I have a soldering job for which my usual 25W Weller iron is way underpowered. It's fine for electrical work, but not something
mechanical. I looked online for a small butane-powered torch, and
selected an Amazon product. It is a disaster: the instructions, such as
they are, are in some strange Chinglish dialect, and however long I
refilled it for, I could not get even 10 seconds alight out of it. It is
on its way back tomorrow, it's all packed and labelled and ready to go.
So I am looking for a recommendation for one of these. I prefer a solder
tip, although a small actual flame would do the job at a pinch.
The Amazon one was £18, wh9ch is more than a lot of similar items on
CPC. Screwfix seemed to have a good supply of torches that would melt
roofing tar in vast vats, but were no good on small detail torches.
The item I am trying to repair would cost £72 for a brand new
replacement, which is what this was, but I messed up a screw, hence the desire to repair it with a solder job, as it would be a waste of all the
rest of it to throw it away. Besides, I prefer to repair things if I
can. And once I have the butane torch, it's always available for other
jobs.
Thanks in advance.
On Sun, 15 Jun 2025 16:52:21 +0100, Davey wrote:
I have a soldering job for which my usual 25W Weller iron is way underpowered. It's fine for electrical work, but not something
mechanical. I looked online for a small butane-powered torch, and
selected an Amazon product. It is a disaster: the instructions,
such as they are, are in some strange Chinglish dialect, and
however long I refilled it for, I could not get even 10 seconds
alight out of it. It is on its way back tomorrow, it's all packed
and labelled and ready to go. So I am looking for a recommendation
for one of these. I prefer a solder tip, although a small actual
flame would do the job at a pinch.
The Amazon one was £18, wh9ch is more than a lot of similar items on
CPC. Screwfix seemed to have a good supply of torches that would
melt roofing tar in vast vats, but were no good on small detail
torches.
The item I am trying to repair would cost £72 for a brand new
replacement, which is what this was, but I messed up a screw, hence
the desire to repair it with a solder job, as it would be a waste
of all the rest of it to throw it away. Besides, I prefer to repair
things if I can. And once I have the butane torch, it's always
available for other jobs.
Thanks in advance.
I have an ancient Camping Gaz one which I used to use for plumbing.
Are they still a thing?
Cheers
Dave R
CPC has several different ones, but none of them appear to have a solder
tip, which is what I would like. The terrible one from Amazon had one,
but it couldn't heat it up!
They are still a 'thing' in that they are available, but it's finding
the one that does what is required, without being able to see and touch
it, that is the problem.
On 16/06/2025 15:34, Davey wrote:
On 16 Jun 2025 13:24:54 GMT
David <wibble@btinternet.com> wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jun 2025 16:52:21 +0100, Davey wrote:
I have a soldering job for which my usual 25W Weller iron is way
underpowered. It's fine for electrical work, but not something
mechanical. I looked online for a small butane-powered torch, and
selected an Amazon product. It is a disaster: the instructions,
such as they are, are in some strange Chinglish dialect, and
however long I refilled it for, I could not get even 10 seconds
alight out of it. It is on its way back tomorrow, it's all packed
and labelled and ready to go. So I am looking for a recommendation
for one of these. I prefer a solder tip, although a small actual
flame would do the job at a pinch.
The Amazon one was £18, wh9ch is more than a lot of similar items
on CPC. Screwfix seemed to have a good supply of torches that
would melt roofing tar in vast vats, but were no good on small
detail torches.
The item I am trying to repair would cost £72 for a brand new
replacement, which is what this was, but I messed up a screw,
hence the desire to repair it with a solder job, as it would be a
waste of all the rest of it to throw it away. Besides, I prefer
to repair things if I can. And once I have the butane torch, it's
always available for other jobs.
Thanks in advance.
I have an ancient Camping Gaz one which I used to use for plumbing.
Are they still a thing?
Cheers
Dave R
CPC has several different ones, but none of them appear to have aHave you thought of alternatives to soldering - like super-glue or
solder tip, which is what I would like. The terrible one from Amazon
had one, but it couldn't heat it up!
They are still a 'thing' in that they are available, but it's
finding the one that does what is required, without being able to
see and touch it, that is the problem.
