INSANELY HOT DIY Hot Air Soldering iron @ 15 Volts DC and 3.5 amps...PART II

Picture of INSANELY HOT DIY Hot Air Soldering iron @ 15 Volts DC and 3.5 amps...PART II
359 degrees centigrade and with room for more ;) This is the permanent version to my earlier prototype. I have added adjustable nozzles, used a smaller heater element and of all things, butchered a scooter handle to hold it all together. If you look at this and my other instructable, you are surely able to make your own. Big improvement with this final model is that the heating element is thermally isolated from the main housing...a big change from the standard shop brought soldering irons. This isolation of heat allowed me to reach insane temperatures without cooking my hand. Here is the link click here to the prototype that started this off....

anyways...i have stated my experiences and since making the front page of MAKE, some people have their noses out of joint and have become quiet the TROLL...this is it for me and I merely posted my experience and did not baffle anyone with theoretical tripe...You make your own mind up....I am not into defending myself against TROLLS who think they know better than anyone else...You all have good weekend, and if I create another working project, remind me to proclaim that the world is not flat and give my accusers a bundle of stones
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Step 1: To start, you need one of these...

Picture of To start, you need one of these...
Hot air gun from the dump...or anywhere you can get your hands on one. Does not need to work. The down side is that you need to get one that has cylindrical ceramic tubing in the heater department - see later stuff for more of what I mean. The metal tube housing and all attached bitz such as motor is what you will need if you follow this instructable.
JacFlasche2 years ago
I guess this would be ok if you have a heat gun with a ceramic encapsulated element that has a broken handle or something, but before you spend any time or effort, realize that you can buy a hot air rework station for about a hundred dollars new. It will have all kinds of safety features that this does not, and temp and air flow controls, digital displays etc. Actually my ten year old Steinel heat gun will do things that this cannot and you can pick up a nice used one for 30 on ebay or even less if you are patient. This is not even close to insanely hot. My old Steinel still goes to 820 C which is fairly standard and not at all insane, and has infinitely adjustable heat and air (within parameters) I got it for about $50 ten years ago. By the way, some of the people you are in some kind of flame thing with are right, you should take the word of professionals with twenty years experience who are trying to clue you. Here is a link to a video of a professional hot air rework station being built. It has both an iron and hot air.

Thanks for the link. Very high efficient production. I can see the whole hot air rework station to be assembled within 9 minutes. To find out more about this topic, you can check out the hot air rework station reviews here. BTW, a professional hot air station costs around $50. For safety concern, most of us should consider buying one other than making it by yourself.

hakam662 years ago
make power supply for Hot Air Gun
i know where to get a hot air jet
Where did this ceramic tube come from?
You can use a high watt resistor, some resistor is tube and its ceramic
OzzyRoo (author)  The Lightning Stalker6 years ago
innards of a paintsripper heat gun, I understand not all come with the cylinders.
beatobe3 years ago
where i can find a ceramic tube like that???
emuman4evr5 years ago
I dont think 359 degrees is hot enough to melt solder.
thats 359 degrees Celsius.
 google it.
400 degrees Fahrenheit is enough to melt solder 359 degrees Celsius is 678 degrees Fahrenheit that's about 200 degrees over solder's melting temperature
DIY Dave4 years ago
Couldn't you just use a heat gun?
karossii4 years ago
Just thought I would leave a comment here.. Ozzy, your instructable is a good one, and you've done a wonderful job in making this hot air soldering/de-soldering gun. It is an ingenious project.

However, those whom you are calling Trolls (and who are doing nothing in the realm of trolling) are actually correct. These devices have been around for ages... you have not invented anything new here. I know you don't necessarily claim to have done so...however I have to point out that some of us have had a lot of experience using devices like this, and you are jumping to some wrong conclusions.

This doesn't mean you did a bad job in making your device, or that it is worthless, etc.; it only means that this device has some specific uses in which it excels, and normal everyday soldering is no one of them. Yes it can do that job, but not as good as the traditional metal tipped soldering irons.

