BernzeOMatic Soldering Iron
 

Anyone ever use one? I was adding the extra wires for the gauge conversion I'm doing on the dash. The new wires they supplied weren't crimped very well to the connectors and a few pulled loose. May son had one of these in his tool cart so I thought I'd give it try. It's about 10" long and I think the fluid is butane, didn't notice. You turn on the gas, push up a slide and light it. When you let go of the slide the flame goes out but the gas continues to burn, just a red glow. Anyway it heats up really fast and was perfect for soldering the small wire to the connector. Heated up the connector and melted the solder very quickly, before the insulation started to melt and shrivel up.

Don't know how much it cost but it's a great tool. No cords laying around, heats up quickly and is perfect for soldering crimped on connectors.

It's BernzOMatic, not BernzeOMatic.

My wife doesn't allow me to have anything that gets hot or creates fire.:mad:

In my hands it should be called "burns-o-matic"! ... I still use the WEN electric I got when I was making crystal radios at 12 years old .... 48 years of good service! LOL

On the heat shrink I use a heat gun.

After you light it, it's just like a small electric soldering iron but no cord.

Interesting... I was thinking of buying a new soldering iron soon since I burned out the one I bought from Sears. Since were on the subject if you we're going to buy an iron and price wasn't very important as long as it didn't cost more then a few 100 or so what wound you get?

I use to do mainframe computer repair years ago so I've used lot's of different irons. Bottom line is what do you want to use it for. Most of the soldering irons we used were for small integrated circuits on printed circuit boards. I still have a few around. They're great for that and small wires, like 22g to 30g. Not so good for 16g and larger. They don't generate enough heat so it takes a long time to heat up the connection enough. While you're waiting the heat is traveling up the wire and melting the insulation.

You need a iron sized for what you're working on. Needs to generate enough heat to quickly heat up the connection so the solder will flow completely through it. Bigger isn't always better though, too hot on a small wire and you'll still burn the insulation.

Honestly, for automotive wiring, 10g to 18g, I would buy one of these BernzOMatic's. No cord to drag around so you can get into tight places easily. Heats up quickly, right amount of heat.

Here is a picture of it sitting on a business size envelope which is a little over 8.5" long.

Tank placement is up to you. Optional extension hoses are available so no limit on hose length.

I'll have to get one I think. Hank do they take prefilled cartages or can you fill them with a can of butane? I was on their website and it didn’t say.

They refill using a small butane tank. Like the ones used for a refillable butane lighter. Not sure how long it will run on a fill but I haven't refilled yet. I used it again yesterday on several more connectors. Decided while I had all the harnesses out I would add a wire in the engine harness for the electric choke.

Thanks Hank for the help. I'm going to HD this weekend to get a tree/ post digger and I'll pick one up then; Mary offered to buy since I bought the trees.