Do you have a soldering gun but have no idea how you can use it? It’s essential to know a product’s usage when you have it.
Generally, a soldering gun’s primary purpose is attacking such circuit boards that are not appropriately finished by coating specific places in conductive metal and completing the circuit board.
A soldering gun is handy, especially in erasing poor soldering jobs previously done by misused. If you are eager to know about it, we are interested in sharing a complete guide on soldering gun use.
The guide will include necessary information regarding the soldering gun use and other facts about it. Therefore, spend a few minutes with us and get all the answers to your queries right here.
How Does A Soldering Gun Work?
First, the soldering gun reaches the operating temperature, then following a process named “tinning,” solder is applied to the tip. This procedure helps to do both, one is to clean old solder tip, and the second is to melt new solder.
Then the materials that are going to be soldered, a tinned tip is momentarily applied, and the solder roll additional solder is applied to the work.
When the solder flows freely, understand that the solder temperature is reached and can now touch to work. With it, you will get a perfect solder joint, and it will have shiny, flat edges.
Solder always move in the direction of the source of heat. That’s why when two flat metal pieces are being soldered together, the solder will seem to head for the tip.
Capillary action then will draw out the solder into the joint if the achieved temperature is correct.
Soldering Gun Advantages & Disadvantages
Let’s check out the advantages and disadvantages of soldering guns because these will help answer the big part of your queries.
Advantages
- It comes with a higher voltage. The range is between 100-240 watts.
- You can use it for heavy works.
- Quite flexible for using its loop-shaped tips.
- It can work in narrow spaces.
- Compared to the soldering iron, it heats up faster.
- Its transformers help in converting the power from mains to low voltage current.
- It can quickly heat its tip.
- It can help you save electricity.
- It is efficient.
- Smoothly does the soldering work.
Disadvantages
- It gets complicated when it is used for soldering iron.
- The copper tip of the soldering gun will slowly dissolve after use.
- The owner needs to change the copper tip often.
- It’s heavier in weight than the soldering iron.
- Soldering guns are a bit hard to handle.
- You have to be careful when doing small tasks with a soldering gun.
The Best Way of Soldering Gun Use
For significant electrical works, you must have to use a soldering gun because it melts the solder and enhances electrical connections’ durability.
The high voltage and amount of heat produced by soldering guns are beneficial. You can even make use of it for small electrical jobs, but you need to be cautious. Why?
Because it can sometimes cause destruction and thus damage the area around it. Now, let’s see the other common uses of soldering guns;
- To solder metal gutters
- Infusing galvanized metal to flash
- To solder mosaics and stained glass
- In soldering tools used for circuit breaker
- For doing other electrical soldering jobs
- In soldering the parts of autos to repair
- To helpful solder tools used in home projects
How A Soldering Gun Differs From A Soldering Iron?
People often get confused with a soldering gun and soldering iron. They think these two are the same, but the truth is they are different.
Read carefully, a soldering gun is a device that is made pistol-shaped, and its copper tips are used to solder joints. Soldering guns have step-down transformers but do not have a high-frequency converter.
Unlike soldering iron, a soldering gun does not need repeated breaks and hence performs more effectively.
For big electrical appliances, people use soldering guns, and for little electrical jobs soldering irons are used. Except for these differences, a soldering gun and a soldering iron are similar.
Main Parts Of A Soldering Gun
To understand an electronic product and its usage, we should know its parts and their different jobs to use it.
Therefore, we have listed below the parts of a soldering gun. Come, let’s take a look at it together;
- Holder – it is for holding or gripping the gun. It’s almost the same as a gun holder, but the soldering gun’s holder is easier to handle.
- Tip – the most critical part of a soldering gun is its tip, and it will touch to solder the part you want.
- Heating Element – it provides heat to its tip for the soldering job.
- Shaft – it is the end part of the tip.
- Cord – it’s the wire which supplies power to the soldering gun.
While most modern-day guns are generally made from nickel and chrome, the soldering gun is made of copper because it is considered a good conductor.
Also, this can pretty quickly get heated up. It works with a low voltage current, so it became more efficient and effective than other guns.
Is A Soldering Gun Worth It?
Don’t fall into confusion about whether or not you should buy a soldering gun or not. You can understand it simply by yourself. Understand your needs. What type of soldering job are you going to do?
If it’s a small job, then you don’t have to purchase a soldering gun. It’s good not to use it in tiny soldering works because there’s a chance of it becoming a destructive electronic tool.
But your job is as large as making electrical connections, and then you should get a soldering gun for soldering the metals for that job.
Conclusion
Hopefully, our article has been helpful to you, and you got all your answers regarding the uses of a soldering gun. If you plan on buying a brand new soldering gun, be sure to check all its parts correctly.
Be we leave, and we have one tiny piece of advice for you; try to avoid using soldering guns for small works because the chances are excellent that unwanted accidents may occur anytime. I hope now you know about soldering gun use.
