Veegee:=20

Your copper pipe idea makes a lot of sense. In fact you might want to use a
smaller pipe inside a larger one with mineral wool insulation between them.

You might be able to have someone braze a standard pipe cap onto the pipe
(obviously soldering it isn't going to work!)

Good luck,

--Bob Ammerman
RAm Systems

-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of
veegee
Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2013 4:15 PM
To: PICLIST
Subject: [EE] Making a solder pot

Hi all,

I want to make a cheap, small solder pot for tinning the tips of stranded
wire.

Specifications:

* Power supply: It will run off of a 12V DC computer power supply because
those things can supply 200+W easily and I don't like to play with high
voltages. I also have many of them. Too many.

* Volume of solder: ~10-20mL. Doesn't really matter.

* Temperature controlled. A power MOSFET and a microcontroller will be used
to switch the heating element.

1. What is a good container material for the solder? How about a small
segment of copper pipe from the hardware store with one end sealed off with
high temperature tape or something. This needs to be a safe material for
indoor use, that doesn't emit anything like poisonous fumes when kept at 20=
0
- 400 degrees C.

2. Is NiCr wire for the heating element a good fit for this application?
It would need to be the electrically insulated type so it can be wrapped
around the copper pipe.

3. What's the best way to measure temperature? Thermocouple? Preferably, th=
e
probe should be sitting in the liquid solder itself.

Any hints/tips/comments?
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