Soldering Iron as pyrography tool?

[Chris152]

I bought one of the Lidl Parkside soldering stations a couple of weeks ago and today turned it up to full temp (450 degrees) and found it makes a decent mark in wood for doing initials on the underside of work. Is there any reason not to do this - it came with spare tips in case that's an issue? If no issues, it's a good way to mark work for £17.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

...... Is there any reason not to do this .....

No

 

[sunnybob]

did you buy the one with the reel of solder on the back thats trigger fed to the tip? Mine lasted all of 3 minutes before the feed failed. :roll:

but so far the soldering iron is working well and if it continues to do so it will be worth the money for an iron with that much wattage.

No problem burning into wood though, but if you want to do a lot of it you need a very powerful iron.

 

[Chris152]

It's this one

Happy to hear it won't hurt it, seems a decent and cheap way of signing works - tho I guess that depends how complex the letters in your name are (not so good for pushing...).
Thanks!

 

[AES]

I bought the (I think) Aldi version when it appeared here a while back (no auto solder feed, but adjustable temperature).

I've done VERY little pyro so far but have used the above iron for a bit of trying out. I also bought a set of different solder tips from our local DIY place - all quite small in size but different angles/shapes mainly. All screw directly into the above iron.

I must say that some more experiment will be required before I reach definite conclusions, but so far, fiddling with the various bits and the heat setting of the iron (to mysurprise it doesn't always to be set at "flat out"), I seem to be producing quite encouraging results.

I stress that I'm talking about minor detailing here (of scroll saw Intarsia aeroplane "pictures") so I'm sure that sunnybob's dead right, this type of set up will NOT have enough power (heat - wattage) to do those big pyro pictures you see from time to time.

But within the limits described above, for "fine-line detailing" I think the above is going to work fine.

Why not try it, nothing to loose (you can always use it as a soldering iron if you get fed up)

Edit for P.S.
The above pic (posted after I started drafting my post) looks exactly like mine, but I only got 1 reel of solder with mine, and as said above, no auto solder feed. So I guess my really was from Aldi, but clearly, very little difference externally.
To add to the above comments, about the only down side I've found is that the cable connecting the iron to the power unit is somewhat stiff and inflexible, so CAN be a bit of a problem when trying to do fine work. I MAY get around to changing the cable on mine, that stiffness is a bit of a nuisance. We'll see.

 

[sunnybob]

The one I bought (from LIDL) is pistol shaped, with a down pointed soldering tip. theres a tube underneath that the solder runs through from the rear wheel direct to the tip, advanced by the trigger being squeezed. Well, thats the theory. :roll: :roll:
But the iron itself is good so I shall forgo the gimmick and solder the same I have since the 60's.

 

[Chris152]

Sticking with Lidl bargains and the need for a signature, I bought the Parkside woodburning / pyrography tool a couple of days ago for about £8. I flattened one of the stamps it came with on a linisher and drilled a centre hole and cut two lines into it with a hacksaw and made a maker's stamp, about 10mm diameter.

I'll cut the straight lines a little deeper so there's more clarity in the mark, and the centre hole's annoyingly not quite centre (it came with several stamps, as well as calligraphy-type tips, so I can try again) but overall I think the brand is pretty good for the money.

 

[AES]

That looks like a very encouraging result Chris. Was the top brand in the picture made with the iron set at a higher temp, or did you just hold it in place a little longer than the lower 2?

 

[Chris152]

The darker one is the first I tried, and I definitely held it too long. There's no temp control on this one so I guess it's all about timing and having decent depth to the bits not in contact - and also the surface of the wood (I tried again on a smoother piece and the mark was sharper). I'll definitely try another - this one looks ok but the off-centre centre's annoying!

 

[AES]

Chris, you could easily claim that the off-centre circle is a deliberate part of the logo, as designed by the original artist (to signify "thinking outside the box" or something)!

 

[Chris152]

I've just tried three more, all off by the same amount. I'm beginning to like your idea, AES...

 

[AES]

Oh "poop" Chris! Annoying when something as "simple" as that just won't go right, isn't it?

But you can have my idea, no charge!

 

[Chris152]

It took all seven stamps before I finally found something near centre! I mounted the stamp onto a piece of wood and did it in a drill press in the end.
It seems to burn very hot, needing less than half a second to make the right mark and meaning a slight delay and it burns too much:

I discovered the tips are the same fit as the tips for the soldering iron - unlike the burner tool, which is limited to 550C, the soldering iron can be varied from 200 - 450C - would I be better using the latter set at a lower temp, making the margin of accuracy/ error greater?
Tbh I'm really happy with the result and as long as the form is as I want it, I'm not too concerned that each particular burning is perfect. Artistic licence... ;-)

Edit, in case anyone's thinking of doing the same - With the reworked tip from the burning tool put on the soldering iron set to 350 degrees, I get about 5 seconds to produce a decent and controllable result:

 

[Robbo3]

I've done something similar & posted it in the wood turning section
- branding-iron-t112541.html