musicfan145
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2016
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I wanted to share my success "up cycling" an old soldering iron into a hot knife. Many of us have an old "starter" soldering iron gathering rust in the bottom of a tool box, and this is easy way to put it to good use. Here's what I did:
1) I sanded & filed the solder, rust, and other oxides off the old tip to get down to shiny copper.
2) Using a flat face of a ball peen hammer and the beck of a vice as an anvil, I carefully hammered the pointed tip into a thick-ish blade. I kept the tip loosely screwed into the iron for this, partly to give something to hold it by and partly to ensure that I didn't deform the threads on the tip. I knew that the thinner it got, the more likely it was to break, so I didn't try to go too far.
3) I then used a file to make it a little thinner, give it an edge & point, and clean it up. (File gently; this is another easy way break the tip.) Given a little more time, I would have also used a Dremel to smooth and polish the surface for easier clean up.
4) I tightened up the tip in the iron, plugged it back in, and let it heat up for 5-10 minutes.
I was pleased to discover that once it got up to temp, it worked great cutting Tech-Flex and paracord!
1) I sanded & filed the solder, rust, and other oxides off the old tip to get down to shiny copper.
2) Using a flat face of a ball peen hammer and the beck of a vice as an anvil, I carefully hammered the pointed tip into a thick-ish blade. I kept the tip loosely screwed into the iron for this, partly to give something to hold it by and partly to ensure that I didn't deform the threads on the tip. I knew that the thinner it got, the more likely it was to break, so I didn't try to go too far.
3) I then used a file to make it a little thinner, give it an edge & point, and clean it up. (File gently; this is another easy way break the tip.) Given a little more time, I would have also used a Dremel to smooth and polish the surface for easier clean up.
4) I tightened up the tip in the iron, plugged it back in, and let it heat up for 5-10 minutes.
I was pleased to discover that once it got up to temp, it worked great cutting Tech-Flex and paracord!