Motorized solder feeder - this looks handy! Thoughts?

[george graves]

I've never seen anything like this......





http://www.judepullen.com/designmodelling/solder-buddy/

[Rufus]

I've never seen anything like this......

That is often because no one wants dumb ideas.

Integration with a soldering iron to allow one hand operation like this
is less dumb but I'm pretty sure needs accurate and adjustable feed rate control to be usable.

[Alana]

For me more of a gadget than useful tool. But still - good thinking.

[Fraser]

I bought a Solbest/Weller temperature controlled iron with built in solder feeder some time ago. It was the right price and looked interesting. I have never used it.

The design of the SolBest unit is very profesional and the the drive assembly looks similar to that of a MIG welder. The speed and traction is variable. These things are really for production line work and home users have little need for such a device. I still hand hold solder and have not needed a single handed soldering solution to date.

My unit is found here:

http://www.safetydirect.ie/ProductDetails.aspx?prodid=278


Mine will go on ebay as I am now converted to PACE equipment.

Fraser

[mikeselectricstuff]

I picked up an old Hakko one but it's rather prone to jamming, which defeats the point of it being a time-saver - I think something that pulled the solder at the tip end would work better.

[MikeK]

I picked up an old Hakko one but it's rather prone to jamming, which defeats the point of it being a time-saver - I think something that pulled the solder at the tip end would work better.

That's how it's done with wire-feed welding.  Normally, for steel, the wire is fed from the spool end and pushed through the cable to the gun.  But with aluminum the wire is too soft and has to be pulled from the gun end so that it doesn't jam.

[george graves]

Integration with a soldering iron to allow one hand operation like this

Yea, we've all seen those.  This, being separate looks much more useful.  Tell me again why you think it's a dumb idea?

[mswhin63]

Totally agree, integrated does not provide a good variety of positions needed for most soldering applications.

Integration with a soldering iron to allow one hand operation like this

Yea, we've all seen those.  This, being separate looks much more useful.  Tell me again why you think it's a dumb idea?

[Harvs]

To me it just seems like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, or at least doesn't anymore.


The world has moved on to SMD components, which for anything that is time sensitive is going to be done with solder paste.

[amyk]

At least it's a better idea than the one I've heard about wanting a "solder gun" that works like a glue gun...

[Bored@Work]

I don't see the point of the stand-alone version. Feeding solder by hand gives you more control and you better feel what is going on.

As for the integrated professional version, that might speed up things in a production plant when some cable or the like requires manual soldering.

[Psi]

It might be useful for some situations, like soldering really large cables or when you need to feed lots of solder into the joint.
I cant see it being very useful for general electronics.

[mariush]

The only place I see feeding system useful is with something like this:

[BravoV]

The only place I see feeding system useful is with something like this:

Damn ..really impressed by that laser soldering system, drool ..

[mikeselectricstuff]

It's not useful for general soldering, but when you have a panel full of TH  parts to hand solder, especially things like connectors with rows of pins, being able to get a continuous flow going can save a lot of time - having to pull a new length of solder when feeding is surprisingly disruptive.

[mariush]

The only place I see feeding system useful is with something like this:

Damn .. I want one !

Yeah, good luck with that. The lowest end model they have is probably above $25k   

[BravoV]

The only place I see feeding system useful is with something like this:

Damn .. I want one !

Yeah, good luck with that. The lowest end model they have is probably above $25k   

LOL ...yeah, prolly I need to sell my limb to get one.. j/k  , I was so impressed by the quality like it was done by hand of a world class master solderer but with the impressive speed & precision, even the temperature of the molten solder is under strict control.

I guess the component's body temperature never raised as high as other mass soldering methods like IR, oven & reflow, probably really good for component that is sensitive to thermal cycling isn't it ?

[george graves]

I don't see the point

If B@W hates it - It's something amazing.  He's only wrong 99% of the time.   O0

Looking closer at it, I doubt it would deliver smaller gauge of solder with out a front end feeder.

[SLJ]

Not a new idea. There have been many versions in the past.

1927:


The Solder-Matic (~1930s):


Skil - 1960s:


And there are new Chinese versions sold on ebay.

[george graves]

Not a new idea. There have been many versions in the past.

Nope  not the same.  As already discussed.  Holly concrete thinking batman!

[SLJ]

I'm aware they are not the same as the OP but both types are being discussed.
Personally I don't see a need for either type.