Ventilation Holes On Soldering Iron

[Kagord]

Hi,

I'm new at this, I was thinking of taping up the ventilation holes on my soldering iron to make it hotter, as I'm having some trouble melting my lead solder.  Is that a good idea? It has holes that looks like this.

[Ysjoelfir]

If you have one of those flesh burning wood carving chisels you should think about getting a decent one, instead of doing a hackjob like that
I think those holes are there so that the temperature drop towards the handle is big enough to not burn yourself - well, at least if you know where to grab that thing.

[Benta]

I wonder where they get those soldering operators with asbestos fingers...

[Gyro]

Hi,

I'm new at this, I was thinking of taping up the ventilation holes on my soldering iron to make it hotter, as I'm having some trouble melting my lead solder.  Is that a good idea? It has holes that looks like this.

You will probably enjoy https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/stock-electronic-image-fails/ 

[Bud]

I wonder where they get those soldering operators with asbestos fingers...

All of the magic is in the Yellow protection glasses 

[Zero999]

Hi,

I'm new at this, I was thinking of taping up the ventilation holes on my soldering iron to make it hotter, as I'm having some trouble melting my lead solder.  Is that a good idea? It has holes that looks like this.

If you can hold the soldering like that, then it's either broken or not turned on. It should get so hot you'll burn your hand and any tape covering the holes!