DIY Hot Air Soldering Iron

Step 9 Final Results

Here are some initial results - these tiny devices are surface mount diodes from a damaged network card. The soldering iron seems to work absolutely flawlessly. After waiting a few minutes to heat up, just turn the air pump on and bring it close to the device you want to remove. Using tweezers to apply gentle pressure against the device, it quickly loosens up and falls off.

So, how well does a hot air soldering iron really work?

Light on both time and money, I found this project a worthwhile investment, especially for a college student on a budget. Not only can it remove surface mount components, but I found it works really well as a general use soldering iron because of its less-intense heat. For example, a transistor can be soldered in only a few seconds, without the need for the usual soldering heatsinks. For anything but heavy wires, this is a vast improvement over the soldering iron I started out with. In fact, if it weren't for the heating time typical of soldering irons, I would greatly prefer this for general use even to my Cold-Heat device.

Comments

[charlieb000]

just an idea, perhaps it is possible to replace the tip with a tube and use that as an air duct. then you can use the iron as a iron again when you want. i have a 40W thats not really suitable for soldering but if i need it to burn stuff again then i can just put the old tip in.

[Astinsan]

The epoxy your talking about is QuikTitanium Epoxy PuttyQuikTitanium Epoxy Putty. It can do a Service temperature -40 to 500º F (-40 to 260º C)(hd has it in the paint department) . There are also exhaust pipe patch kits for cars that will work, Then there is the stuff for fireplaces that is in a calk gun container made by 3m (hd has it in the paint department)

[billj]

Back in the 70's, in an electronics prototype lab, we would sometimes need to attach a thermocouple to a device under test. We had a two part epoxy, blue, which would harden like a rock and could tolerate to some degree high temperatures. Not recalling the product name I've searched for it in recent years without luck. It would probably work in this application. Typically for removal a heatgun can make most epoxies crumble. Last year I tried a muffler repair epoxy in an assembly fixture but it too degrades with the heat of a soldering iron.

[Dude567]

 try JB Weld, it's supposed to be fireproof

[vanmankline]

JB Weld's site says "The maximum temperature threshold is approximately 600 degrees F for a short term (10 minutes)."

[penededios]

I have seen these irons in Steren and Beltran. Tampico Tamaulipas Mexico :D

[BOOJAN]

damn man....nice thinking I was thinking to buy hot iron solder, and i guess that i changed my mind :D and thanks for this great idea

[knak123]

great!

[Coffee bean]

now what can you do with those lol