A google search can easily reveal the commercially available devices like this, and some online research will equally readily reveal the fact that they are not the best thing for traditional soldering.

That doesn't mean it cannot be used for such, only that it is not as good as a normal soldering iron.
targon karossii4 years ago
 It used to solder SMD components and BGA chips and not intended for hole through technology.
lemonie6 years ago
That's comprehensive. How does hot air compare to hot metal, with regard to frying components on the board? I guess you'd be mainly using the underside? L
OzzyRoo (author)  lemonie6 years ago
Transfer of heat to desired object is obviously much quicker with air from what I have experienced using this tool.
lemonie OzzyRoo6 years ago
What about heat transfer to other objects? Again, I guess you're using this on the underside?

OzzyRoo (author)  lemonie6 years ago
Mate, I just tell it for what it is....thermodynamic heat transfer is obviously much quicker with air ... why do you think people have fan forced ovens or fans in their freezers etc?
OzzyRoo (author)  OzzyRoo6 years ago
Putting it another way...the hot air passing over a soldered joint or a joint to be soldered does a far more quick and efficient job at heating the desired area only...using primitive conductive methods with hot metal tip against cold metal joint takes some time for temperature to equilibrate to a desired melting point. In waiting for this point to be reached by traditional methods, it is my view that there is sufficient time for the component sensitive to heat to be cooked. It is this time difference that prevents components being fried in the conventional sense as the job is allready done before damaging heat reaches the further away components.
ac-dc OzzyRoo6 years ago
The heat transfer is much worse with air than with a soldering iron. Why people have fan forced ovens is because they are contrasting that with only air, not with direct heated metal contact. Hot metal is substantially faster, your science is wrong and everyone who has ever used a hot air soldering station knows it takes longer per joint. The reason to use hot air is one of two things: 1) The solder joint is in accessible with a soldering iron, like under a BGA chip, and requires either an oven or at least the hot air station. 2) Desoldering parts, when all leads have to be molten simultaneously for the part to come off without damage. Beyond these two, it is inferior to just blast hot air all over a region when only one solder joint at a time needs to be made. The reason is that you cannot control this primative hot air gun as accurately as a soldering iron with integral temp sensor and regulation, nor as well as a manufacturer with a precision oven or solder bath. Since the hot air gun heats a larger area to an uncontrolled max temp, it is more likely to damage parts until there is trial and error in it's use and even then, acceptible use for parts not very heat sensitive will not qualify that technique for more sensitive parts. A hot air station does have good uses for the aforementioned #1 & 2, but believe me there is no question at all, the entire world known it is not as good nor as fast as the soldering irons used for these joints when it is not an automated process in the oven or bath line.
klee27x ac-dc4 years ago
Well, heat capacity of metal vs air isn't the entire picture. A standard soldering iron will only effectively conduct at the point where it contacts. Hot air will flow all the way around the joint - front, sides, and back - as well as heating the immediate surrounding areas, reducing loss to heatsinking. So maybe you guys are too busy being right to realize that you are arguing the wrong point?
ac-dc klee27x4 years ago
You only want the heat conducted at the point where it contacts, unless you have a multi-lead component requiring all of the solder joints to be melted simultaneously to pluck a part off a PCB it was already soldered onto. The last thing you want is to have the hot air flowing around the rest of the part and surrounding areas, only to be on the solder joint itself is the ideal. The heat is supposed to be applied at the end of the lead so that the solder to component body heat ratio is as high as possible to reduce the possibility of heat damaging the part. Believe it, I use both tools regularly. When you need a hot air wand there is no substitute, but when you don't need one, when a soldering iron can do the job, it always works better.
OzzyRoo (author)  ac-dc6 years ago
I have seen some bullsh#t before but had to come back and say mate, your the best ;)
