5 in 1 Electronic Soldering Iron Kit, Maxjaa 60W Soldering Gun Welding Tools 180℃- 450℃ Soldering Iron Set with Solder Gun/2 Tweezers/Desoldering Pump/Tin Wire for Circuit Board DIY Electronic Repair

Duncurin has been trying out this interesting soldering gun, courtesy of Vine and Maxjaa: here are some thoughts.It’s an intriguing idea that the soldering gun can, via the use of a progressive trigger, feed in solder straight to the point of use ie. the tip of the soldering bit. There are some good points and some bad, which I will try to evaluate.It’s a nice fresh and cheerful yellow colour with some colour-keyed bits in black for the spool holder and trigger assembly. Sadly, as is the way with many things originating in China, these days, instructions are meagre. It’s not a difficult assembly though having regard to the main picture, it comes together easily enough. Please note, the kit comes with a couple of fine-pointed tweezers, a spool of suitable solder, (there is a range of width of solder wire that the squeeze trigger can accommodate) and a de-soldering pump.Please be a little careful when feeding in the solder from the spool as there is no way of reversing it as if feeds through. Thus, I had fed the solder in a little enthusiastically and upon looking through the little access plate, I discovered that the solder was buckling and not being fed through to the tip. The only way to solve this is to cut the solder and then use the fine tweezers to make sure it gets fed through to the nozzle.The gun is comfortable, light in use and easy to hold. Inevitable I would have liked a longer cable as I suspect the cable as supplied is so short that most users will need to use some form of mains extension cable as I did. I liked the little on-off switch which is well placed. I would have liked a little light to tell me that the unit was on and the bit was being heated. The other point is to take a little care when you lay the gun down as it would be possible to activate the switch back on just when you thought you’d switched it off. Please note also that the feed-in array makes the soldering tip, more of this later, a little wide and it will be unlikely to fit in a solder station with one of those curly coil receptacles that will take a ‘typical’ soldering iron.It arrives at a working temperature quickly. As far as I am aware there is no way of controlling this and please note with a 60w iron like this, heat can be a little brisk. I see on the notes on Amazon that the iron will operate between a couple of temperature ranges but it is not possible to control or select this. More of this later, too.Well, it works. The solder arrives as one squeezes the trigger and at first the hot temperature of the bit vapourises much of this but as you persevere a decent joint can be obtained and if one uses it correctly, there is a bit of a learning curve, then it’s possible to retain a free hand to maybe support the component or the wire as the bit and solder come together to form the joint. I suspect the bit is a teeny bit vigorous for some heat-sensitive components so take care. I suppose you would always have a free hand maybe to use a heat-sink pair of clamps to protect said component. The other point is that although the solder arrives more or less in close proximity to the bit, there are occasions when it is curving the wrong way and you either have to deftly press the bit against the work from the opposite direction so as to push the solder wire to the hot joint point or use the fine tweezers for fine last-minute adjustment – or both!As above, there is a bit of a learning curve and I suppose in learning how to use this, you could also be learning how to use a conventional iron which ultimately will give you finer control and more options. I suspect, too, that the idea of having a free hand could be circumvented by the use of the numerous ‘helping hands’ devices that are available on Amazon and elsewhere. The other point – is just that – that the unit together with the solder feed is a teeny bit clumsy and sometimes the need and use for a soldering iron is a precise fine tip applied carefully and precisely to form a joint in a tight area that would be difficult with this combined unit.I suspect that for the occasional solderer or inexperienced one, then this device would be useful. For the mainstream person soldering regularly across a variety of projects, then I would advise sticking with a regular iron offering a variety of quality bits or even a temperature control – all brought to a fine and precise point. Get to know this type of conventional iron, (rather than the one on test) learn how to use it and with time more options and better soldering technique will be yours.Duncurin has been fortunate to review one or two wonderful soldering irons of late. This being said, the thing that I have found is that in many cases the bits last a fleeting amount of time and need replacing regularly while my trusty Antex that I have had since my school days is only on its second bit – so please be aware of this.Lastly, please don’t tell my wife, but Duncurin is saving for a scale model, O-gauge, of the Evening Star in white metal and brass. This will require some careful joints of white metal on white metal, brass on brass and white metal on brass. This will require careful soldering, different ‘mixes’ of solder alloy depending on what joints are being made, as well as a load of money to afford said model! I was wondering if this device would allow me to keep a hand free to enable me to keep a careful eye and position of the various joints that will be needed. I suspect that this soldering gun will not permit such fine control and a more conventional iron with temperature regulation and control will be required. Please find attached a couple of pics of an electronics project soldered exclusively with the gun on test. Many thanks.

