Soldering gun, useful or a waste of time. ?

[dp106]

So I asked my dad to get me a decent power soldering iron for my birthday.  He got me a set which contains a 30w soldering iron and a 200w gun :-S Not really what I meant, not sure the gun will be any good? You';re only supposed to use it for something like 12 seconds per minute?!

[AM556]

It heats very quickly but only when you press the trigger. DON';T heat it for too long or you will let out the magic smoke!! Can be useful for larger joints/battery connectors.

[Balders]

I bought one of those guns, put some bent wire in the end and use it to cut battery bays out of my flying wing.  A bit crap for soldering unfortunately.

[guest325]

Problem with guns is that they are unwieldy, plus the run time of that one is a joke - as said before if you do use it don';t exceed the run times or you will let out the magic smoke!  don';t ask how I know, been there, got the badge - never buy another one!

[dp106]

Problem with guns is that they are unwieldy, plus the run time of that one is a joke - as said before if you do use it don';t exceed the run times or you will let out the magic smoke!  don';t ask how I know, been there, got the badge - never buy another one!

I know, my dad obviously thought he was getting something good :-S

[AM556]

Hey don';t dismiss it. If you have a large connection to make, you are better off with lots of heat...quickly. Trouble is, if your connection is too large for your small iron, you';ll end up putting too much heat further along from the joint because it';s on there too long, possibly damaging components

[laters]

On the oposite side to the coin 
I own a old weller soldering gun that I use to solder most things to some peoples amazement :evil
I am a trained electronics engineer  (I dont do that job anymore though) and have a lot of soldering experience, but they are not for use on pcb';s or some other stuff unless you know what you are doing.
Strangly enough I was brought up using one so it seemed strange when I started using a normal iron

The thing they are superb at is plugs and large cables needing a nice amount of heat to get the solder to flow properly

I will admit I do have a smaller soldering station that I will use if the work is really fine but its rare that it comes out.

The cheaper soldering guns tend to go pop if you go over the duty cycle but as they heat up pretty quick they dont really need to be powered on for long.

I bought my current weller gun well over 10 years ago and I am on my second so they can last a while if looked after (saying that there hasnt been as much to solder for the last few years and soldering jobs are becoming a rare thing here other than the odd old school repair of some crash damaged pcb or other people bring to me)  and I wouldnt dismiss them as useless, they have their place just as other sized soldering irons do.

Plus they are superb at cutting & carving foam without making a mess

[guest325]

I was bought up real old school, chunk of copper on the end of a piece of steel rod mounted in a file handle, heated on a gas ring - not good for small stuff but really good for connectors, still use it - now over 50 years old!

[laters]

I was bought up real old school, chunk of copper on the end of a piece of steel rod mounted in a file handle, heated on a gas ring - not good for small stuff but really good for connectors, still use it - now over 50 years old!

Ive still got some of those hanging in my shed.
I will admit Ive never used them but I know my dad did and not that many years ago either
There are a good few weird shaped ones too

[pete-c]

I prefer a soldering iron,guns can get too hot.

Pete