How To Make Soldering Iron: The Easy Way
Despite the fact that soldering irons are affordable and come in different sizes and shapes, this article will describe some simple methods on How to Make a Soldering Iron at the comfort of your home.
Depending on the type of heater used, the homemade soldering iron can supply between 15-30W when powered at a low voltage between 5-12V. Therefore, the process is pretty"simple" since you can power the soldering iron with any power supply that meets these requirements. Preferably, a computer Power Supply Unit (PSU) would be a good choice.
The Requirement in Making Soldering Iron
You will require the following when making soldering iron at home:
- Copper tip
- Ceramic cylinder or thermoresistant
- Wire that holds heater connected to the tip.
- Heater wire wounded over the thermoresistant insulator
- Metal pipe
- Wire with a thermoresistantinsulator
- Metal washer
- Thermoresistant spacer
- Screw
- Handle
Steps in Making a Soldering Iron
The second variant on how to make a soldering iron seems to be very easy to build. Instead of having the tip of the heater inserted inside a metal pipe, a metal sheet is fixed on the opposite end of the tip.
The metal sheet is bent to form an "L" shape so as to ease handle attaching. This metal has got additional function as a heat sink.
The picture shows the shows a detailed washer from the first variant and a metal sheet from the second variant.
- Holes for screws.
- Holes for wire pass.
- Cut-outs in the washer to attach the pipe.
- Groove made by bending the sheet to hold the copper rod in position.
Final Verdict
In conclusion, after successfully making a soldering iron, it is good to be cautious with the new tool. The wire should not get incandescent.
However, if so, use lower voltage. A perfect match is when the wire can be slightly visible in the dark. The tip will be capable of melting the solder in less than a minute.
If the solder does not melt when you touch it with the nichrome wire tip, it implies that you used a thick insulator or the insulator has got a poor thermal insulation property. Additionally, you can use higher voltage when the wire resistor does not get hot enough.
Therefore, nichrome wire is always preferred since it has got a higher resistance and gets quickly heated small currents and the common voltage. A copper wire can act as an alternative to nichrome wire.
However, it has low resistance; you will need to use small voltage of less than 1V using the current power supply and not a constant voltage supply.
