EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: TorqueRanger on January 09, 2013, 05:42:41 pm
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I was soldering and had a thought and wanted to see what you guys think of it ... What would happen if I took the elements out of my soldering iron and coated it with thermal compound and put it all back together and tried using it like that??????
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You'd make a disgusting stinky mess, because it's not meant to operate at those temperatures.
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The thermal compound will bake, decompose, make a horrible mess and ruin your soldering iron. Don't even think about it.
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Use Copaslip instead, it will work at high temperatures.
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If the heater shell is metal and electrically isolated and you really want good thermal transfer and you can remove the tip while still hot. Separately tin the heater and tip where they contact and put a short length solder between them. assemble with the heater on and let the solder melt forming a liquid metal heat transfer medium. That will definitely improve the thermal transfer to the tip.
But I don't suggest actually doing this ;D
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Copaslip will probably ruin your clothes if you accidentally get it on them.
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If the heater shell is metal and electrically isolated and you really want good thermal transfer and you can remove the tip while still hot. Separately tin the heater and tip where they contact and put a short length solder between them. assemble with the heater on and let the solder melt forming a liquid metal heat transfer medium. That will definitely improve the thermal transfer to the tip.
But I don't suggest actually doing this ;D
It will probably drip out at the most unconvenient moment and burn your sock :P
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I think tinkering with something that is not a circuit board is always a bad idea! :scared: