[mortimersnerd]

This will primarily be for GPU mods. Any suggestions?

 

[mortimersnerd]

Anyone?

 

[YOSHIBA]

that cold heat thing ive heard works

 

[YOSHIBA]

cold heat cordless instant hold/cold soldering iron
radio shack also sells them

 

[dcshoejake]

no way for cold heat, dude i have it, like its not always hot and its..just dont buy it, if you do your gonna see what i mean.

 

[trueg50]

I have heard a lot of bad things about the cold heat.

Spend some extra money and pickup a nice Weller soldering iron. If you have a bit of some money for it, then look for a Weller soldering station.

 

[JEK3]

Get something low wattage (15-25W max) for the delicate vmod work on surface mount components.

Better yet, get a variable output one.

I also recommend a grounded one (with a three-prong plug). Don't want your soldering iron to accidentally fry delicate components.

 

[mortimersnerd]

I might go with the one that CL3P20 has: Link

I found it for $87 shipped.

JEK3, good point on the grounding.

 

[Indignity]

Morts, I found This one on ebay earlier today.

 

[CL3P20]

I was going to post..but I see you already found my thread on the Hakko

There is no way in heck I could have done the last batch of GPU's without it.. they were a newer revision..without a solder bump to land to! They had only a small gold pad..not very solder friendly, but with some .025 rosin core and ~40W's..everything came together just fine.

*I like silver solder the best, as I feel it has superior resistance to corrosion..however it is difficult to use for GPU mods, as it requires a lot of heat to bond properly. While it will melt with ~25W..it needs ~40W to bond.

 

[mortimersnerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indignity Morts, I found This one on ebay earlier today.

Thanks Indy. Do you know anything about the build quality of those? It seems quite inexpensive for the digital display and such. I will do a little research.

I'm looking for a solid iron that will last me a long time...

Quote:

Originally Posted by CL3P20 I was going to post..but I see you already found my thread on the Hakko There is no way in heck I could have done the last batch of GPU's without it.. they were a newer revision..without a solder bump to land to! They had only a small gold pad..not very solder friendly, but with some .025 rosin core and ~40W's..everything came together just fine. *I like silver solder the best, as I feel it has superior resistance to corrosion..however it is difficult to use for GPU mods, as it requires a lot of heat to bond properly. While it will melt with ~25W..it needs ~40W to bond.

Thanks!
That iron is getting more convincing...

 

[Skullzaflare]

yea, dont use cold heat, it uses electrical current to melt the solder lol, i figured that out my self

 

[BLKKROW]

well i solder alot, alot and alot! stupid custom batteries for my other hobby

and well your going to want to use just the regular solder iron. and also anything with variable heat is amazing and helpful.

i have tried the one powered by butane, and it works but idk just isnt very reliable.

might i suggest this if you need something with low wattage
http://www.cs-sales.net/we12wa12peth.html

 

[H3||scr3am]

Hakko Dash, great gear. Or a hakko soldering station (I'm pinching pennies for one...)

 

[CL3P20]

Forgot to mention ..ColdHeat.. blows IC's with its mini- EMP disharges

NOT for mobo or GPU modding!!

 

[bartx]

I use this. It has 25W and 0,8mm iron (but there are also 0,4mm irons, which should be better) It was cheap (about 15$) and for me works well. I've done some mods using this, at example:



I think, that anything similar should be fine. It can be even 15W.

 

[Indignity]

Morts, I know nothing more than what's posted for feedback there. I was really looking at it when I was considering doing my own vmods. I came to realize that I simply wouldn't use it much, so I went swith a pretty standard iron. It's also the reason somebody else is doing the mods for me

 

[Mr. Stroker]

I have a cheap butane solder iron from lowes. It works well for wires but im not sure about pcb.