I see that Toolstation offer a 'Rothenberger Micro Soldering Iron
and Torch Kit Piezo Ignition', which sounds perfect (so did the
Amazon one), but at nearly £50, I might as well buy a whole
new replacement part for £72, and not have to play around with
soldering.
riveting?
On Mon, 16 Jun 2025 15:34:58 +0100, Davey wrote:
CPC has several different ones, but none of them appear to have a
solder tip, which is what I would like. The terrible one from
Amazon had one, but it couldn't heat it up!
They are still a 'thing' in that they are available, but it's
finding the one that does what is required, without being able to
see and touch it, that is the problem.
It may be too expensive for this application, but I have one of these:
https://www.dremel.com/gb/en/p/dremel-versatip-f0132000ja
Riveting is impossible, due to what I am trying to connect together. I
had thought about superglue, but it sits in an atmosphere of petrol,
and I am very uncertain how it would survive. petrol is pretty good at dissolving things.
But thanks for the ideas.
On 16 Jun 2025 15:25:18 GMT Bob Eager <news0009@eager.cx> wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jun 2025 15:34:58 +0100, Davey wrote:It looks suitable, and Dremel is a good make. But yes, it is expensive.
CPC has several different ones, but none of them appear to have a
solder tip, which is what I would like. The terrible one from Amazon
had one, but it couldn't heat it up!
They are still a 'thing' in that they are available, but it's finding
the one that does what is required, without being able to see and
touch it, that is the problem.
It may be too expensive for this application, but I have one of these:
https://www.dremel.com/gb/en/p/dremel-versatip-f0132000ja
Now, if I was going to take up pyrography, it would be perfect. I do
think that it is probably good value.
But it's a bit like buying a Ferrari for collecting the shopping. Worth thinking about, thanks.
Davey <davey@example.invalid> wrote:
Riveting is impossible, due to what I am trying to connect
together. I had thought about superglue, but it sits in an
atmosphere of petrol, and I am very uncertain how it would survive.
petrol is pretty good at dissolving things.
But thanks for the ideas.
Petrol might not be the best environment for a blowtorch :-)
Also worth considering a 100W+ electric iron - they can be had for
cheap and pack a decent amount of heat. It really comes down to
whether it's more of a brazing-style job that needs the flame as a
way to conduct heat to the job, or whether conduction from an iron is sufficient.
I'd probably say that if you are going to use a soldering bit then
use an electric iron, as the tips on gas irons don't actually carry a
huge amount of heat. But if you are going to be using the flame
directly then gas can make sense if the metal to be soldered is
chunky.
Theo
Davey <davey@example.invalid> wrote:
Riveting is impossible, due to what I am trying to connect
together. I had thought about superglue, but it sits in an
atmosphere of petrol, and I am very uncertain how it would survive.
petrol is pretty good at dissolving things.
But thanks for the ideas.
Petrol might not be the best environment for a blowtorch :-)
Also worth considering a 100W+ electric iron - they can be had for
cheap and pack a decent amount of heat. It really comes down to
whether it's more of a brazing-style job that needs the flame as a
way to conduct heat to the job, or whether conduction from an iron is sufficient.
I'd probably say that if you are going to use a soldering bit then
use an electric iron, as the tips on gas irons don't actually carry a
huge amount of heat. But if you are going to be using the flame
directly then gas can make sense if the metal to be soldered is
chunky.
Theo
Davey <davey@example.invalid> wrote:
Riveting is impossible, due to what I am trying to connect
together. I had thought about superglue, but it sits in an
atmosphere of petrol, and I am very uncertain how it would survive.
petrol is pretty good at dissolving things.
But thanks for the ideas.
Petrol might not be the best environment for a blowtorch :-)
Also worth considering a 100W+ electric iron - they can be had for
cheap and pack a decent amount of heat. It really comes down to
whether it's more of a brazing-style job that needs the flame as a
way to conduct heat to the job, or whether conduction from an iron is sufficient.
I'd probably say that if you are going to use a soldering bit then
use an electric iron, as the tips on gas irons don't actually carry a
huge amount of heat. But if you are going to be using the flame
directly then gas can make sense if the metal to be soldered is
chunky.
Theo
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