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American Beauty Resistance Soldering Station ---
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After
debating if I need it or not for a couple years I got a resistance
soldering station (in 3 different pieces). American Beauty seems to
be by far the preferred choice. Problem is a new station with the
power supply, tweezers and foot switch go for about $450 and up. More
than what I wanted to spend. Recently on another board a member said
that if you keep an eye out on the bay you can do better. I started
watching and found a power supply only (they sell for over $300) for
$49 and the seller said it came on but couldn't test it. I offered
$39 (bad on me) and was turned down so finally decided to take a
chance on it and bought it.
It
arrived along with the other parts I needed. I'd considered making
the tweezers and would of a couple years ago but decided against that
and glad that I did. So after looking for used ones with no luck I
found a new one for $138. Last up you need a foot switch to turn it
on/off. American Beauty ones are expensive, in the $70 range. I found
one
on Amazon for $10 that does exactly the same thing. Also ordered
a second to use with my Dremel type tool with a flex shaft that I use
for milling on my decoder installs after seeing one used for that.
The
power supply, tweezers and foot switch were all ordered from
different places but all showed up on the same day. Normally I'd
probably set them aside for later but wanted to try them out as I did
have the option to return the power supply. With ME code 55 track
hard to get a year ago I ordered some code 70 figuring I could use it
in the hidden staging and other areas where it wouldn't really be in
view (I had enough code 55 for my immediate plans).
I
have over 40 turnouts that I've made to this point but needed at
least 12 code 70 turnouts to use with the code 70 track and need to
make some crossings and more turnouts for the layout so felt spending
$200 was worth it as that many turnout if bought commercially would
cost far more than that and I really like how well the handlaid
turnout perform and look.
I
figured the best way to try it out was to make a turnout. I hadn't
made one in over a year so was a bit slow at first but then things
started to click. I have a #6 Fast Tracks jig for code 55 but will
have to use paper templates for the code 70 and the crossings and
other location specific turnouts. The power supply seems to be
working fine. Doesn't look like they have made big changes with them
over the year but that might be wrong. The tweezers seemed a little
awkward or at least different than using an iron at first but once
I'd used it for a few soldering joints I started to love it over the
iron. I'm glad I bought them instead of making them as they are
really easy to use, probably better than what I would of made and I
would of still had some cost in making them.
I
will still used my iron when it is a better option, such as moving
the rails slightly if needed but did over 90% of the soldering with
the resistance soldering station. I'm glad I got it and can see where
it will improve the looks of the solder joints and speed up building
the turnouts. still used my iron for a few things, such as moving the
rails slightly if needed but did over 90% of the soldering with the
resistance soldering station. I'm glad I got it and can see where it
will improve the looks of the solder joints and speed up building the
turnouts.
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