Vermin OzzyRoo6 years ago
Nice work but ac-dc is correct.
OzzyRoo (author)  Vermin6 years ago
lol...enter the TROLLS....LMFAO....DON'T KNOW WHAT INDUSTRY standard you referring to...please quote reference before citing
Vermin OzzyRoo6 years ago
I am not a troll, I am an electronics technician with 15+ years designing, repairing and installing electronic equipment. If you would like to read some industry standard documentation on rework and repair I can suggest IPC-7711 and IPC-7721, but it's basic thermodynamics, and until you are old enough to understand this I suggest you listen to people trying to help you rather than flaming them.
IPC-7711/21 i think is interesting
OzzyRoo (author)  Vermin6 years ago
old enuff...if only YOU knew...and if only you knew my
OzzyRoo (author)  Vermin6 years ago
DC IS ACTUALLY MORE CORRECT MATEY....i have this running on twelve volt dc lead acid never have believed the trolls would strike once i make front page on MAKE...rofl
Vermin OzzyRoo6 years ago
I was referring to the person's nick name above not your project's power supply.
ac-dc OzzyRoo6 years ago
Why are you trolling about industry-wide established fact? It is indisputible that the thermal conduction of air is lower than that of an iron tip, and further, the ideal goal of soldering is to heat only the specific area upon which the molten solder needs to flow, and that at a controlled temp. I'm not knocking the idea for a cheap hot air station, it certainly has some useful applications, but that does not make it universally superior in many situations, actually in no situations except the two I already enumerated previously and only then, after testing to determine the resultant heat level per duration and distance.
OzzyRoo (author)  ac-dc6 years ago I have seen it all....I just posted my results...many theories I don't care about...I ma happy and that is all that matters...if others want to try out and recreate..all wanna knock something without trying it out..go for two guyz are not British?
lemonie OzzyRoo6 years ago
I meant do you inadvertantly heat other components which would otherwise remain cool (with a metal-tip iron)? L
OzzyRoo (author)  lemonie6 years ago
No I dont...The heat transfer is too quik to leave the solder tip hanging there and also the nozzle tips are I mentioned in my instructable...a a certain point the surfacing legendary knockers are sure to
_soapy_ OzzyRoo6 years ago
Eh? That's wrong. Air has a far, far lower thermal mass than the tip of a soldering iron, which is made of copper (the second or third most heat conductive metal, with a high specific heat capacity) Yes, you can pump a load of hot air through very fast, but it isn't going to beat a well fluxed metal soldering iron. Where this wins out is that you can melt the solder without having to get the tip to touch anything, and you can melt a wider area. You can also vary the heat flow rate more rapidly, by changing the current to the coil and the rate of air flow, if you want, unlike a standard soldering iron (but, of course, there are temperature controlled soldering irons, but they are more expensive) I tend to use a butane powered gas soldering iron, since it needs no mains lead, and so doesn't get in the way, plus, if you crank it up to full, it gets insanely hot and melts even large blobs of solder in a few moments. However, I'll be building one of these for re-work, since you otherwise can't hold the solder sucker, the iron, the board and the component all at the same time! With this being non-contact, a simple clamp will hold it in the right area, and the rest of things can be arranged to suit.
OzzyRoo (author)  _soapy_6 years ago
no where did i state that air has MORE thermal mass than a solid
_soapy_ OzzyRoo6 years ago
No, but you are saying that, if you argue that


because you are trying to say (or so it seems) that the air has more heat. And that would be wrong.
it has nothing to do with wether or not it is safer for the components, it is for rework, and disassembly, or for SMD paste soldering. either you use a hot air gun on your board to paste solder, or you put it in Wifey's oven and she beats your head in with your own project after the paste resin contaminates the cooking area.
gargoyle1694 years ago
When combined with a DIY reflow (toaster) oven, this tool can assemble PCB's with a .4 mm pitch, I would not go any smaller do to the constraint of temperature control being rather spotty in a DIY like this. (Somebody who has been working fine pitch since 1980 for gov/mil/ and now private sector.)

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