This i defiantly need some advice for. anyone that posts here will more then likely be helping me to avoid harm to myself or my house. kinda simple really. i have now my third store bought soldering iron. its busted too. pulled on the cord too hard this time. i will get a good one when possible. however tonight i need one. so im just building one. i know after looking at these cheap guns they seem very very simple. if i where to take a cord that plugs into the wall with two bare ends. add the proper gauge and length ni-chrome, plug in. that to me is a dead short. i know there is some explanation to why it is not but i just do not feel safe plugging this in being a good replica or not until i understand what im doing.

 

Fireworks show maybe?
Max.

 

This i defiantly need some advice for. anyone that posts here will more then likely be helping me to avoid harm to myself or my house. kinda simple really. i have now my third store bought soldering iron. its busted too. pulled on the cord too hard this time. i will get a good one when possible. however tonight i need one. so im just building one. i know after looking at these cheap guns they seem very very simple. if i where to take a cord that plugs into the wall with two bare ends. add the proper gauge and length ni-chrome, plug in. that to me is a dead short. i know there is some explanation to why it is not but i just do not feel safe plugging this in being a good replica or not until i understand what im doing.

120 v down to a 15 w soldering iron? You need enough resistance wire (nichrome) to make a resistance of 1000 ohms or so. Look up how many feet of your wire vague will make 900 to 1000 ohms. You'll need A fuse, and an enclosure. A decent soldering iron over 15w will have thermostat control. Don't kill yourself or burn your house down.

 

No matter what sort of hurry you're in, DON'T. It's not worth the effort, involves serious risks, and really won't work anyway. A soldering iron needs to be within a temperature range to work well. The metallurgy of the tip also matters. The time you spend trying to roll your own in a safe manner will far exceed the cost of a new unit. Spend your time tonight finding and ordering a new one.

I have one of these and can recommend it for hobbyist (i.e. non-professional) use. Consider getting replacement tips when you order.

 

120 v down to a 15 w soldering iron? You need enough resistance wire (nichrome) to make a resistance of 1000 ohms or so. Look up how many feet of your wire vague will make 900 to 1000 ohms. You'll need A fuse, and an enclosure. A decent soldering iron over 15w will have thermostat control. Don't kill yourself or burn your house down.

@jgreene44
PS: you'll need about 300 feet of 22-gauge wire. Don't let any of this 300 feet touch other sections or you won't get your 900 ohms. Now, getting the resistive heat that is evenly distributed over the 300 ft into the tip of one soldering tip will be a challenge.

Do you see why a home rolled soldering iron is not a good idea? Some Walmart stores are open 24-hours.

 

lol ok i built it and it works fine for the night. thank you to everyone for the help. the correct answer was what i was thinking the right amount and gauge. im still curious though. how does this work. could i do the same thing with other materials? i assume now i could... the energy seems to run to the bottleneck of the circuit. also assume nichrome is used over lets say copper for its heat resistance properties? copper would do the trick it just would burn up is what im thinking. still seems crazy to me i guess. i never imagined a dead short being part of a properly functioning device what would make this device consume more or less watts? i know what would make it hotter or colder. and i would initially think that the two would be the same but. a dead short over 300 miles of wire... i would think would use just as much as one thats red hot and 10 feet. plz someone elaborate.

 

Why wasn't this thread locked before it got this far ?

To the OP, why ask for advice, for what could have been a dangerous situation, receive advice not to do it and go ahead anyway ?


BTW Is it too much trouble to engage CapsLk at the beginning of each sentence, lack of capitals does not make for any easy read.

 

lol ok i built it and it works fine for the night. thank you to everyone for the help. the correct answer was what i was thinking the right amount and gauge. im still curious though. how does this work. could i do the same thing with other materials? i assume now i could... the energy seems to run to the bottleneck of the circuit. also assume nichrome is used over lets say copper for its heat resistance properties? copper would do the trick it just would burn up is what im thinking. still seems crazy to me i guess. i never imagined a dead short being part of a properly functioning device what would make this device consume more or less watts? i know what would make it hotter or colder. and i would initially think that the two would be the same but. a dead short over 300 miles of wire... i would think would use just as much as one thats red hot and 10 feet. plz someone elaborate.

Nichole is more of a resistor than wire. Copper has about 1% of the resistance of nichrome. Nichrome is not a "dead short" unless you use a very short section of nichrome.

On a side note, Have you ever ridden your bicycle through a lightning storm while holding some metal-handle brooms or rakes over your head?

 

Why wasn't this thread locked before it got this far ?

To the OP, why ask for advice, for what could have been a dangerous situation, receive advice not to do it and go ahead anyway ?

The better option would be just to do whatever dangerous activity you wanted without burdening anyone else with your recklessness and stupidity.

BTW Is it too much trouble to engage CapsLk at the beginning of each sentence, lack of capitals does not make for any easy read.

We are not supervised 24/7.

 

Hi,

what brand of soldering iron you are buying. I can suggest you buy goot from taiyo electric co
made in japan. Also the wattage is important. In what kind of electronics if any ,you are soldering,
like printed circuit board ...etc..

 

Correct me if im wrong but does not most all electronics have the potential to harm you? we learn how to use them safe first? i mean am i wrong here. one persons answer was as i stated twice. proper length and gauge. safe and sound. funny how safety gives people the chance to criticize when down inside they care nothing about the individual solely the feeling they get from pointing out at any opportunity that someone might not be "doin it right". ah have fun with that im used to it now on forums. i dont find it amusing but what can i do. (i do think your troll was invalid however) as far as a few other things i saw tossed around. that Japanese gun! thats the one i will be getting payday. we all can understand that? i heard from other sources these cheap guns are just a waste of time for anyone that does any significant amount of soldering. juneler you asked about that what kind of soldering. surface mount, thru hole, everything but the plumbing id say. wattage im goin adjustable with that Japanese one. what you think about it? personally i like the iron hot. i do seem to burn tips way too fast but im trying to learn more about that matter as i go. i did read some.

 

Mate I wasn't trolling with what I said.

Some of us have been on the receiving end when someone decided to ignore safety. Whether it's in a work environment or on the road or a weekend activity.

Electronics is not an extreme sport, there's no "street cred" for putting your self in harms way and getting away with it. AC mains is not something to ( that word I can't use cos I'm trying to be less blunt ) around with. What happens if you get bitten and someone attempts to help you without bothering to check if the power is still live ? There's a chance they can end up as a victim as well.

A genuine accident is a very rare thing indeed, mostly the cause of an injury or incident can be pointed to someone doing the wrong thing, not following a procedure or using the wrong tool for the job needed. No task is so urgent that you have to put you, and generally potentially others, in harms way. Safety is not a joke. Just because you can't see electricity does not make any less dangerous under the wrong conditions, sometimes it can make it worse.

It's sad when you can not take firm & blunt criticism. It's sad that you call it trolling. It's sad that you chose to ignore the advice of some very knowledgeable members.

 

i dont mean to be ugly heck i might even learn from you one day. just relax ok? your not in any way liable for my stupidity.



"a little to blunt for you own good" thats exactly my point! im sure your not worried about me. you dont even know me. for your own good? you only tried to tell me not to do it. how could you be liable? so if its not either of those... what is it folks???

Trolling...

 

I think the original question has been answered, so this is a good place to end this thread.

When working around AC, always keep one hand in your back pocket and be sure you are insulated from earth.