Black & Decker CI500S Dual-Temperature Soldering and Craft Iron
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Black & Decker CI500S Dual-Temperature Soldering and Craft Iron
Customer Review: The Arms
Summary: 5 Stars
The arms made to assist you holding objects while working on them are much better than I expected. The product is as advertised.Customer Review: The B & D Dual Temp Soldering Iron. An Ideal utility tool.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Black & Decker Dual-Temp Soldering Iron is an ideal utility soldering tool. It provides high heat when needed and the lower setting is perfect for those more sensitive jobs and it heats to temp rapidly.
The base unit is just the right size, stabile and the storage box is ideal as well. I would recommend this to anyone who requires a utlity soldering iron for household jobs.
Customer Review: This is pretty bad.
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm not one to write reviews very often, but this was a bit over the top. I looked at customer reviews and some people said that this soldering iron is hot enough to melt solder. Maybe pure tin, or some other metal that has a low melting point, but not regular solder that is used in electronics.
I have one of those laser/infrared thermometers where you can point it at something and get the temperature on the surface. In the past, this has proven to be extremely accurate. Anyhow, on the "II" setting of this soldering iron, the highest temperature I got on the tip was 278 degrees F. On the "I" setting, it was around 175 degrees. So it just-missed the advertised temperatures of 900 and 500 degrees, respectively. So close!!
If you use regular 60/40 solder, this means that if you put the solder right on the tip for around 5 seconds, it will start to melt. But this also means that there is no way that you could heat up a wire, so that the wire melts the solder (to avoid a "cold joint"). In other words, it's physically impossible to make a proper solder joint with this device.
Point is, this may be useful for crafts, but for soldering electronics, this simply doesn't work. The soldering iron, the base, and the "extra hands" are all pretty solidly built - it's just a shame that this soldering iron simply doesn't do what it advertises. By the way, I kept the "extra hands" part of the base, but bought a $14.99 Weller which works like charm!
Customer Review: Very Handy combination...
Summary: 4 Stars
With the Hot Knife tools, the dual power selectibility and the excellent base station with holding clamps, this is excellent for use in my R/C Airplane hobby.Customer Review: an excellent product!
Summary: 4 Stars
the interchangable tips are perfect for many craft projects!! i have never used it for soldering, but for all the applications that i have tried it works great. the sponge is useful, but if you use it often expect to replace it soon. the stand is very useful and keeps me from burning myself, my table, or anything that i dont want heated. however after 3 months of pretty heavy use it has ceased to heat. i did not purchase this through amazon and have had some trouble getting the company i purchased it from to replace it. but even if they dont i will intend to buy another one. i have found no other craft iron on the market that even compares to the features and usability of this one. i just wish my local hardware store carried it.