18V Milwaukee Fuel Powered TS100 soldering iron

GreatOldOne

R'lyeh Engineering Works
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
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418
I recently got a TS100 soldering iron - these things a great. Inexpensive, open source temperature controlled soldering irons. They run off DC, anywhere from 12 to 24v - the only difference being the time to hit a set temperature.

Mine came with a cruddy chinese-ium power supply that was quite frankly poor even for a cheap unit from shenzen, so I started running it from my bench supply. But then I saw several youtube vids of guys running them off various brands of cordless power tool battery... Hmmm. :)

So, I found that someone had already done the hard work of modelling the relevant dimensions, slots and do-dads required for a milwaukee battery to slide into, downloaded the file from thingiverse and then modified it in fusion 360 to create a battery adaptor for the TS100 - making it completely portable and an absolute breeze to use on the bench (cable in your way? move the whole battery some place else so it isn't!).

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The original STL files are here. They have a variety of screw holes in them for wall mounting, I think:

And my modified ones, sans holes but with additional rounding and a wiring cover are here:
 
That is awesome! I needed that last time I worked on the electrical in my car.
 
Ive never seen a battery powered soldering iron before, how well does it work? How long does a charge last?
 
With lithium batteries, they heat up quick and go for a surprisingly long time (many hours, depending on load and battery capacity). The only thing you need to watch out for is ruining a lithium battery by over-discharging it. Not a problem for batt packs that have a built-in gauge like Milwaukee or Bosch.
 
Ive never seen a battery powered soldering iron before, how well does it work? How long does a charge last?

It works very well. So much so I ditched my ancient temperature “set a temp and I’ll try to keep to it” bench iron in favour of this. It’s light and very comfortable to use. I used to do all the work on this DSKY replica circuit board:



I spent a whole afternoon soldering, with a fully charged 4Ah battery, and by the time I finished and stuck the battery back on the charger. I had two lights left on the built in meter.

It helps that the iron is “smart”. It has an accelerometer in it, and if It doesn’t detect movement for a set (configurable) period, it stops heating so draws less power. As soon as you pick it up again, it resumes heating and stops at the previously set temp. It only takes a few seconds to be ready for action again.
 
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