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how to use a soldering iron for 5min without charge

hydroazuanacaine

bluelighter
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
8,498
i need a soldering iron for 5min. and a half inch of solder. there anyway i can make this happen for free? or for a charge of a dollar or two.

i don't have a solid social network yet in my new city. no friends with sufficient tool collections.

it's to connect a whopping two broken wires on a camera. i wouldn't need the iron or spool after this quick job, so buying would be a waste. usually a camera that requires soldering goes to the repair shop, but this is a special circumstance where i happen to know exactly how to make the repair.

i know the free-commercial-grade-paper-trimmer trick for fedex office/kinkos. there's gotta be something similar for my situation?

thanks!
 
Light a small fire and heat up a screwdriver for the iron, and for the solder, take somthing electrical apart and try re-use some solder from that, or if you have some miniature warhammer figures try use them for the solder
 
Climb on your roof with a pair of pliers and nip off a small bit of lead from the flashings? Lol
 
i can buy a cheap amount of solder. hardware stores must have small spools of it. if not, asking an employee to help never hurts. hardware stores are the kinda place that will break you off a few cent piece of solder for free. good marketing, ‘cause then where am I likely to go when i have a real project.

didn’t wanna get an iron for one job. have no idea why I didn’t think of just heating a screwdriver or other appropriately shaped piece of metal. so obvious i missed it. thanks again.
 
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Would it not be possible to just trim back the insulation a little then twist the wires together and add a blob of nail varnish, super glue or similar to hold them together? Or are you trying to solder them back onto a circuit board?

If the latter, then you're likely to make an unholy mess of it unless you have the proper equipment and use flux.
 
because i'm preparing the camera for sale. i want to honestly say soldering was used to install the broken-part replacement. it's a couple hundred dollar camera so doing it the way people expect will fetch enough more money to make it worthwhile.

edit:
reality is, i'd probably use it enough to buy one. i'm used to living by my parents and having access to my dad's tools with a 10-minute drive. but i'm trying to reduce my number of possessions and buying something with only a definite plan to use it once isn't congruent with that effort. when i need it again in a month i'll concede and buy one.
 
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buy one. I honestly don't know how to do anything. but there have been so many times when I have been confronted with problems that it's been worth it. pays for itself in less than a month. I know space is a consideration. but a toolbox with this, a decent array of screwdrivers, drills, assorted glues of different strengths, and a couple of hammers, you know. it works out. you should be thinking about the end of the world, and the small number of things you'll need to survive in the end of times.
 
Agreed. Everyone should own a soldering iron (and learn how to use it). It's one of those tools that make you question "how the fuck did I manage without it?"
 
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