Maxjaa 60W 5 in 1 Electronic Soldering Iron KitIt is always a problem, when soldering, that you need one hand for the soldering iron and another hand to present the solder to the job. That leaves precisely no hands left free to hold the component or wire in place while doing the soldering. There are a plethora of ‘Helping Hands’ type gadgets around to clamp and hold the workpiece but having one completely free hand is still a bonus.I must admit that I half expected this soldering iron gadget to be a bit cumbersome in use but I was proved wrong. The Maxjaa soldering iron is surprisingly lightweight and the design makes it comfortable and easy to use. Feeding the solder through is quick and simple once you have the reel mounted. If you feed too much through you can retract the solder by pressing the collet ring on the back of the tool, it releases its grip on the wire and you can pull it back. Also handy when you need to change the size or type of solder.The solder feed tube is adjustable so you can place the tip in exactly the right position to feed the solder to the component. Whilst this is okay for a lot of soldering jobs, it may not suit jobs where the components are small. However, it uses a standard pattern tip that could be swapped for a smaller or larger one and of course, you can use thinner solder wire.I used the Maxjaa soldering iron for the simple job of soldering wires onto the terminals of some switches. It took a little while to get the feed tube in just the right position but once adjusted right the solder came out in the perfect place. The switches were already in place on a panel and having my left hand free to hold the wires in place while using the iron in my right hand made a big difference to the time it took to do the job.There is little doubt that having the soldering iron and solder all controlled by one hand, is a good idea and the Maxjaa soldering iron does the job well. The kit also includes a solder sucker, two types of tweezers and a roll of solder, all of which seem to be good quality.I’m not entirely sure what they mean by (180℃- 450℃) in the description, I spent a while expecting to find some sort of adjustment but there isn’t one, at least not one I could find.

This is a little different to your standard soldering iron as this allows the solder to be hooked onto the soldering iron.This gives a little advantage over many other irons as, when you pull the trigger, the solder squeezes out beneath the hot tip of the iron so only need to use one hand with this one. That means your other hand is free to help with the soldering.It’s a standard size device, 200mm by 150mm and 25mm thick, with a trigger and an on/off switch no the handle. The real of solder goes onto the back of this, on a purpose made holder and the solder itself is pushed into the little black cap beneath it. Once in place pulling the trigger grips the solder and pulls it through the iron toward the tip where the heat is waiting for it.In this pack you also get a couple of tweezers, a roll of solder and a de-solderer.Using it is simple, once set up. Just gently pull the trigger and the solder should comes out of the small tube beneath the tip of the iron. You can then solder the wire by pushing the solder onto the ‘join’ and press the tip of the iron onto the solder. Then pull the iron away once the solder has been heated. This can all be done with one hand so you can manoeuvre the wires/parts to be soldered with your free hand.The solder pulls though the tube easy enough with the trigger squeezed and, even though there’s a gap between the exiting solder and the hot tip, the tip of the iron heats the solder up quickly.The length of the cable is great too, 1 ½ metres, which means you’re not restricted to the nearest plug socket.In all, a fine soldering iron which takes only one hand to use, and with the delivery of the solder you can solder on for ages.