? : www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC2.A0.H0.Xliquid+flux.TRS0&_nkw=liquid+flux&_sacat=0 The prices vary a bit, but although it's not very "low" in cost, being used sparingly seems to make it a fairly good value ??
Hi Joseph. The "835" is the part number and the "1L" is the size. What's at the top of the page *looks to be* the product. My bottle is different as it's the 1L size. The price for good RA is always a little high.
The way I learned to do this is to make a sharp U-turn bend in the wire as tight as possible without shorting the legs. After that same as shown here. Bending the wire like that changes the structure of the copper crystals and introduces a small region of higher resistivity, therefore more heat. You can also turn your soldering gun into a styrofoam or foam rubber cutter. Bend the wire into the cutting shape you want and mount on the soldering gun. You don't want to burn it, just melt it.
Sir, there is absolutely no question that you make THE greatest videos on TH-cam. They actually make my entire day better and for that I can not thank you enough. Cheers!
What would be a good soldering station for a newbe? Something that will last a little while and have replaceable tips, adjustable temp, fine tips if needed, and without breaking the bank seeing little use.
+Walt Prescott Anything Hakko is usually pretty reasonable. Tips are available everywhere, and cheap too. If you want to by an iron once and have dependability, I think this iron is the way to go. The older 936 seems indestructible. I have the FX888, and I don't really like the soft buttons on the front. It's very easy to de-calibrate the iron with the wrong sequence of button pushing.
Quite the awesome tips on that Jurassic gun! I still have one around here somewhere... I learned how to make cables with one of those 44 years ago! And Yes! the original tips are crappy. Thanks Mr Carlson!
I tried this today, I have a newer model of the same 100/140w weller gun. It's now hot enough to solder coax connectors and 1ga copper lugs (battery cables). With a slight amount of effort, 12ga wire will fit in the connector nuts, which is what I went with. Nice trick.
I had to put a ground to chassis the other week and used my hot air gun and set the temp at about 325 C, must be extremely careful though of components in the vicinity which makes your way more preferable.
I’ve listened to your patreon channel promo, but as a novice, that is looking for a hobby, I need to know that if I put the time and money into your channel that I’ll be able to do basic electronics repair,, meaning ..I’m 55, I’m well skilled any many areas outside this field but due to some unforeseen accident. I’m trying to refocus into something I absolutely love to use, and that’s audio equipment..but I’m lost as a ball in high weeds here, and have watched countless videos but keep coming back her. I have an equalizer similar to the one you just fixed, although it was the Sound Shaper One-Ten IC NO METER, and I can’t find schematics anywhere.and I have taken the capacitor out..well...I celebrated..not looking for ya to say oh yes you’ll be the best in the business, but just direction and help..Thank you, Sir
Paul, good to know I am not the only one that does it this way. I busted my case on my D550 10 years ago. Since I have lost many pieces of it lol. Got to find me another one soon. Great tip :)
My friend you have just saved me $6-$7 a tip for my D550. And I have an oldie with screw-in incandescent bulbs. I would like to see your tutorial on swapping LED's. Have you done it since the date of this video?
I still have and use my Weller D440 - 145/210 watt soldering gun that I bought in the late 1950s-early 1960s. It comes in very handy for soldering heavy wire and soldering lugs on the wires (after crimping).
I dug out my model D550 and plugged it in just to see if it still works. After years of not using it, it does however the light bulbs don't light up anymore. The iron will heat up just fine but no light bulb action. I checked the bulbs and they are good so I hate to open it up searching the problem.
Dude seriously??? I have absolutely no idea why this video would be in my suggestion box but I’m a heavy line mechanic at a Toyota dealership and I’ve been having some issues repairing damaged wires in certain make and model wiring harnesses mostly because the wire gauge is to big making it take forever to solder a single joint with my propane iron and cumbersome if not impossible with my 120V iron. In addition to that, some of the crazy positions I have to twist my body in just to get to these wires under the dashboard is nothing short of hell on earth and you absolutely just gave me the solution to my problem when I least expected it. THANK YOU!!
I've had one of these for years, and I always hated using it. Found this video and it changed my soldering life! I have a ton of projects I've been avoiding and ones I want to redo now, and I'm excited about it! Thank you!
