Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

I love this little soldering iron. Very convenient and reliable. Keep it in a small box with some solder, tape, shrink wrap, butane re-fill, and a de-soldering bulb. Just grab the box and go. The torch tip also works great for heating the shrink tubing.

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

have used for years;would be lost without, . but... i have had to replace once a month for @ 7 mo.couple years back, then get one ive been using ever since, just now wearing out, have had good luck using 5x purified butane WAY less impuritys ; need more available repair pieces connecter hose for example ;attaching screens in solder tip better, they fall out quickly.
but all in all i love mine and readily reccomend to all who listen
oh yeah keep more in stock;shouldnt really run out yah?

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

Use it all the time for toys, musical instruments, video and audio equipment, telephones, boats etc etc. It's better than two others I tried: lasts longer, workers better, always ready to go in a single unit. The fuel seems to last forever.

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

This Product is fantastic. I have had mine for over 7 years now and it has just kept on working. Yesterday I finally replaced the tip so I could use it again and... Good as new. I've used this thing so much I've even had to replace the flint in the striking wheel multiple times.
Great portability without batteries allows you to pretty much use this little guy anywhere and never need to stop and recharge batteries or deal with electrical cords. Even on small projects it is nice to not have that annoying cord in your way.
It also comes with a torch attachment that turns it into a small butane powered torch perfect for many smaller jobs as well.
I've used this little guy to solder two wires together and then I heat-shrink a cover over the exposed wires and solder-joint with the torch.

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

This little gas powered soldering Iron beats most high priced models like Weller. O.K. I needed it for one project on my vehicle. With a little 2:00pm breeze it out-performed the expensive models sold elsewhere. As soon as the catylist caught and it turned red it stayed hot. The solder joints were molten liquid solder and cooled to a very good solder joint. That is what you want. This Iron for Radio Shack is the BEST!!

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

This torch is very durable, I've had mine for about three years now. I have several other ones from different manufacturers and some of them lasted for less than 72 hours...meaning...they just stopped working. RadioShack's torch on the other hand is still going.

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

i am happy with my purchase

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

Got it after seeing a co-worker using it and went out to get mine 2 & 1/2 years a go, still using the same one!!!

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

I've had several of these throughout the years, usually buying the next one when either the valve fails or the tip erodes to the point that I can no longer use it. The replacement tip is almost as much as the whole new unit, so it's more cost effective to just replace the entire thing.

I'd have to say that its really handy to have around, although it's a bit of a pain to light with the striker on the cap - I use a cigarette lighter instead - but in a pinch the striker will also work.

My major gripe about it is as the valve starts to go, one of three things (or a combination) starts to happen:

1 - Getting enough gas to keep the temperature up starts to get difficult, sometimes having to quickly close and reopen the valve to get more flow. Eventually however, there will not be enough flow for the iron to be useful anymore regardless of how you try to manipulate the valve.

2 - It will go into an 'all or nothing' mode, where the gas is either wide open or almost nothing at all, making temperature control very difficult. This usually happens before #1, above.

3 - On one or two of the units (I have several), the valves have developed leaks, and gas seeps out of the slot where the control is. This doesn't really pose too much issue when using it with the catalytic soldering tip, but when using the torch head on it, depending on how you hold it, the gas can creep down toward the tip and ignite, setting the side of the unit on fire. Putting it out is trivial, but something to keep an eye on.

Overall, though, I must say that I like the unit because it is so convenient, and for the most part, lasts long enough that even buying several of them to keep a working one around hasn't exceeded the cost of a high end bench iron. I have a professional bench unit as well, but as anyone who has one knows, try lugging it around or up on a ladder to repair something...

Comments about RadioShack Mini Butane Gas-Powered Iron:

I love the soldering iron when it worked. I would use it only occasionally but it generated nearly as much heat as the $140 weller station I have at work.

Pros:
- Plenty of heat
- heats quickly
- extremely convenient
- point tip still hot enough to get solder/rosin to properly set.
- convient (if simple) wire 'stand' built in.
- The heat stays pretty localized for a butane soldering tool. I have another that barely worked and it'd burn or melt anything that got close to the screen.

Cons:
- valve to feed flame goes out.

My experience mirrors another reviewers..
I used this only occasionally over the the course of at least 5 years.. maybe 10.
I doubt I used it more than 2 dozen time.
I did notice the flame was not as intense after relatively few uses but it was still hot enough to be plenty useful.
I tried to use it today and I don't get any gas out, even when I disassembled it and opened the valve twice as far as the lever will allow.

It's old so I can't expect it to run forever. It hasn't been used much though.
Maybe It's unreasonable to expect more given it's age but I was expecting more life.

I'm torn about recommend or not. I'm hesitantly going to say recommend because it's brilliant while it works. I'm considering another one.