Soldering irons and guns
(101)Soldering irons with heating elements and transformer soldering irons
All work on electronic circuits, PCB laminates or even connectors involves soldering. Not all projects require the use of a soldering station, so regular soldering irons with heating elements and transformer soldering irons are extremely popular and frequently selected by many users, including professionals. Their advantages include small size and portability, thanks to which you can save space wherever you work. Moreover, they are cheaper than soldering stations.
Differences among models
The division between soldering irons with heating elements and transformer soldering irons results directly from the method of heat generation in the soldering tip. Soldering irons with heating elements come with resistive components installed in the soldering tool. As a result, we get a compact, lightweight and relatively low-power device. On the other hand, the soldering tip heating up time is an obvious disadvantage, as after the power supply is connected to such models, you need to wait a bit until the desired temperature is reached.
The soldering tip and the heater are practically the only components of a transformer soldering iron. When the device is activated, and voltage is applied to the primary transformer winding, voltage generated at the secondary winding leads is lower than the source voltage, but it provides a very high current. When the circuit is closed with a soldering tip of a specific resistance, heat is generated rapidly. Obviously, the heat release is not as strictly controlled as in the models described above, but it is rapid, thanks to which the soldering tip goes from the room temperature to several hundred degrees in a matter of seconds. Moreover, a relatively large surface area gets heated up, which makes it possible to process components of a considerable size (not just electronic ones).
Functionality of soldering irons with heating elements
Soldering irons with heating elements are very popular, in particular among electronic engineers. It is indirectly linked to their growing performance ratings and the ergonomic design that facilitates handling precise components, also in surface-mounted (SMT) packages. The soldering tip can be replaced easily, often without the use of additional tools. All in all, the universal functionality of soldering irons with heating elements is their major advantage. Moreover, numerous models come with a digital controller providing the following features: digital display, real-time tip temperature monitoring, setting memory, etc.
Soldering irons with heating elements – wireless variants
As we are now focusing on soldering irons with heating elements, it must be noted that the solutions that are available on the market (and also in the TME product catalogue) include compact, wireless models powered by lithium-ion batteries (or gas cartridges, but such models belong to a separate product group) or cells that can be recharged via a standard USB power supply module. As state-of-the-art batteries are capable of delivering high currents, they are perfectly suitable for use in workshops.
Important soldering iron parameters
In addition to the distinction between transformer soldering irons and models with heating elements, you should take a few more important parameters into account. These include mostly the soldering iron power and the fact that lower power values exert impact on the tip heat-up time, and make it impossible to handle lead-free solders (sometimes, more fluxing agents may be required).
Basic technical parameters are also worth noting, e.g. the power cord length and body size (a small-sized device is not an optimum solution for each user). Finally, the availability and prices of various types of soldering tips that are compatible with the selected soldering iron model are also important factors.
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