And don't forget 'SOL'dering! Lol
When I was 12 in 1967, I bought my dad a soldering gun for Christmas. Since I could solder better than he could he just let me have it. It was the same model as the first one you showed. I still use it for heavy work like soldering larger wires together or to a board. I've never even changed the bulb.
Original bulb 😂
Wow! I've used a Weller 8200N for almost 40 years and never knew that the first click on the trigger was the higher power. I also never realized that I needed to loosen and tighten the nuts periodically. Thanks!
And THAT is why you ALWAYS read the instruction manual.
@@J.C... Manual?, I've inherited a couple of these, finding out they are a good unit
I knew the first click was highest power because the bulb dimmed more on that setting. Boss didn't believe me... until i put a kill-a-watt on. 😏
On the original tips it was recommended and I did it was to silver solder coated the tip end to reduce corrosion of the tip and was tinned with solder using borax as a flux. Made the tips last a long time. Since the current in the tip was current limited by the transformer, you can hold the trigger continuously.
My grandfather's weller which is now mine, takes no time to get to working temperatures, I remember when he didn't have a proper replacement tip, he used a metal coat hanger and trimmed it down to about 3" and it worked...
I just happen to have some 14 AWG copper wire and it fits great on my 80watt soldering gun. The best thing about using copper wire as the heating element is that, you can design what ever soldering bit you want. Great job on the video!
+Nexfero
Thanks!
started working in a tv repair shop back 1980 at 16 yrs old. learned and have been using this same tricks ever since !
My original Weller has a hole in the case, but it still works! Guns are great for chassis grounds, stained glass, cables, hoses, carburetor floats, toilet floats, toy steam engines, big resistor dummy loads, antennas, etc. Silly me, I go buy tips. No more no more! Thank you Mr. C!
This is how I did it as a teen in the early 2000’s once the tip broke on my dads old Weller gun like that, and I wanted to use it / had a few feet of old house wiring. This was the only soldering iron I had access to at the time and used it best I could for tinkering with electronics until I got a cheap pencil style. I had a few feet of old Romex, and it made tips for years. Been subscribed for quite a while, have watched a lot of videos, but this one was just recommended for some reason and figured I'd comment as it brought back some memories.
Same here ;o)
Been in the game 30+ years. Wish I had learned this 30+ years ago! One of the best tips I have ever seen!!!
Bought my first one in 1955 and its still in use. Remember that electronics is not the only application for a soldering iron. Give it another 20 years and everyone will want one.
Thank you so much Mr Carlson. I first watched the video 2 years ago and this has helped me immensely in fixing generators. My solder joints end up so nice that I've gotten more work because of it.
I used to run through soldering irons like CRAZY in my younger days working as a mobile electronics installer at a car stereo shop. It didn't matter how much I spent, I could buy *anything* from any vendor and it would be clapped out within a month. The absolute *VERY* best non-HF soldering irons like these here, in my humble opinion, is the $19.99 jobber from Radio Shack. It had the janky cheap soft-metal screws which cinched down on the soldering tip, and they always stripped out (the head, not the thread), but a few twists with pliers on the outside shoulder of the screw head and they would work like a top. The weller, craftsman, and even the more expensive Radio Shack guns would always die within months, but I could get 2-3 years out of those $19.99 cheap radio shack guns, with continual use, in a car stereo shop, 5-6 days a week, with no problem.
Enjoyed the video, as always, Mr. Carlson. Thanks for the tip... on tips!
Good tip. I´ve got a couple of that type of gun (75W) and when I needed to test CT ratio, I managed to inject more than 100 amps by replacing the tip with a short loop of 10AWG cable through the CT primary. Thanks for sharing.
+Juan Abreu
Thanks for your comment Juan!
Mr Carlson. You are a natural in electronics. I want to thank you for your excellent videos!!
You are very clever.
Thanks Willy!
You can also twist and flatten the #14 a bit to make a bulkhead tip. A butane torch can also be used to preheat the cabinet.
Thanks for the great tip. I bought an exact gun on nextdoor for $5.00, and the tip was broken, so I just made a small loop as you did. Now it's my go-to for chassis and #0 gauge wire and big lugs. Or course the bulb was burned out, so I replaced it with an LED type. It's indispensable to me now. Thanks again.
Glad you found it useful!
Been making my Weller tips using a 6 inch piece of 10ga bent to the same shape as the original Weller tips for 40 years.
Damn! You beat him to it. He must feel devastated.
