Resistance soldering station from scratch

[AF350]

I will be building in the near future a resistance soldering station based on some do it your self articles off the internet. will take pics of assembly as I go along.

[Steamtrains]

Will be waiting eagerly for your "how-to".....

I'm still waiting for my AF video....

[shaygetz]

I too, will be looking forward to this.

[AF350]

Today some time I will post the link to the article I will be using. Still have to find some awg 14 stranded wire.

Parts list :

Qty 1 power cord
Qty 1 bad or cheap(radio shack) solder iron to be gutted for handle and metal part to hold tip
Qty 1 enclosure big enough to house transformer
Qty 2 Banana plugs
Qty 2 Banana jacks
Qty 1 alligator clip
Qty 1 foot switch (the kind that opens circuit when foot is removed)
Qty 1 transformer with 115 vac primary winding and a secondary rated for 6.3 Volts @ 6 amp
Qty 1 !/4 inch diameter carbon rod to make the tip
Qty some heat shrink tubbing
Qty some Awg 14 stranded wire

Tools needed and or recommended

A good working Solder Iron or station
Wire stripers/cutters
A DMM digital multimeter
A pair of needle nose pliers
Screw drivers
A small cheap pencil sharpener to make point on carbon rod

[AF350]

Sorry I did not get around to posting link yesterday stuff came up and my Internet access went down.

[AF350]

Here is the link to the article that I am basing my project on.

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[nachoman]

I have heard of people using an auto battery charger as a transformer.

[doctorwayne]

I have heard of people using an auto battery charger as a transformer.

I tried that method with three different battery chargers that I have, but all tripped their overload as soon as power was applied. Probably the wrong kind of chargers for this application. The method outlined in the link looks promising, though, and once I have some free time, I may give it a try.

Wayne

[Wayne R]

I built this one using some plans found online. I actually used a number of ideas from three different web sites.

   


The transformer I used was one I had bought to use for a power supply. It has multiple power taps and is able to supply up to 50 amps of power. I had hoped to use one of the 6 volt AC taps but they only were capable of 2 amps. I ended up using one of the two 16 volt AC outputs as they can supply the full 50 amps if needed. I use an old sewing machine foot peddle to turn on the power. The light on the front lets me know it is on when I push the peddle. The dial is a light dimmer control wired to the 120 volt AC side of the transformer. It is used to control the output of the unit. I had it on the low voltage side at first but it did not give me very fine settings there. The handle with the carbon tip was made from an old burnt out soldering iron. The carbin tips are 1/8" arc gouging rods that are copper coated. I sharpen them with a pencil sharpener. I bought a whole box of 100, foot long rods for a little less than $25 Cdn. Enough tips to last a life time or two as only about four inches will fit in the handle.

The only down side to my setup is the transfomer and the steel case it is in weighs about 16 lbs. About 95% of the weight is the transformer. I also have to be carefull how far I turn it up as it has the power to burn a hole through .025" brass sheet with ease. The one things I am happy about is it will solder 1/4" brass together without any problems.


Wayne Reid

[AF350]

Wayne R

thanks for the pic of your Resistance soldering station. Yours is adjustable?

Just finished up building mine today pics of construction and wiring diagram to be posted soon. 8-)

[tetters]

Looking forward to this.

[Wayne R]

Mine is adjustable via the knob on the front ( house light dimmer control ). It reduces the 120 volts to the transformer which in turn reduces the power output. I can solder 0.002" brass sheet or up to 1/4" thick brass bars. This is without turning the knob past half way. I think it will solder thicker material but at the half way mark the carbon tip is glowing a nice orange color. I did try it turned up to the 3/4 mark on some 0.010" brass sheet and the heat of the tip actually deformed the brass where I was pressing down within a second.

So far I have used it to repair some solder joints on my brass CNR 2-8-0 I rebuilt. I also used it to resolder a broken pilot for a brass CNR 4-6-2 I am working on. It sure beats a soldering iron or a torch. Instant heat that is more localized to the area you are soldering.



Wayne Reid

[AF350]

Well here it is the long awaited for do it yourself resistance soldering station Rev. 1 may have to tweak the document some.



I can not post .doc or .txt hmmmm any suggestions?

[AF350]

Make your own Resistance soldering station

Based on internet article by

Don Thomas

At this link

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This is a brief description and pictorial how to build your own resistance soldering station for use on brass, copper and tin to build models.

Here we have first the wiring up of the transformer part number from Digikey 237-1257-ND

Make your own Resistance soldering station Based on internet article by

Don Thomas

At this link

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainweb.org.bristol-s-gauge/projects/">http://www.trainweb.org.bristol-s-gauge/projects/</a><!-- m -->

This is a brief description and pictorial how to build your own resistance soldering station for use on brass, copper and tin to build models.


Here we have first the wiring up of the transformer part number from Digikey 237-1257-ND
















Be sure to use the right size wire, 18 gauge stranded wire to wire up primary side for 115Vac(power from outlet) And 14 gauge stranded wire for secondary side of transformer and banana jacks and probe wires(hand piece and alligator lead)


Now mount transformer to enclosure and make an entrance hole for power cord in the enclosure (I used a nibbler, depending on style of enclosure you may drill the hole and do not forget to use a strain relief for power cord)

[AF350]

I give up for the night, will try typing in the whole thing and uploading pics manually. anyone who can not wait PM me and I can send the word.doc but it is close to 1 Mb in size. mostly pics will have retract down link to original article