Hot take: soldering gun vs iron for tight spaces on a board swap

I was swapping a capacitor on an old receiver board last night and my iron couldn't reach the back pins. Had to use a butane soldering gun instead but it melted the plastic housing a bit. Anyone else found a better tool for tight board work?

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_perry381mo ago

I guess I'm not convinced this is as big a deal as people make it, @jesse_fisher. I've done plenty of cap swaps with a cheap iron and never melted anything, you just have to work fast and not hold it there too long. A little patience with positioning the iron beats risking a melted housing any day.

jesse_fisher2mo ago

Oh man, I actually heard about this exact problem from a buddy who mods guitar amps. He was telling me that for tight spots like that, he swears by those little pencil-style irons with a really fine tip. I think they're like the Hakko ones or something cheap on Amazon. But what you said about the butane gun melting the plastic, yeah I've done that too. It's brutal when the heat spreads too much. He mentioned using a tip with a smaller heat profile or even a hot air rework station for the really cramped stuff, but that might be overkill for a cap swap. Honestly, sometimes you just gotta bend the leads before you even put the cap in, that's what I started doing.

caleb_thomas932mo ago

Nah, pencil irons lose heat too fast in tight spots. I'll take the risk with butane.