schematic of solder station to come soon.

Resistance Soldering

Hello Bruce

I am interested in learning more about your Resistance Soldering station.

John

Cool, I will upload a better

Cool, I will upload a better diagram of transformer and a schematic as well. Been busy lately and droped the ball but will update tomorrow. It does work but I have to learn how to use it profiecntly myself. Other than the transformer most of the components I had already being an ohms and volts(electronic tech.) kind of person.

Resistance soldering

Thanks Bruce

When you do figure out how to use it, it would be great if you could do some sort of write up

on it. So all you need is the transformer, a common wire clip and some sort of handle to hold

a carbon rod? Where do you get the carbon rods? I may have missed it, but what's the voltage / current

rating of the transformer?

Thank you for the information

John Frankforther

Looks cool!

I will have to take a closer look at this when I get some time in the next few months. From what I understand, a resistance soldering station is the cats pajamas for soldering rail to PC ties..

Chris

The carbon rods can come from

The carbon rods can come from 2 sources 1.From a dead C cell battery this is a messy project and the stuff in a battery is not with out risk as some batteries have mercury in them 2. the best choice is carbon rods from a welding supply shop they are called carbon rods, gouging rods and sometimes called electrodes, some have a copper jacket to them.

The best handle is a cheapy soldering Iron (radio shack) that has a threaded set screw hole to hold the tip in, the PDF attachment is pretty detailed and has a link to the article I based mine on,  if your computer can not read pdf format I can send you a Microsoft word version.

The voltage of the transformer in original articale is 6 volts AC @ 6amps for a 36 watt output, the one I used has two secondary windings both 6.3 vac @ 3.4 amps each these get wired in parallel for an output of 6.3 vac  @ 6.8 amps for an output of 42.84 watts.

Does this help?

Carbon rods / resistance soldering

Just a caveat - I'm building something similar to the linked project... and have NO first hand experience to offer yet!

As I understand.. battery cores are messy.   And rods from welding suppiers are in large-volume... (too much to use in half a lifetime)   

What about Graphite sticks? - (from A.C.Moore of Michaels or similar art supply houses)   They're about 1/4" diameter and lacquered over solid graphite.

Or drafting lead (about 1/10 inch diameter)... which is what was used here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY_Cold_Heat_soldering_iron/

And I'll await the details yet to be posted - before plugging mine in!

Regards-   Peter

(my first post here!)

Sorry for dropping the ball,

Sorry for dropping the ball, I did get 2 good solderjoints on a scrap of copper and two wires. Awaiting some sheet metal(copper in this case) and some carbon rods that I had ordered from ENCO. will post a pic of solderstation and test peice soon.

MRC TECH4 220 resistance soldering

Looked promissing but turned out to not be the same in a real application.  Insufficiant heat output.

Marc Fournier, Quebec

Wow that is awesome, will

Wow that is awesome, will keep in mind when If I ever build another one of these neat solderstations. Thanks for posting to this thread.

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Maybe I should have left my addition after all.   Anyone who has a DC power pack with 4 or more amps it should make a good ajustable resistance soldering station.   My TECH4 220 does not have  the AMPS to handle more than melting solder,  thow it did a good job of it.

I tried another transformer I had on hand. 20Vct at 2A. So I was putting 20V thru the lead pencil lead. The  3/32 lead from the pencil  glowed a bright red and then started to curve and deform. So I stopped before I set fire to myself.

Marc Fournier, Quebec

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I  got around to building  a 50W  resistance soldering station.  5Volts/10A or 50VA.   It works well for small objects.  I put the on/off momentary switch right in the unit and not a separate pedal.  I put the unit on the floor.  I used a 600W dimmer to control the heat and it doubles as an on/off button.  

Now I want a 175W version (5v/35A)  or maybe 250W.   I've read people say you need a 1500W dimmer in the 175W or 250W units if you wnat to control the heat,  that surprises me as I erad the 250W version from American Beauty pulls 3A in the primary to drive the 2.8volts secondary. That puts it in the 50A range unless I wrong.

Mark not 50A remember your

Mark not 50A remember your talking about a dimmer switch. which means at full volume your aliowing the whole wattage, volts & Amps to flow and dimmer means reducer in it allows what ever your max current flow in from what ever the sorce is and as you turn the dial it then reduces the flow,the magic word is Dimmer not intensifer. Your transformer is what can change the voltage but only if it is a step up transformer and your still limited in current to be no more than what your starting with. If we could increse Current with a dimmer we could make a car that would only need a 12V 27A battery and put out 10,000 volts of power. 25,000A even with a transformer you may get 10,000 volts for a second or 2 but the current would remain at 27Amps max for about .5 seconds then Dead battery.

Dan

Confusion?

Dan, you have misunderstood what Mark was getting at.  I don't think he was saying the dimmer would boost current.  Rather I think he was saying that for a higher current station he would need a dimmer control with higher wattage capacity.

