Wattage is not the only figure of merit of import to soldering. Also of
interest is the heat capacity of the heated mass and the thermal
resistance of the path for heat flow to the tip.
A high wattage iron with only a small heat storage capacity and a high
thermal resistance path to the tip will get very hot but when in contact
with a substantial thermal mass will rapidly cool, perhaps so much to
not allow making a proper joint. This situation would make soldering
the braid of the coax to the PL-259 very difficult and likely result in
a cold joint and melted dielectric. A tip with more thermal mass can
source more heat per unit time and make a joint before cooling below the
temperature of good usability.
Small tips such as for soldering component leads on a printed circuit
board are a bad choice for soldering large heat conductive items. Even
though they may get very hot they will cool rapidly when in contact with
a substantial thermal mass with good thermal conductivity.
When soldering the shield to a PL-259 a sufficiently large tip will
quickly transfer sufficient heat to do the job before cooling too much.
It will heat the region of contact sufficiently to make the joint before
excessive heat has flowed away from the contact area where it melts the
dielectric.
Patrick NJ5G
On 5/10/2016 1:00 PM, Jerry Gardner wrote:
On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 10:25 AM, Ken Eigsti <diverkene@gmail.com> wrote:
Several of you mentioned the American Beauty soldering iron. Just curious,
what wattage is preferable for PL 259s?
For me a 25 watt iron works fine because I only solder the center
conductor. I crimp the braid.
73,
Jerry
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