<VV> Cold Solder?

[John Kepler]

> I just saw a mini-infomercial on TV for a thing called a Cold Solder gun.
I seems unlikely that it works as advertised. If anyone has tried one of
these, or know how it works, please let us know. Sells for $20, and sure
would be nice when working upside down under a Corvair dash :-)

Let's put things in perspective.  Those little dinky "pencil" soldering
irons they sell at Radio Shack that just barely work draw 10 watts and are
about the minimum power required to adequately solder a SMALL electrical
connection with a low-melting point solder.  That "Ronco Special As Seen On
TV!  Cold Solder Gun" uses 4 AA batteries as a power source.  Now, the
science question for the day is:  How long do you think 4 penlight batteries
are going to keep a 10 watt light-bulb burning (BTW, @ 6 volts, 10 watts
requires 1.667 amps!)?  How many watt/hours do 4 AA batteries produce?  When
you finsish the math, you should have a pretty good handle on how well it's
actually going to work!

Remember when your Mom told you that things that seem too good to be true
usually are?  This is what she was talking about!

FWIW, those little "pencil flame" butane torches that Harbor Freight sells
really do work for tight "under-dash" soldering jobs!

John