# Resistance Soldering



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

i've been thinking about a resistance soldering station, can't justify the price of an American Beauty, so will probably make my own ...
just wondering if anyone has one, and what the normal power is needed for something like repairing brass, 200 watts? or ??


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## gator do 65 (Jan 27, 2014)

wvgca, 

This is how I did it, works great for track! I haven't tried it on anything else but for the price of the tips and you have that style soldering gun it could be what you're looking for.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

wvgca said:


> i've been thinking about a resistance soldering station, can't justify the price of an American Beauty, so will probably make my own ...
> just wondering if anyone has one, and what the normal power is needed for something like repairing brass, 200 watts? or ??


I have the AB 250 station with the tweezer hand piece.

While the unit is pricey, compared to my total investment in this hobby it's a drop in the bucket.

And it does make many soldering tasks so much easier.

Frederick


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

fcwilt .. any idea of power to do larger pieces? do you ever need to run the full 250 watt power level ??


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

wvgca said:


> fcwilt .. any idea of power to do larger pieces? do you ever need to run the full 250 watt power level ??


The work I have done to date has taken 60 watts or less.

250 is a lot of power - I would probably purchase the larger hand piece with the blades if I was going to be using that kind of power.

Frederick


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

fcwilt said:


> The work I have done to date has taken 60 watts or less.
> Frederick


appreciate that information, didn't find anything yet around 250 va in the pile yet, but did find a medium variac, and an 8v 75a transformer, but looks like that 600 watt might be a little on the large side .. would like a max of 8 volts, but those aren't very common .. will have to do more digging after coffee .. ordered a couple of cheap foot switches off ebay a few minutes ago, 
it's rained four inches in the last three days here, and more is forecast .. sigh ..


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Build your own Resistance Solderer


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Build your own Resistance Solderer


I had viewed that page,good idea of using cheap dimmer ..
but was hoping to find a suitable 6 to 8 volt output transformer in the pile, no luck yet ...
from what i could find out, most don't run much more than 5 to 7 volts maximum in commercial units .. 
i liked the london road models unit, very simple, just multiple taps off the x'former, and a row of banana plugs, but 190 pounds, plus shipping ..


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

made some progress last night ..
got three inches of rain in a half hour, plus hail, so hid downstairs ...found a old battery charger to use for a case, transformer mounted, [two seperate 6v windings], found binding posts, etc ... waiting for foot switch and ac meter, ... 
slowly coming along


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I look forward to your results.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

the foot switch and meter came in a couple of days ago, and it's raining again, so inside projects time ...
hole sawed a hole for the meter, a bit of cheap spray paint, and now the innards are done, just need some heavier output cabling, and make some kind of ends, probably a single one to start with ..a tweezer may come in the future ..


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

you've got me curious.

what is the advantage of a resistance solderer over a regular iron and could you use a variac?


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

Reminds me of the 50 amp surplus transformer I was using to power my DB150. There was just too many things that could go wrong! Eventually replaced it with a PS1212. The fan on the PS1212 was just to annoying and so I now use a small power supply from Jameco. PS1212 is for sale.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

gregc said:


> you've got me curious.
> 
> what is the advantage of a resistance solderer over a regular iron and could you use a variac?


Perhaps this will help:

http://resistancesoldering.com/site/

There are other such sites.

Frederick


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

painting all done, and cover screwed on, found a corner of the bench where this can sit ..
only thing not done is proper output leads, ordered some super flexible 10AWG, 1050 conductor, silicone covered , only two buck a metre ..


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