I especially enjoy the use of the "L" in the word solder. He doesn't miss a single opportunity.
My dad showed me this 40+ years ago! he was an electronics repairman who got his start in WWII as a radar technician / operator and went on to repair radios and early televisions. His first amateur radio transmitter was made from an old Setchell-Carlson television. I've saved much of his old tools including his old 550!
That's great, your father sounds like an interesting man.
This is a great tip for anyone using a soldering gun like this. I have an identical Weller gun, and it's great for doing quick ad-hoc repairs especially of stuff like cables, wiring etc. I'll often help a friend in his motorcycle workshop, and he just happens to hate doing electrical work - the Weller is perfect for that. I also figured years ago (based on similar transformer-based guns produced in Poland) that replacing the original tip with something slightly thinner and shorter might make heat up much quicker. With a tip made from some scrap wiring, it heats up in 2-3 seconds, and produces enough heat to solder even quite thick wiring (I think we once used it for 4mm thick multistrand, and it worked fine). So yeah, it might be a 60's design made of bakelite, but it can still be plenty useful.
I was given a gun like yours. It had had a tin of paint over it which took hours to remove. If you think yours looks tired mine looks like it's been used for knocking fence posts in. I have stripped it and internally it looks fine. Mine is a bright red and about to be given the Carlson treatment for battery soldering. I have an LED lamp that says the 3 x AA batteries cannot be replaced and then tells you how to remove them for recycling - just 2 screws and 2 wires. Thanks again Paul.
Very useful. Thanks. I built one and it stopped working. It turns out the screw terminals got loose from me mashing the tips so this walkthrough helped me figure it out. The old tools often work better but you have to know how to use them!
i have had the same Weller soldering gun for 42 years. Still works great.
+scott king
They are great!
What I'm using is a compact tip soldering pen (e.g. Hakko T12 series,...; practically all major soldering tool makers have this style, the hakko are available for really low cost; the replacement tip itself contains not only the soldering tip itself, but also the heater and temperature sensor, the handle is just really just the handle, connector for the tip and maybe a motion sensor for the idle function).
These not only warm up quickly, but mainly have the temperature sensing junction directly in the bulk of their tip (it is all permanently assembled together). That means when you use it on something really sucking in a lot of heat like tye chassis, the thermostat immediately sees the cooling and blast the heater full power.
As result, it becomes able to heat up even a thick chassis within a second, without needing to crank the temperature up at all (I use 275..300 degC all the time, only when stripping magnet wires, I crank it up to about 320degC because there it is just the temperature needed to decompose the insulation layer). So it warms up everything well, at the same time it does not overheat, so you don't have to bother with maintaining the temperature.
I just swap the tips during use, as it takes just barely 10..15 second to warm up a completely cold one. For normal soldering (like point-to-point wiring,...) I use D3 (3mm "flat head screwdriver" style), for heavy chassis work a D5 (5mm), for fine job D1.2 (1.2mm).
Plus they warm up very fast, so you may set the idle temperature of about 200degC after just 15 second (setting my thermostat allows me to do) on the stand, but when you pick it up, before you touch it on anything it is back on temperature, so it degrades the tin on it way slower.
These are a bit more expensive, but you won't ever face problems like bad thermal contact, high thermal resistance, need to crank the temperature setting to insane values to be able to solder anything heavier and then face the short life of the components because exposed to such temperatures. My guess their seemingly higher cost will offset by just their longer life, not speaking about the amount of frustrations you save yourself from...
Back in the 1960's while in electric shop we used a longer wire in the think it was we!let's 100/140 watt soldering gun. Uses a #222 pre focused light bulb if my memory serves me right. My dad purchased one of these for me in 1967 and still have it. Became an electrician and seldom used it last 40 years. Keep a wet sponge to keep tip clean. Now stays would just drop a hole in chassis and use a crimp on lug for wire then instal a nut & bolt. Nice vidio. Did put together a 25" Heath kit TV, Tube & transistor tester & a scope back in the 1970's while taking a master correspondence class in electronics that the VA paid 90% of it.
Good stuff eh!
My Electronics mentor used the higher watt gun you have, but always used o.e. tips.
(He was an ex RCAF radar tech).
I myself only have the low watt (Weller Gun, with standard tip) & a 100w heavy pencil for steel chassis, & a 25w pencil for boards.
