I want to build a resistance solder.Please can you help me with a good drawing how to build it. What do I need? Thank you H.F.Spit

-- Henny Spit (hfspit@hetnet.nl), September 22, 2003

Answers

The first thing you want to do is save your self a real big headache. A friend of mine for many years tried to build himself a resistance soldering unit without any sucess. He broke down and bought one.

A basic set can be had from micro-mark that includes everything to get you into the ball game and doing the various soldering required for DCC for only $119.95. The item # is 80765. You can order it from www.micromark.com

James.

-- James R. Mitich (challenger@hrp.every1.net), September 22, 2003.

I saw the prices on these units and decided to build my own. While the retail units are prettier and work very well I'm sure, my own has done the job quite well for three years now with no problems.

The unit was easy to construct. The hard part was the calipers. I gave up on this and bought a retail one and plugged it into my own box.

The box is basically a pair of 12V 3 amp transformers wired in parallel with fuse. I use the secondary tap at 6V. I installed a single pole switch (on-off-on). One side is continuous on and the other is wired to a relay attached to a foot pedal I built from an old screw box, large momentary contact switch, and 9v battery.

The whole rig (not including calipers) was $35 and only that expensive because I was forced to shop at radio shack and put it in a pretty box.

The calipers (American Beauty) have their own unique large contact area plugs that I couldn't find a match for so I had to replace with something more common.

Hope this helps. Eric

-- Eric Olson (beakenator@hotmail.com), March 24, 2004.