Could anyone in the UK recommend a high power soldering iron suitable for soldering connectors on heavy duty coax? It would seem that some previously reliable brand names no longer produce quality gear.
My current soldering iron is just pushing the solder around and creating a mess.
Thanks Mark
What is your normal solder iron now?
I am a big fan of my Ersa i-con Nano station. It has plenty of power despite the small size. And depending on the tip it can also do very fine work… But not a bargain 
but one of the tools that makes me smile when I using it.
73 Joe
Hi Joe
I previously had quite a modest soldering iron bought from a UK retailer that deal with most jobs. Current iron is a Chinese soldering station, buy cheap buy twice, it just doesn’t work well. I would have bought another of the previous brand but they were kaput.
Cheers Mark.
p.s. should it be chisel tip for higher power work?
A chisel or something with more thermal mass / contact area will make a difference for sure.
I would say there are some clones of solder stations that use the C245 (or is is T245) type or similar “tips” that have plenty of power.
Which connector type and which type of coax?
Farnell are advertising a 200w iron for £22.
I have my late Dad’s GPO 100w+ iron which I used on my RG213 lead in.
it’s 10mm coax with around a 2/3mm solid copper core onto a PL259.
The problem is it’s a great heat sink and I’m having to use metal pliers to hold it all together.
Some of the Farnell offerings look similar to things I’ve bought from China in the past and they’ve not been great.
Ah, blacksmith work.
I’ve had to dance a Tango with the Devil in the past and solder PL259s onto some H100 or such. A Weller 45/50W TCP iron, PTAA-7 bit and Ersin Multicore did the job. After working with Satan’s own plugs, I showered in bleach for a week.
Buy a Weller soldering gun, 140/100W or more. You should find plenty of acceptable ones at car-boot sales or Cash Converter stores. Or if you will use it enough, buy one new. A new 140W according to Weller is €88, I’d tell you in Sterling but because I’m VPNing from Zurich and despite telling Weller I’m in the UK, it only offers Euro or Swiss France. I hate websites.
I tried an n-type but similar problem. It is for a long run from a ground loop antenna which works quite nicely but obviously subject to losses. I’m having to use a BNC converter at this end into the preamp injector.
After years of therapy I am able to contain my anger when I still don’t have the right cable without building a franken connector out of multiple adapters, even though I have a metric tonne of cables available.
Early in my amateur radio journey I tried to standardise on n-types but I’m over that kind of folly now!
I realised I was a mere noob wannabee when my serious ham friends stopped using N-connectors and moved to 7/16 DIN… “for the power handling”.
About a year ago I changed my main soldering iron from a Hakko to one of these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007047712536.html
I can very much reccomend it.
I also use the TS101 and TS80 soldering irons – both can be powered by USB power banks. I find them both capable of soldering RG213 onto PL239.
My Hakko has now been disposed of. I miss the blue and yellow design, but the variety of tips available on the Aifen, an automatic set-back termperature, and the excellent power right into the tip are great. It has even prompted me to shift to lead free solder for PCB work.
Have you considered a small gas powered one? Handy for portable work as well. Mine has two soldering tips, as well as a couple of blowtorch nozzles. I tend to use the torch for heavier work.
Sounds more like a problem with the solder and/or flux.
There are loads of solders around that do not flow well.
You said you are using metal pliers to hold it together. That’s an unwanted heat sink. Smear on some flux. Mine came from Oatey Company.
…hi Mark, I have used an 80 watt electric soldering iron; need to be very carefull using it though; also needs to be setup on an soldering iron stand, it gets very hot! Thats all I use it for, for soldering hook up wire etc and the coax centre wire, just use the 30 watt iron
Geoff vk3sq
yes, but don’t have any experience of them, presumably they are as the old British Gas advert ‘more turn on and offable’.
I’m kind of wanting to stay cheap just because this is an infrequent issue, but I’d happily drop money on a good used option from a reliable brand.
For this particular problem I could heat the pin up with a torch like our chefs torch and then press fit that with solder, but I feel like there is less control and more technique required.
Cheers for the options!
Mark
On this side of the Pond the choice is often American Beauty
“More heat than you know what to do with”
The lighter models might get a bit overheated on 240V mains voltage, however.
I inherited my father’s old iron, probably dating from 1950 or so, and got puzzled stares when I pulled it out during a training to solder connectors on RG-213. But once they saw it in action, at least two other hams went out and bought one. Takes a while to come up to temperature, but thermal mass is not a problem.
Otherwise, a quick solution might be to take a normal soldering gun with a replaceable tip and REMOVE THE TIP, then press the two nubs directly against the connector shell. That avoids the problem with the lack of thermal mass in the tip.
My general approach with large cables is to strip off the outer insulation so the braid is clean and neat; tin the braid; cut the tinned braid to length with a sharp knife (or tubing cutter); file down the excess solder until the connector shell barely fits; screw the connector shell onto the braid (often requiring pliers on both sides); then heat the shell until the folder flows. Even if the coax insulation melts, the connector shell will hold both braid and center conductor in place so there is less chance of causing a short circuit in the plug.