Anyone used the new "cold heat" soldering iron? Did you like it? Seems amazing!

[astro]

Per this story - Cold Heat soldering iron runs hot and cold - 0 to 800 degrees in 1 second, cool to the touch in 3 seconds

What other uses could there be for this amazing new material?

The Cold Heat Soldering Tool is cordless and battery powered (it takes 4 AAs). A new set of batteries is said to provide up to 700 soldering joints. The only control on the portable unit is an on-off switch; a white LED tells you when the power is on and turns red when Cold Heat is too hot to touch. It comes with two bevel tips, but conical and chisel tips are available as add-ons.

The secret to this technology is in the tip. Cold Heat uses Athalite, a patented, resistive, composite material with the ability to reach temperatures of 800 degrees Fahrenheit in seconds – then cool back down to room temperature in seconds.

It’s claimed that Athalite is also highly malleable and can be milled into multiple form factors –- meaning lots of different products are possible -– not just soldering irons. The company is working with some well-known retailers and manufacturers (such as Radio Shack, Amazon and Coleman) to develop new products that could benefit from Cold Heat.

But back to the soldering tool. It works exactly as promised. I turned it on and the soldering iron remained cool to the touch until I put it near a metal connection on a printed circuit board. Then you could feel and smell the iron heating up

.

[Rico]

Several ham operators on another board I frequent are discussing this.

Apparently this technology is not new, it’s been around since the 70s - and it failed back then. There’s no magic new element that heats and cools fast - it’s basically the same technology as a carbon-arc spotlight. Touch the elements, current flows, they start to glow, then pull them apart slightly and it starts to glow hotter.

The thought seems to be that since you must contact the metal on the board for the tip to heat up, there must be current flowing through the tip of the iron. This could play havoc with delicate electronic circuits. Let me bring your attention to this point: You don’t want to use this near surface mounted devices or chips. You could irreversibly damage the circuit.

Also one guy who bought it says it’s not hot enough for bigger jobs. He says he’s probably going to return it.

[Q.E.D]

@Rico

The thought seems to be that since you must contact the metal on the board for the tip to heat up, there must be current flowing through the tip of the iron. This could play havoc with delicate electronic circuits.

Not unless there’s another electrical connection between the workpiece and the iron. With nowhere else for the current to go, it’s going to flow where it’s intended. Your sensitive CMOS components are safe. Whether this device perfoms as intended is another question.

[Sandlegs]

could they use this stuff for heating elements on electric stoves? i see no real important use on the stove except for cooling and heating quickly.

but i guess most people don’t cook their food at 800 degrees either.

[St_Ides]

Saw a review of it on TV somewhere… ScreenSavers on TechTV I believe.

The gist of it:

Too big for small jobs. (size wise)

Too small for big jobs. (heat wise)

Wasn’t recommended.

[Snooooopy]

Perhaps it could be used in cold fusion!

[Vlad_Igor]

At first it sounds like a Peltier junction, but on a second read, I guess it isn’t. Would a properly engineered tip using a Peltier junction be possible?

Vlad/Igor

[Napier]

Peltier junction devices pump heat from one side to the other. They are exciting primarily because one side gets cold, which is very hard to do in a small device otherwise.

Peltier effect devices generally can’t get that hot without destroying the materials of their construction. AFAIK one could be made that would handle the high temperatures, though it might require for example using diamond as the semiconductor.

But there’s no reason to use them for this. Soldering irons use very little power - typically the closest lamp is using more - so using ambient room heat (as the Peltier device does) instead of generating more heat would save very little money. And they have no use for the cold.