My 1st tech job yrs ago had a 65w Weller thermostatic controlled iron, & loved it.
ELECTRONIC GURU: A PERSON WHO BUYS FLUX BY THE QUART.
Make your own Soldering tip, who'd thunked & go figure! Thank you.
I wish I could go back 47 some odd years and start over. I'm still excited about electronics.
I started in 1968 and graduated US Navy, Treasure Island, as an ET and worked for Sylvania as a TV tech and Micro-wave GTE and so-forth.
+Dan Todd
Glad to read that you still have a spark for electronics..... (see what I did there :^) Welcome to the channel, your input is always welcome.
I've done the same with my old Russian soldering gun. It works really great with that kind of copper wire.
Seems I’m a late commenter but your “tip” is new to me as was searching for new tips for my 8200 and Sears 5366 that have been using for plastic repair lately so a lot of abuse on the business end. Looks like I found the solution and try some different ideas with making a pan of sorts to puddle better. So from a non electronic use side of the industry thanks and have a great New Years
I still have the Weller like yours I received as a Christmas gift in 1968. I built my first shortwave with it. It still works like new.
+soctnights
Sure are dependable!
Thank you-I have an old weller/130/100 I've had for probably 30 years. I was just getting into soldering and never could use it!!!. It has been in my closet all this time until I saw this video. Like to have never found it. Because of you, I have brought it out again. Thanks.
I just bought a Hakko and wondered if I would ever use my Weller gun again. Now you show me a way to use it. Perfect. Thank you!
I learned to solder using the same 100/140 gun. I've made soldering tips in a pinch using 14 or 12 gauge wire except I tried to shape them into the same shape as the factory tips which worked well enough. Never tried the short loop like this and can see it could be quite useful. Thanks for the video.
+jagardina
Thanks for your comment!
I have the big one for automotive wiring projects. I love it. It is probably 35-40 years old and still going strong. Question Thinking about taking your course. I an have automotive circuit background and the furthest I got into electronics was rectifier bridges and regulators in alternators. Am a computer tech at a couple of schools and am studying for the Extra Class exam for ham radio. I feel somewhat lost. At age 61 is it worth it to do this? I guess my goal is to renew an old american 5 Sears Silvertone AM radio/phono amp I have sitting on my antique shelf.
I just tried to this tip tip. This works amazingly well. I could not believe the instant powerful heat.
Update. My soldering gun is not a Weller and I think it's lower wattage. I had some strange looking tips which I thought I might modify. I cut one end off and used just one leg bent in the same fashion as yours. The wire is slightly thinner and this has resulted in a much faster warm up time. They are plated but it must be the new style tip plating as it takes solder very well. Thanks again for this tip. I don't like the idea of cooking batteries and quicker is better.
I built my first Benton Harbor Lunchbox with one of those 200 W Weller guns back in 1963. I was 13, and it was all I had. Fortunately, back then everything used tubes and long-leaded components, not SMT's.
I remember these, my replacement tip was a coat hanger, worked great.
I got one of those for Christmas in the 60's and still with me. Before that I used a soldering iron which I was taught to hold like a dagger.
+Greenfield 54
LOL, Like Clives Tig welding video :^)
I thought I was the only one that did those tip's. I use to use mine for putting PL-259 on the coax. I made my tip's in the shape of the original tip. Thanks for sharing.
+Ruben
Thanks Ruben!
I’ve Got the Same Weller Soldering Gun !
Way back in 1966 I built a Heathkit guitar combo amp head with that gun !!
I now have a Hexacon Station !
I was kind of exited when I noticed we have the same D-550 Weller. I found it interesting that mine says 240/325 watt. not a big deal but surprising non the less. I love your work, good job.
Outstanding Tip!! I have a new Weller 9400PKS and the tips it comes with were not getting hot enough even though this soldering gun is rated 100/140w. I simply used a 3 inch long piece of copper ground wire from of an old piece of Romex and perfect! Gets super hot really fast and I was able to heat up my application exactly the way I needed. Thank you for sharing this info!
Sir your office is how I used to imagine my make believe office was when I was a kid gauges computers buttons and such absolutely amazing
Very interesting video about this Gates transmitter. I actually found one of these transmitters at an abandoned transmitter site some 20 years ago. Unfortunately most of the iron was gone, the tubes were gone and it had some issues with rodents too. Really a shame that happened to this great broadcast transmitter.
