[kruser495] put up this interesting instructable on making a desktop soldering press out of a sewing machine pedal. It uses a big chunk of carbon to create a diy high power cold-heat style soldering surface. It doesn’t work until the top is pressed down to complete the circuit. Looks like it’s only useful for wire joins, but still pretty interesting.
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Must have been inspired by the soldering press in the vacuum tube construction video by the old guy in france.
@airmann:
Thats a spot-welder he’s using.
But ya, I was thinking of something something like that too :P
The carbon rod needs a little hackaday logo carved into it, uh, for more surface area.. in case you hafta solder some 12 guage wire.
Once the wires are connected (with the solder wrapped around it), one can also use a lighter. Connecting the two wires is the difficult part, and this does not become easier with the device.
Be careful with this one, might be worth picking up a pair of light shaded welding goggles, or otherwise shielding your eyes, the spark is not all that bright, but it has enough UV output to cause some damage, especially with repetitive unshielded exposure.
This is a low powered version if a twin carbon arc spot welder. The cold heat doesn’t generate UV because of it’s low power, it doesn’t produce a stable arc.
Yeah, I hear that the radiation generated by intense arcs can actually weld contact lenses to the wearer’s cornea by evaporating the tear fluid behind them. I read that in some textfile archived somewhere. So it might be a good idea to not wear contact lenses behind the welding goggles.