Don't use the soldering irons to cut plastic... EVER! <EOF>

[Bracken Dawson]

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:wq

[Peter Bond]

If you want to cut small amounts plastic, I'd suggest a jeweller's saw frame with a spiral saw blade in it.  Not the cleanest cut, but forgiving & fast.  A fretsaw can do a decent job of cutting it too.

But a soldering iron?  No. Not unless it's yours, you have extraction and you're not worried about trying to solder with it ever again (until you replace the tip anyway).

On 28 April 2015 at 20:05, Bracken Dawson <abda...@gmail.com> wrote:

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:wq

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[Dave Rowntree]

I don't know why anyone would actually think this is smart to do - those irons cost us over 80 quid each, and the tips don't come cheap. 

Don't use the soldering irons for anything other than soldering (it is acceptable, just, to use the fat end gently to shrink heatshrink, as we don't yet have a hot air gun, but NEVER the tip - it will ruin it)

Dave.

On Tuesday, 28 April 2015 20:05:46 UTC+1, Bracken Dawson wrote:

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:wq

[Jeremy Reeve]

Looks pretty cheap to me:  http://www.technobotsonline.com/soldering-en/antex-soldering-iron-bits-en.html

The hot air gun is/was on the bench.

The soldering iron was used for a perfectly legitimate purpose which was to heat and press in a brass thermal insert.  The tip may have touched ABS but only briefly and by accident and that is my fault, yes.  Despite the ability of some people to add two and two and get five there was absolutely no cutting or deliberate melting of any plastic.

I did look cursorily for the crappy irons but couldn't see them.  Perhaps I need new glasses.

If it is that much of a big deal I will take 3.08 plus vat off my credit on the board.

Jeremy

[Peter Bond]

Many years ago, I had a teacher who advocated using soldering irons to melt holes for 4mm sockets in acrylic...  With £4 irons.  Stank to high heaven and needed cleanup anyway.  Still think drilling was a better idea, but never mind.

Pity that site doesn't seem to to Metcal bits too, I ought to find some spares.  

If the tip has just touched ABS then a scrub on a wet sponge and using a tip dip (the soldering variety, not the MIG sort) should be fine.

If you're heating small parts like brass inserts, then perhaps one of the cheap SMD air pencil sets off EBay might work well; I'm toying with getting one for stone setting work (heating the resin to secure pieces before working on them).

[Bracken Dawson]

I did manage to clean the tip and get it to take solder again. But turning on the iron to be greeted with the smell of burning plastic and a tip covered in black rubbish isn't really what anyone wants, see rule 4.

I'm not trying to perform an investigation or blame anyone, it's why I left this email blank. Just please don't use the good soldering irons to melt plastic, or leave it for someone else to clean.

:wq

[Dave Rowntree]

Nah not really an issue - accidents happen - so long as no one thinks to do this intentionally, which you wouldn't be daft enough to do. My point was simply to remind people not to use them to make holes, etc (like my Dad does...gah!) Anyways, it cleaned up OK.

Dave.