cold heat question

[cell_491]

ok my mom ordered me a cold heat soldering iron for christmas and I finally rcieved the thing (long ass backorder) my question is is it safe to use on compound/multi layer pcbs and other sensitive electronics such as mobos and video cards? Ive heard people say that due to the nature of the device (passing electricity through the circuit to create heat) that it will destroy any sensitve components but ive also heard of people succesfully completing various mobo and video card voltmods using a cold heat soldering iron...what do you guys think?

 

[dandragonrage]

current won't flow through anything unless it was between the poles. But soldering on a motherboard is risky anyway.

 

[Rombus]

Personally, i only use my cold heat for quick fixes when i cant use my serious soldering iron.

In Theory you can use it on any connection, however, keep in mind that this thing is essentially a minature arc welder. It DOES have the potential to hurt sensitive ICs. It seems to work best on very small joints, so you have to be careful to not short across two pads if your soldering on a PCB.

In pratice, it takes alot of getting used to. my first experince with it was trying to solder a 22 gauge wire onto a switch. After about 5 min, i got fed up, ran up to my room and did the 4 joints i needed to solder in about 6 min (including iron heatup time).