Really tiny soldering iron????

Question

I wonder if anyone knows of a really small soldering iron (half the diameter of the Antex 12W iron). I have one I purchased in USA about 20 years ago and the element has now failed. As the manufacturers name has worn off the handle I am at a loss as to where to get a replacement. A search of the web has proved fruitless. It is the only iron I have had that can fit between other components or in very confined spaces when replacing SMD resistors etc.

Original iron:- Overall length handle and bit 145mm (5 1/2") Handle diameter 9mm Shaft (element) diameter 1.6mm Bit maximum diameter 3mm Bit tip approximately 0.5mm - may be less. Supply 12V

Dick G4BBH

Stephen J. Rush · Accepted Answer

Oryx? I remember seeing these in the Newark Electronics catalog. I'm sure that somebody still makes them, given the rise of small-outline ICs and SMDs. Try

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though their site isn't the easiest to navigate.

Baron · Answer

I modify standard tips, turning them to the size I want. The larger heat capacity is useful to have as well. One trick I have done with old worn out bits is to drill a 1mm hole in the end and insert a short length of copper wire.

73's

Boris Mohar · Answer

That would be handy if you could plate them with Iron.  Copper dissolves insolder and contaminates it.--     Boris Mohar

Michael A. Terrell · Answer

I haven't tried it, but would a simple acid bath, and a piece of scrap iron work? It shouldn't take much current. I never did any of the plating, but I have been around industrial plating equipment at a shop that made and replated "Dandy Rolls" for the paper industry.

I think sulfuric acid was used to demonstrate iron plating in my high school chemistry class, but that was almost 40 years ago.

I was making tips when I was stationed at an isolated Army base, and it took a month or more to get most things.

Isn't there a news:sci.chemistry newsgroup?

Really tiny soldering iron????

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