I would really like to see a video on how you modify the frequency on these transmitters for amateur use.
Great video as usual Paul.
Mr Carlson´s Lab is the number #1!
Thanks for sharing your huge and solid knowledge with us!
Greetings from Brazil!
Thanks! Glad your enjoying the channel.
enjoyed the tip on the soldering guns. also it is possible to solder to ALU. I have read a process, but one has to use oil to shield the ALU while heating. food for thought.
Keep em comming , Greg
+Gregory West
Thanks Greg!
I have made many different style tips like this....coils, folds, hammered-flat blades, bends, even wrapped the wire around a larger solid to make a 'standard type point.'
I always used a longer copper wire with sharp bend in middle to reduce resistance and make hot spot like Weller should.
wow! i have the smaller 90/125 gun and i didnt know about the double switch! i was wondering why it often is colder some times!
I still have one of those weller guns that I bought as teenager in 1974! Thanks for the tips (pun intended!) on getting more life out of this old tool!
Just tried this with my old Weller 8200N 100/140, but all I had on hand was 12 AWG. It took a little while, like 45 seconds for it to flow, but I was able to make a nice connection to an old 2 gang electrical box, at least 1.5 mm steel. Nice tip!
+Cheezy Dee
Glad you enjoyed!
I bought my first 140 watt Weller when I was 13 years old (50 years ago).It is used regularly in the field and I have kept it in nearly brand new looking condition. I dont think waiting 5 to 6 seconds is asking to much for the normal tip to get hot. My 200/260 Keller iron I just put a dab of hot glue on the side of each bulb that resolved the loose bulb issue.Hot glue is readily removed using regular rubbing alcohol.
I found two of these old Weller soldering guns in antique stores. I paid $10 each and both work very well.
I have one soldering gun exactly like yours (120watts). Used it on repair of TV sets on 80s years. It still works, thanks for the video.
+J Cesarsound
Glad your enjoying the video's!
I HAVE ONE LIKE THAT WORKS GREAT!!! MINE IS A CIRCA 1960'S. STILL KICKS ASS AND TAKES NAMES!!!
Kicks ass and chews bubblegum!
Mr. C ,you are the greatest . I wish I could do 10% of what you know and can do !
The engineer who helped me replace the final in a Harris FM30HD this weekend had his gun rigged the same way. I am totally going to find mine and do the same. I never thought about it and surprise this showed up in my video list today.
I have one of those Weller solder guns over 40 years old now.
my man how have i never seen this before. Thank you. Made my night.
Smiling!
Tricks I have done for years. Nothing more frustrating than to have a tip go bad and no replacement. The wire doesn't last as long but in a pinch it a good solution.
Got the new Weller 260/200 and not only is it made cheaper but that reverse on the switch makes no sense to me, when I have used the 100/140 of mine for 50 years the other way.
I made one of these a couple of years back after watching this video and I still use it to this day to solder tin tabs on 18650's for small power packs. Thanks!
Great tip on making your own tips! I'm becoming addicted to Mr. Carlson's videos.
My old Weller D550 gun has 240/325 watt settings. They are much harder to find than the ones you show in the video but they work GREAT.
They have D550's and D650's on Amazon and on the Weller website. They also have Kits for both that include cases and a few accessories.
A weller soldering gun has low heat first and hi all the way back. Would believe a week ago my gun tip burned out and I tried a solid wire. Works great. And to think of all the tips I have bought.
+Robert Fournier
Thanks for your comment Robert!
Nice to see the old Weller gun again.
I used to make my tips for it exactly the same way! (since the 1970s :-)
+Ron Topsvoort
Thanks for your comment Ron!
I was thinking of doing this with a regular iron just because I don't have any fine enough tips for smaller-pitched or SMD components, glad to know it works. Although makes me wish the coil in the ancient Weller I had around didn't burn and weld itself together. Beyond easy repair at this point I think.
One great tip is air in a can. For a quick and messy desolder, heat up the through-hole, quick blast with the straw tip near the hole and you get a perfectly cleaned lead/pin hole while instantly taking the heat off the component. For extra cooling turn the can upside down and spray on some of the butane (pending extreme heat/open flame/sparks.)
could be pretty dangerous of the heat or a malfuncioning soldering iron ignites the butane
Erdnusschokolade
Hadn't thought of that but valid concern, altho I'm not too worried. Not using excessive amounts or around open flames/live boards.
