From the FAQ:
We do not recommend it for soldering of large metallic components that 
require a lot of heat transfer or for soldering sensitive electronic 
components that may be damaged by fast-rising temperatures or high 
electrical current. (Momentary high-amperage current will be created 
during active soldering.)

So it looks like a standard soldering gun type tip - shunt large amounts 
of current through large wire to a tiny junction that heats up quickly.

Uses 4 AA batteries is is supposed to be good for 700 joints.

-Adam

Philip Stortz wrote:

>actually, i have some metcal gear i bought on ebay, it heats up
>alarmingly quickly and of course has excellent temperature control.  of
>course you have to buy it on ebay or be rich.  
>
>what i've wondered is if the cold heat produces esd or induced voltage
>problems.  i'm suspecting that it's induction heating which i could see
>being very bad for some electronics and requiring an insulated head and
>thus posing static problems beyond what something with a metal handle
>and tip would do assuming a conductive handle in your hand (which is
>hopefully usually close to ground or at least not to hard to get grounded).
>
>they do look cool, but i definitely want to know how they work first and
>what the tip is made out of.
>
>------
>  
>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Mike Hord" <mike.hord@gmail.com>
>>To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
>>Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 1:32 PM
>>Subject: Re: [OT]: Cold Heat? Hmmmm......
>>    
>>
>---------
>  
>
>>>Benefits:
>>>1.  Fast heat, which goes away equally fast.  Solves that old "I
>>>need to make one connection, but I don't want to wait for the iron
>>>to heat up, and then avoid it while it's cooling on my desk"
>>>dilemma that I'm always faced with (at home, at least, where my
>>>desk space is limited).
>>>      
>>>
>--------
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>  
>
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