How to build a simple soldering iron

Although soldering irons are quite cheap, widely available and come in various shapes and sizes, here's the DIY way. This article will describe some simple to build soldering irons that can provide 15 - 30 W and are powered at low voltage (5 - 12 V, depending on heater wire you use). This means you can power it with any power supply that meets these requirements (a computer PSU will be a good choice). The project is simple: a heating resistor wounded over a copper tip is used to heat it. The main difficulty here is to find a thermoresistant insulator that can be rolled over the copper tip. I used some material found between power transistors and heatsinks.

There are two variants described. The difference between them is made by the method used to attach the copper rod to the handle.

DIY Soldering iron (variant 1)

Read more »