Made tips like that for my old D550 Weller gun. Using conductivity data for copper wire from old Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, I calculated the current through the tip as roughly 400 amps. Wonder if a current clamp would verify that.
I have one of the older Weller guns that still has the case it came with..works great
+craneoperator4
Thanks for your comment!
Many years ago, my good wife of 50 years gave me a Weller Soldering gun for my birthday. It took me may tries to even get it to heat up because of those stupid screw holders for the tip. I finally realized I had to clean the contact area of the tip before tightening those screws, I had turned them so tight that I actually bent the ends of the tip. I rarely if ever use the thing, but hesitate to sell it, as it was a gift, and I don't wish to hurt the good wife's feelings, her heart was in the right place.
This is a good tip Mr. Carlson I just got done rebuilding a Lionel transformer for my son and somebody had rewired it kind of goofy and globbed up all the solder. And the Weller 140 100 gun that I have the tip is wearing out and it's not getting as hot as it should so I'm going to try this out...👍
I bet the thinking was 1st click high to get temp up fast, then full pull-low just to maintain the tip temp for longevity of all parts concerned.
hey, all. I just tried this with my 100 watt weller junior and a piece of number ten wire and it worked surprisingly well. the wired heated almost instantly. the chassis took a tiny bit longer to get hot enough to melt the solder but still a lot better than what I had. think I'll get a bigger wattage gun from eBay .they seem to be plentiful there. thanks for the tip, Paul .
+Chris Mosley
Your welcome Chris!
I have yours and the larger 440. It got progressively harder to find the Weller real copper tips, although the inferior (tinned) tips could be found. For chassis I use a Real-Man's Iron 100W iron. Bigger tip holds heat longer. I don't think either of them was as much as $20 (US) over 50 years ago. There was also a single 'speed' Weller gun that I've seen. An 8100?
Thanks
Ages ago I bought a pot of flux for soldering to aluminium chassis' and brackets. LA-CO brand.
Now, they make fluxes for all sorts of metals but I found that their Aluminium Flux lets me solder to Steel and Iron too.
It's pretty nasty stuff, you have to be careful using it. Keep it from skin or eye contact, corrosive, toxic etc.
But it works a treat.
I commonly used a brute of a 100W element iron for heavy work but I managed to melt some cheap connectors with it. Probably plated pot metal.
So, I bought a gun type just to apply a little Less heat ...
I have nice regulated bench irons but my long time favourite for lighter work is still my trusty 25W Antex.
Never let me down that model. Eminently portable too.
Ahh, Paul has spent years using roll-your-own copper tips, as a lot of fellow users have with our Weller and other brand solder guns. I utilize 10 ga here as a usual, 12 ga only if I run out of the 10.
I usually solder with my temp controlled solder station, but a Weller soldering gun is a staple of need here as well, especially for any older or newer chassis work.
Thank you, sir, also for ID'ing the "RA" liquid flux you use and discuss. After using paste flux when needed for so many years, I tire of it, and will locate some of the 835 1L pronto.
Glad you enjoyed Joseph!
Paul, can you verify You Tube message and maybe also in your Channel page that this is the 835 flux that you use and refer to ? :
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC2.A0.H0.Xliquid+flux.TRS0&_nkw=liquid+flux&_sacat=0
The prices vary a bit, but although it's not very "low" in cost, being used sparingly seems to make it a fairly good value ??
Hi Joseph. The "835" is the part number and the "1L" is the size. What's at the top of the page *looks to be* the product. My bottle is different as it's the 1L size. The price for good RA is always a little high.
The way I learned to do this is to make a sharp U-turn bend in the wire as tight as possible without shorting the legs. After that same as shown here. Bending the wire like that changes the structure of the copper crystals and introduces a small region of higher resistivity, therefore more heat.
You can also turn your soldering gun into a styrofoam or foam rubber cutter. Bend the wire into the cutting shape you want and mount on the soldering gun. You don't want to burn it, just melt it.
The D550 is good for soldering PL-259s.
If you drop them they disintegrate.
Sir, there is absolutely no question that you make THE greatest videos on TH-cam. They actually make my entire day better and for that I can not thank you enough. Cheers!
Thanks!
