DIY Hot Air Soldering Iron

Step 6 Splice the two hoses together and re-assemble

This is how I attached the silicone tubing to the aquarium air line. I simply removed the tip from one of the pens, stretching the silicone tubing across the smaller end, and pushing the aquarium hose firmly into the wide end, securing it with a generous amount of super glue. These particular pens have a relatively wide opening at the tip - if yours aren't quite so generous, you may have to widen the opening a bit to avoid restricting the air flow.

After putting the soldering iron back together - this is what we are left with. What woud be a fully-functioning hot air soldering iron, missing only one small piece: the nozzle. Another pen tip is unscrewed and cut using the dremel cutting accessory shown in this picture.

Comments

[sysadmn]

You might want to use epoxy or other glue, rather than super glue. Epoxy, white glue (Elmer's, in the US), and Gorilla Glue will fill in tiny gaps and give a good seal. Gorilla Glue expands slightly as it sets; that can be a good thing, but make sure you don't block the internal channel. If you think heat will be an issue, there are high temperature epoxies. Super glue seems to work best for me when attaching two flat surfaces, or two jagged surfaces that fit exactly, like the arm on that ceramic statue that you never liked, but your wife bought anyway.