soldering pen hack

I was looking at the "3Doodler" plastic extruding pen and I was wondering if something like this could be used for soldering. It would be a lot easier to solder if I didn't have to use both hands and could extrude a controlled amount of solder just by pressing a button. I think there is solder close enough to that size so that it would fit the same as the plastic filament. I'd like to get one, but only if I know it can be used to solder. It could be a dual purpose technology. Or has this already been tried? If it can't be done what's preventing it?

It would be useless. One of the first rules of good soldering is to heat the parts you are soldering rather than heating the solder directly with the soldering iron.

Well obviously the same rules of soldering would apply. You could rest the nozzle on the parts you want to solder to preheat them before extruding the solder.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2014 06:26PM by pbrstreetgang.

If you could extrude solder in a controlled manner like a plastic filament, you would have solved some pretty tough physics problems, and have achieved a 3d metal printer.

I'm not familiar with past attempts to extrude solder. Has there been any progress in this arena? I assume it's has something to do with the viscosity of solder vs. plastic?

3D printing requires the laying of filament, soldering just needs to push it out, liquidy for best sticking results. Wouldn't work for 3D printing, but for a solder pen, in theory, I think it would work.
When I solder it's in similar motion, press iron, and push in the solder on the iron in straight steady motion, solder melts and sticks to and around wires. Honestly, the more I think about it the more I think it could work except for one thing: the liquid metal is going to dissolve other metals. Your internals would wear down very fast.

---

Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

I've gone through many soldering tips, so I know what you mean by the solder dissolving metals. How would brass fair vs. solder?

If you can print water, you can print liquid metal.

Ok, but not all solder is made alike. Would a solder with a higher melting point or lower flux content work better?

3D Printing Pewter Experiment 2
[www.youtube.com]

Interesting video, but it's apples and oranges. We're not trying to print solder. We're trying to make a simple solder joint through a mechanism established by 3d printer extuders.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2014 08:24PM by pbrstreetgang.

You want to solder electrical components with you 3d filament printer, copy what's being done, and use solder paste, and an oven.

using a type A machines 3d printer to dispense solder paste onto a circuitboard, instead of using a stencil.
[www.youtube.com]

Ben Heck JUST finished this project. [www.element14.com]

No Sir. This is a solder joint like you would make with a soldering iron and solder. Only, instead of using a soldering iron, you use a filament extruder:

Solder paste dispenser - 3D parts
[www.thingiverse.com]

Face palm... not solder paste. Just regular solder rod. The stuff that you find at the hardware store. It comes in a little spool:

Sorry about that. I had to re-watch the videos. I had thought he had mentioned why it wouldn't work since he made a glue gun like that. The big problem in it is portion control. Solder is a metal and conducts heat very well. So whatever bit you melted in the extruder chamber, the heat would quickly transfer up the solder into the heatsink. Where the solder melted at this cool point, it will ball up, and clog the extruder.
In the video provided by A2, the type A machine is using a heated chamber and the "extrusion" is being controlled by a compressor. The same tech. as the pancake machine, the chocolate extruder, and the clay-struder. I wouldn't want to have to hold the entire heat chamber in my hand, full of melted solder.

The best way to go for that might be the old school plastic welder method. Where you have a guide on the tip of the heater so you can hold it steady. What you could do, is have 2 chambers next to each other but not too close (Radiant Heat) maybe Teflon tube the solder wire. Use Ben Heck's idea for forcing the solder forward (at a lower feed rate of course).

As a matter of fact, that sounds very easy to accomplish. And nicer/comfortable, because you can hold closer to the tip like a pen. The more I think about it, the more I want to get started on a prototype. If I get excited enough I might have a working model by tomorrow evening.

Looking for the 3d solder printer video they made in the past, I came across this. [www.youtube.com]
Here it is [www.youtube.com] They used solder WITHOUT flux core.

Thanks A2. I didn't know that existed. I haven't used solder paste. Can you use a solder pen/gun on it? Or, is it strictly for reflow ovens?

SMD soldering with solder paste
[www.youtube.com]

A2; Again this is not about solder paste. This is not about smd compoents. The word "paste" is no longer allowed on this post.

Here are a few of the ways you can go about doing it. They are just a couple rough sketches to show what I'm talking about.



Solder Extruder Pen V1 by KingRahl on deviantART


Solder Extruder Station V1 by KingRahl on deviantART

Well, world is generally divided into skeptics (and we have some examples above no offense) and optimists. The later would think about and also try. A recent example on the topic matter.
So, it is possible, but there are some issues to solve, depending on what you exactly want to obtain.

Quote
3Dmaker4U
Well, world is generally divided into skeptics (and we have some examples above no offense) and optimists. The later would think about and also try. A recent example on the topic matter.
So, it is possible, but there are some issues to solve, depending on what you exactly want to obtain.

I don't believe anyone has been a skeptic or naysayer on the subject here. We are putting our years of experience using solder and learning it's characteristics into helpful advise.

The link you provided is only an example of someone researching the same ideas we are discussing here. Nothing has been made or tested yet. Two of the 3 photos were stock photos taken from somewhere else, and the third was described as using a soldering iron to see the characteristics of the solder when melted. As a 17yo he's only noted what we've mentioned here. That it has a tendency to clump (he says "bubble") in areas, it doesn't stick down reliably, and it can clog easy.

Another 17-year-old with an implausible dream, and a bunch of suckers on Kickstarter that would even make P.T. Barnum salivate.....

There's this sort of thing around already and they are handy for mass production soldering:

[fficial&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=KMi5U9u0GuTR8gelvYGICg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.google.co.uk]

Any attempt to melt the solder elswhere than at the actual joint being made (i.e. some sort of melt chamber in the iron) would ruin the effect of the flux, the flux resins only act right at the point of melting and quickly boil off.

Cheers,
Robin.

They've already made these? Well... I'm out.

why not with lasers?
have a laser that heats the two objects to be soldered together, blat blat, then feed in solder wire, blat blat, retract wire as second blat hits and wollah a soldered joint with a pen, that uses the Extruder idea of feeding the filament into the heated area. Similar to how NASA does the Electron beam welding for the metal 3D printer they were working on.

if you heat the solder too much and the flux burns off you will expose it to air it will oxidize and result in poor solder joints.

Soldering robots use such technology. It is just too late and I am too lazy to google them for you. ERSA should have one. The solder rod is guided through a metallic pipe to the point of contact. The counterpart is heated by laser or a fine hot air stream.

---

Blogs:
Meine 3D Druck Abenteuer
[3dptb.blogspot.de]
FLSUN Delta Drucker für Deutschland
[flsun-deutschland.blogspot.com]
Books on 3D patents:
[goo.gl] (english)
[www.amazon.de] (deutsch)