homer j

Im looking to puchase a soldering gun. What is the watage that i should look for?

Also what's a good/inexpensive temp gun?

basementLOSI

You want to get atleast a 40W soldering station. Not a soldering gun.

A good product such as this is a Weller WLC100. <-- That's also the cheapest price around.

PS: Just a question that I personally do not know myself: Is 40W enough to assemble batteries? I mean you wanna be quick about it not to ruin the cells, so should one bump the wattage up to 80?

Nick111

I wouldnt use anything above 40. Anything higher will just get hotter faster, keep that in mind, 1500* for 2 seconds is worse than 800* for 5.

Scottmisfits

iTrader: (7)

When doing batteries you want something hot to do it fast. The longer you hold the heat at the bettery, the more it disipates into the cell. For normal soldering just get the cheap hobbico 40-60 watt iron. If you plan on doing batteries get something at least 80w.

One tip I was shown when building the batteries is to just melt the solder on the ends and then let it cool. Then come back and put the wire and/or bars on after the cell's have had a chance to cool.

basementLOSI

Exactly what I was saying bro, but I didn't know that about the solder.. interesting, I will keep that in mind.

Seems that it would help out alot, good idea dude.

lazerpunk

It has been my experience that you want a verry hot iron a 40watt will work turned all the way up. But most of all you need a large tip, a small tip won't hold enough heat after you make contact to the cell and the bar. A large tip won't cool down and will provide instant heat. I make mine out of solid copper about 1/2" dia with the end cut down to fit into the iron. A large flat cut on about a 45deg angle on opposite sides with two small angles cut 90deg fron the other two.
You should not tin the battery or the bars, solder is not as good a contuctor at direct contact. Sand the end of the cell and the bar to help with contact. I use an strong magnet to hold the bar in place and solder away. My solder jobs look clean no mess an a minimal amout of solder.

homer j

thanks for the info...