Ways to make iron improve heat transfer?

Thermally insulate as much of the heating element section of the iron as possible. I have done this on a couple of irons by wrapping fiberglass tape around the heater section and holding it in place with a couple loops of fine, bare wire. Most of the heat produced by many irons leaves the heater before getting to the tip. Expect the handle to get hotter, too.

Your post is a little confusing. It sounds like you want to make your

"Bill Zimmerman" wrote

If you want to make the tip hotter, you could try making it smaller.

The temp at the tip is simply a question of balance of heat flow in a non-thermostatic iron.

The 25W iron will seem hotter with a larger tip that can transfer heat to the load ( the work ) better.

I think you're chasing a fairly pointless idea though.

Graham

That increases the thermal resistance to the work and actually makes it colder. Sorry. I talk from experience.

Graham

He seems to be using that as a reference.

Graham

isulate it, pack it in rock wool (etc) and it'll get real hot. (this will reduce the life of the device...)

even with that trick you won't get more thermal energy out of a 25W iron except in very short bursts (during which it'll cool down)

another way is to run it at an over voltage, eg give a 115V iron 230V and it'll use 4 times as much power and heat like a 100W iron, and probably last about 10 minutes. it may not bea real safe doing that either.

Bye. Jasen