What would be a good soldering station for a newbe? Something that will last a little while and have replaceable tips, adjustable temp, fine tips if needed, and without breaking the bank seeing little use.
+Walt Prescott
Anything Hakko is usually pretty reasonable. Tips are available everywhere, and cheap too. If you want to by an iron once and have dependability, I think this iron is the way to go. The older 936 seems indestructible. I have the FX888, and I don't really like the soft buttons on the front. It's very easy to de-calibrate the iron with the wrong sequence of button pushing.
+Mr Carlson's Lab Thanks Mr.C, I will check out seeing I'm in need asap.
Great demonstration. Why doesnt regular solderin irons work on cabinets?
They do not sink enough heat.
oh. what if i blowtorch the cabinet beforehand?
thanks man :)
Try an American Beauty 3178...
All those screens and knobs at the beginning. Looks like mr Carlson is sitting in the cockpit of a ultra fast spaceship.
Quite the awesome tips on that Jurassic gun! I still have one around here somewhere... I learned how to make cables with one of those 44 years ago! And Yes! the original tips are crappy. Thanks Mr Carlson!
+G Morgan
Glad you enjoyed!
I tried this today, I have a newer model of the same 100/140w weller gun. It's now hot enough to solder coax connectors and 1ga copper lugs (battery cables). With a slight amount of effort, 12ga wire will fit in the connector nuts, which is what I went with. Nice trick.
+Sean Hazelwood
Glad this helped! I use this all the time to solder PL-259 barrels. Works slick!
I used to use a weller 125 iron (looks like a 1/2" cold chisel), the gun trick works better
I had to put a ground to chassis the other week and used my hot air gun and set the temp at about 325 C, must be extremely careful though of components in the vicinity which makes your way more preferable.
Love the show- those soldering guns usually have a 2 stage trigger... -one click is actually hotter than two if I’m not mistaken!
Wow that's great. I have a very old soldering gun like the large one you have and I'm going to fix it up right away. Thanks
I’ve listened to your patreon channel promo, but as a novice, that is looking for a hobby, I need to know that if I put the time and money into your channel that I’ll be able to do basic electronics repair,, meaning ..I’m 55, I’m well skilled any many areas outside this field but due to some unforeseen accident. I’m trying to refocus into something I absolutely love to use, and that’s audio equipment..but I’m lost as a ball in high weeds here, and have watched countless videos but keep coming back her. I have an equalizer similar to the one you just fixed, although it was the Sound Shaper One-Ten IC NO METER, and I can’t find schematics anywhere.and I have taken the capacitor out..well...I celebrated..not looking for ya to say oh yes you’ll be the best in the business, but just direction and help..Thank you, Sir
just loved those soldering guns! i'll manage to get one soon! Thanks Paul for the Demo!
I will be trying to fix my first alternator soon. I think this may come in very handy.
My dad had the same exact soldering gun. Man that just brought memories :-)
I have the exact model that is like an heirloom. 3 generations of my family have used that beast
Paul, good to know I am not the only one that does it this way.
I busted my case on my D550 10 years ago. Since I have lost many pieces of it lol. Got to find me another one soon. Great tip :)
+The Radio Shop
Thanks!
Replacement cases for the Weller D550 cases are available on Ebay.
My friend you have just saved me $6-$7 a tip for my D550.
And I have an oldie with screw-in incandescent bulbs. I would like to see your tutorial on swapping LED's. Have you done it since the date of this video?
Great tip. I was about to buy another solder gun, so now I know what options I have with it. Thank !
+Pete Schreiber
Your welcome Peter!
I still have and use my Weller D440 - 145/210 watt soldering gun that I bought in the late 1950s-early 1960s. It comes in very handy for soldering heavy wire and soldering lugs on the wires (after crimping).
A friend said to use a piece of coat hanger instead of the heavy copper wire for the soldering gun tip. Is that a good idea???
Hi Alex, NO, the metal is too hard, it needs to be copper. A coat hanger will not heat anywhere near as well. (I tried it)
@@MrCarlsonsLab So you're saying he's trying to kill me by putting coat hangers in my soldering gun. Thank you. I'll take care of this.
I dug out my model D550 and plugged it in just to see if it still works. After years of not using it, it does however the light bulbs don't light up anymore. The iron will heat up just fine but no light bulb action. I checked the bulbs and they are good so I hate to open it up searching the problem.