Soldering Iron saver

[garage nut]

I have bought quite a few cheap soldering irons in my life only to forget them on and after 2 hours they are dead.

So I bought an expensive soldering iron, Now it is lasting but the tips are more expensive than a complete cheap soldering Iron.



So the answer was really simple. Fabricate a soldering iron stand that will turn the iron off after a set time if not in use.

How to do.

I used a standard 4 x 4 surface mount electrical box to house everything in.

Some 25 x 5 flat bar inserts inside to help my shaft pivot smoothly and a adjustable tab to activate a hefty 220V rated micro switch.



Then on the end of the shaft a coil of 4mm wire for storing the iron when not in use. Similar to what the commercial stand have. I also made this adjustable, so the weight of the iron will activate the switch.



To stop the shaft moving from side to side I fitted another tab on the other inside of the box. This is also adjustable, this time to protect the switch from being smashed if something heavy would fall on the sire holder.



Then I used an Arduino Nano to do the programming.



I can send the code if somebody is interested.



The logic is to capture the time once the micro switch is made and then add a pre determined length of time to that. As the Arduino is running at 16 MHz it will the continuously check if that "Calculated Time" matches the "Current Time" if it is TRUE it means the time has lappsed and you have not used the soldering iron for that time, so it turns the power off.

I have mounted it in such a manner that the USB is accessible, for 2 reasons:-
1) I can use my newly built Power Pack as a power source and
2) I can easily change the "ON" time on the Arduino.

I have used a duel RELAY MODULE because they were cheaper than the single units at the time I ordered them.



Video not great, but I have to learn.

In the video I have set the time to 5 Sec just to prove it works and used a light bulb as an indicator.

Now I can go back to cheap soldering irons.

[DIYer]

Thanks garage nut! We've added your Soldering Iron Saver to our Electrical category,
as well as to your builder page: garage nut's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Soldering Iron Saver by garage nut

tags: soldering, Arduino

[Toolmaker51]

Patent quality idea. For Sure. If nothing else just build a pile and list them online.

[jdurand]

There are soldering irons with built in shut off or idle power. It monitors the load on the tip or a switch like you have.

Another one that's pretty smart is a passive one, the tip goes into an insulated tube so it blocks oxygen and lets it drop to a low power mode.

BTW, the Nano clones is what I meant the other day when I mentioned Uno... for $1.99 delivered the Nano is hard to argue with.

[garage nut]

I have seen those, but if you look at the price it is not worth it for me to spend that type of money.

Looked at a soldering station here. Chinese make with a small hot air blower and variable temp and it was R1200. That is $85 at today's exchange rate for me.

This was basically built from scrap to some people (GOLD TO ME) and like you said the price of an UNO/NANO is $2.00

The micro switch was rescued from an old microwave oven I gutted for the transformer...that tool is in the pipe line.

Even the electric cord of the microwave was reused in this project.

The 220V wall socket was one I removed from the house as they were too "old fashioned" to wifies liking.

In his way the soldering iron can be left plugged in all the time because the power is off when the relay looses power.

So even if my Power Bank runs out of power (hope you spotted it in the video) the SI will stay OFF.

Also imagine the price of a tip for one of those expensive soldering irons.

Just had to edit as I just remembered the relay module was also about $1.

[wizard69]

YOu have one nice little controller. However using a cheap iron is pretty difficult after getting use to a quality iron, you may find going back to be more difficult than imagined.

I have seen those, but if you look at the price it is not worth it for me to spend that type of money.

Looked at a soldering station here. Chinese make with a small hot air blower and variable temp and it was R1200. That is $85 at today's exchange rate for me.

This was basically built from scrap to some people (GOLD TO ME) and like you said the price of an UNO/NANO is $2.00

The micro switch was rescued from an old microwave oven I gutted for the transformer...that tool is in the pipe line.

Even the electric cord of the microwave was reused in this project.

The 220V wall socket was one I removed from the house as they were too "old fashioned" to wifies liking.

In his way the soldering iron can be left plugged in all the time because the power is off when the relay looses power.

So even if my Power Bank runs out of power (hope you spotted it in the video) the SI will stay OFF.

Also imagine the price of a tip for one of those expensive soldering irons.

Just had to edit as I just remembered the relay module was also about $1.

[jdurand]

When I worked in aerospace I had an Unger stick iron plugged into a standard lighting dimmer. Dimmer and outlet in 4x4 electrical box. I still have it, still works after 40 or so years!

[Toolmaker51]

For a time, one of my employments, solder stations were Metcal doing through hole, surface mount, re-flow, chips yaddy-ya. But a few operators doing a little heavier components had Ungar, Weller.
Back in the day, American Beauty. A few of those remain for 'that certain job'. I liken them to a hand-held reflow oven.

[jdurand]

I've still got in storage an old Unger 4624 station (iron and vacuum desolder) that I used for years. I've also got a Metcal that I hardly use now.

Today my go-to combination is a Hakko FX-888 (with dial, not digital) and a Hakko 851 hot air station. We've also got an SMTmax 853 board pre-heater (foot warmer) for those ^%$#@! cases. I modified the SMTmax and sent them the mod, they thanked me but I don't know if they implemented it in production.

I've verified the Hakko gear will work on 50Hz, but will need a transformer. Our new house will have USA style 120V outlets in the office, workshop, kitchen, main bath and bedrooms with enough step-down transformer (bought as ding-n-dent)* to cover it all.

* to tie in more with homemade tools, the case was dented and the circuit breaker got shoved into the case breaking the bracket and scraping a wire. Fix wire, 3d print bracket, bang out dents...good as new-ish.

[trigger]

Boer maak n plan,now you only hope the power stays on long enough to test it in SA