Looks interesting Mark, but would be much more so if you could provide pictures and details of the construction.  How about a forum clinic or an article if it's something MRH is interested in?

What he needs is a dimmer

What he needs is a Transformer with a higher current rating because if you have a 1500 watt dimmer and a 250 watt dimmer the max current on both will be the same when full open it doesn't make Amps. It take a better more powerful source to get higher amps so what he needs is a bigger transformer the bigger the dimmer still doesn't make bigger amps it simply comtrolls the voltage flow and max is Max. I have a Tig welding Machieen and the amperage is 45 Amps and i can controll the voltage from 0 - 250v but the Amps never change they always remain at 45 amps resistance changes watts and volts in dimmer and to produce 50 amps the transformer would weigh about 15 lbs. But remember just because you have something rated to handle 200Amps if your only putting 20 amps in your only going to get 20 amps out. That just the way it is and besides a 50A solder station is not a solder station its and ARC welder.

remember rating of a

remember rating of a component doesn't mean that's what it puts out but just what it will handle before it burns up.

Dan

+ +

Dan,

You mis-understood me.  I know I need a transformer with a higher amperage output. The question was why would I need a 1500W dimmer if the max output of the NEW transformer would be 250W.  The American Beauty units put out 2.8V, This I have read.  The high output version they sell put out 5V or 6V. They have the transformers wired specific for the application.  So if I take the 2,8V with the 250W, add in the 0.6 PF for AC it comes out ruffly in the 50A.

What I can not figure is why I would need a 1500W dimmer in the picture instead of the 600W or even a 500W dimmer..

The unit pictured  I built  with a 5V/10A transformer, about 50VA.  I added  the 600w dimmer.  The next one I want to build would have a 175VA transformer ($25.00) or a 250VA transformer ($80.00, guess which way I may go..)  but have read someone say that a 1500W dimmer is required. 1500 W dimmer are an arm and a leg.  I also read that Harbour freight ? (what ever it was) sells a 1500W unit for motor control for $20.00.   

Marc Fournier,Quebec

+ +

ON a side note..  I wanted to put a picture on the top of my Resistance Soldering station and went fishing for something. I came upon this picture on Wikipedia  that  was strangly familliar to me.

Then I remembered where I saw it before.

Wonder if we have a copyright infringement here. Interresting story regarding  this picture also on Wikipedia.

Marc Fourner,Quebec

Watts is watts!

Marc,

I agree, I don't see any reason for a 1500 watt dimmer.   The power (watts) input is relatively the same as the output power.  

I see a need here to re-state Ohm's law for DC and resonant AC circuits (power factor of about 1 ):                                      power = voltage x current,                                                                                                             so through the transformer, if we were to step down the output voltage to 1/20 the input voltage, we would step up the current output by a factor of 20;  but power input remains the same as power output.    

I have used the ubiquituous 600 watt dimmers for everything except AC motor controls, without problem.  I just stay well below the 600 watt max. threshold.

Last thought:  RE:  Harbor Freight.  I, personally, would not buy electrical devices from them, even though their headquarters is less than five miles from my home.  They purchase, and import, from a variety of sources, some of which sources have been shown to be unreliable regarding quality of product, even to the point of UL labeling that is not authorized by UL.  So, can you buy something from them that works?  Sure.  But can you rely on the product you buy to function safety? ................ I've given my personal opinion!

Nice picture

Not as long as it's only for personal use I imagine.

Personal use

Well American Beauty is putting the image on all the Super Chief 100 and 250 resistance soldering stations.  The soldering station picture is from their web site. Judging by the tree line, clouds and general layout it looks to me like they grabbed the picture, cropped it, and put it on their product and are making a profit by  directing the product at the modeling community.  

Marc Fournier, Quebec 

Interesting

Well, for their sake I hope they have the rights to use the photo.

I initially mistakenly thought the American Beauty station was something you built yourself.

I agree, it sure looks like a crop from the picture you found.  Maybe it's an American Beauty image?

Watts is Watts

Regarding the 1500W dimmer. We see eye to eye,   I could not figure out why they were suggesting  the  necessity for the 1500W dimmer.  I thought it might have to do with the 40 or 50A  output.  I'm no expert but like to read up before I  make dive in.  

I agree about the Harbor Freight statment. But since just about everything we purchase lately comes  from China,  the quality is questionnable be it a name brand or not,  it is not a simple task to buy ' quality '.  Since I do not see any good explanation for going to 1500W dimmer for my next project (250W resistance soldering station,) I'll stick with the 600W dimmer.

Marc Fournier, Quebec.

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"Maybe it's an American Beauty image? "

Wonder. . There is a copyright issue with the original picture. It is all documented over on the Wikipedia site. Turns out the original  was a B/W picture, ripped, inverted and done with an air brush for a book or magazine cover. It went to court.  It  was not deemed copyright infringement since it was not a direct copy.  This would unless they bought the rights.

Marc Fournier, Quebec.