Cheapest one I can find is Micromark for $199.00. They run to over $1000, why so expensive?
My guess would be more precise engineering and a more complex control system. A regular soldering iron is nothing but a heating element with a current controller, so it can be made very cheaply.
Read through this and get back to me if you still have technical questions:
https://steamtraininfo.com/resistance-soldering/resistance-soldering-unit
they are worth every penny … don’t be so cheap …
a good brand is american beauty …
great info. thanks
I have never used one. I seem to read about them being used for scratchbuilding brass locomotives.
What else are they good for?
-Kevin
Good question.
As Edwin Starr put it in a song, absolutely nothing!
Rich
I have to disagree here. I bought the one from MicroMark and once I got the hang of it I love it. I wouldn’t use it for electronics as I have heard (but don’t recall where) the resistance method can damage them. But for everything else it is fantastic. I am in the process of laying track and I use the resistance soldering rig for soldering rail joiners in the curves and adding my power feeder wires to the track. All with no melted plastic ties.
they can be used for many other things, including track, feeders, plastic loco assembly, putting -some- structures togther …
they shouldn’t be used for electronic assembly as they can put low voltage and high current to the item being soldered …
I upgraded to this high quality Weller soldering station a couple of years ago.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
It has made soldering feeders (which was never very hard) extremely fast and easy.
-Kevin