DIY: Stippling plastic gear - soldering iron getting too hot?

[Waylander]

I've seen quite a few DIY stippling tutorials and tips on stippling plastic gear. While most people can get a standard soldering iron to work, it's really too hot for just melting plastic at around 500-600 degrees. People have had trouble stippling anything other than black by the plastic being darkened by what I would think is the soldering iron burning the plastic.

I started to think about ways to turn the temperature of the soldering iron down. Variable temp irons are expensive. I remembered seeing a cheap kit for welding plastic.

Plastic Welding Kit 80 Watt Iron
http://www.harborfreight.com/plastic-welding-kit-80-watt-iron-67102.html

But even that seems to get too hot just to stipple plastic and isn't that reliable even if the tip could be ground down or replaced.

My next thought was hooking up a light dimmer between the outlet and soldering iron to vary the wattage going to the iron.

Westek 200-Watt Full Range Replacement Dimmer
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100644824&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&MERCH=REC-_-search-2-_-NA-_-100644824-_-N&locStoreNum=880

and later I found a DIY article where a guy makes his own.

$10ish DIY Variable Temp Soldering Iron Controller
http://www.instructables.com/id/10ish-DIY-Variable-Temp-Soldering-Iron-Controller/


and for those that aren't that electronically savvy or had rather just buy something out of the box.

Soldering Iron Temperature Control - Mini Phaser - Rheostat / Turn Heat Down so Solder is NOT too fluid.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/25449155/soldering-iron-temperature-control-mini?utm_source=googleproduct&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=GPS

Please let me know if you try any of these ideas and they work.

[saddlerocker]

Lots of people use a wood burner, I dont think it gets as hot

[jonconsiglio]

Good ideas... I've used a standard wood burner with the red handle and if I do it a certain way, it won't burn. Another thing I noticed with colored polymer/plastic is it starts to darken once burnt plastic starts to stick to the burner. If I stop every few minutes and run the tip along a sharpening stone, it cleans it off...along with keeping the tip sharp.

[Waylander]

Yeah I had heard of the wood burner option but I figured they'd get hot enough to burn plastic too. Plus I already have a soldering iron but those controls should help on either option.

[Ty_B]

I haven't had any problems using a $20 wood burner from one of those big craft stores - it must have been AC Moore or Michaels. Plus, wood burners come with different tips. The plastic smokes a little and the handle gets warm, but it didn't get too hot or cause any problems at any point. The temperature definitely stabilizes at some point and that point seems to work pretty well for stippling.

I accidentally left it on for a few days and it didn't even burn the house down, so that's another plus. For what it's worth, even then the handle wasn't overly hot.

[nixorz]

ive got a soldering iron where i can control the heat. going to try and stipple my kac rails this weekend

[MrSmitty]

Another thing I noticed with colored polymer/plastic is it starts to darken once burnt plastic starts to stick to the burner.

^This

I used a 40 watt Radio Shack soldering iron that I had laying around. Stippled FDE Magpul XTM panels, ladder rail covers, MIAD, AFG, and Pmags with no issues. I just had to make sure I kept the tip clean. The ladder covers are softer so I had to be quick with the iron but they did not burn.

[Waylander]

^This

I used a 40 watt Radio Shack soldering iron that I had laying around. Stippled FDE Magpul XTM panels, ladder rail covers, MIAD, AFG, and Pmags with no issues. I just had to make sure I kept the tip clean. The ladder covers are softer so I had to be quick with the iron but they did not burn.

I hope by reducing the heat of the soldering iron, I can easily prevent all burning and hopefully less material will stick.
Maybe nixorz can let us know if his reduced heat iron works well.

[Surf]

One of the tools I use is a 40 watt Weller soldering iron. You need to understand how its initial burn will work and how it leeches heat as you continue with the item. I like to use it for certain textures / designs where the pattern moves quickly as I do not need to wait for the iron to get back up to temp as I am working, but that is generally at a pace that many DIYers are not comfortable working at. If you are having a hard time being careful, or are nervous when you first start, you can also leech some of the initial heat off the iron before you begin with your initial burn. You should always keep the tips clean. You can also use a 25W iron.

I often suggest starting on other "spare" items that you may have lying around such as the stock A2 grips. They are a bit softer than most of the polymers that you are going to stipple so if you can get it done on the A2 grips well, other items should go easier.

[MistWolf]

Wipe the tip with a wet sponge to keep it clean & control temperature

[kartoffel]

Wipe the tip with a wet sponge to keep it clean & control temperature

This.

I've yet to find a decent "flux" for stippling, but simply keeping your tip clean goes a long way to prevent charred plastic from discoloring your work. Wipe on a wet sponge, or just scrub it on a piece of scotch brite or something as you work. Don't worry about ****ing up the tip by sanding it - you're not going to reuse the tip for soldering so scrub it down to bare copper and keep her shiny.

For what its worth, I quit using a Weller pistol grip soldering iron in favor of a simple, old school Ungar #776. Way easier to maneuver and you can swap tips to control heat. Got a little 25W rounded point for dots, and a big 50W flatblade for stuck fasteners and big chunky aggressive textures.

[GTifosi]

Using a larger tip helps dissipate heat in a more constructive way than the usual needle point tip of a soldering iron.

Think of it as the difference between a laser represented by the needle tip and heating pad represented by the large area tip like the filed screw or copper rivet shown in theother thread

Instead of all the heat focused on a tiny little area, its spread out so is slightly cooler in general.

Also there's a vastly lower chance of shoving the tip through the plastic with the wider tips than there is with the needle tip.
Again, size matters as it's like the difference between shoving a nail through drywall vs trying to push a tea saucer through.

[MSteele]

I just used my wood burning kit that cost $12 to do my FDE XTM panels and the first panel had some blackening due to the tip getting dirty but I just kept a wet sponge near by and every so often I would take the tip and stick it in the wet sponge. This kept the tip clean and also dropped the temp on the iron. The key was to keep the sponge wet in a container were it wouldn't dry out and everything actually worked out fine. I didn't grind off the ridges just stippled the 3 sections on each panel and were the 2 panels met I stippled the edges to make the individual panels look like one big panel, looks sweet.

[Suwannee Tim]

If you want to control the power of your iron a Powerstat is a good way. They can be had off ebay, with a little patience you can get a good price on a single phase Powerstat in a housing ready for use or you can buy a panel mount and mount and wire it yourself. For keeping the tip of a soldering iron cool you need a cellulose or natural sponge. Plastic foam sponges are no good. Link to Powerstats on ebay. (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=powerstat&_sacat=See-All-Categories)

[Waylander]

I made my own box with a light dimmer and plug. The small Radio Shack soldering iron is really too low power to benefit from it much. I pretty much had to run it full heat.

I ground the ridges off the Magpul XTMs and stippled the whole thing except down in the vent holes. Very lo-pro.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e292/wey97/IMAG0154.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e292/wey97/IMAG0149.jpg

[outrider627]

Make sure you have good ventilation when you do it. The smell is pretty bad.

[glocktogo]

I have't tried stippling, but plan to start soon. Just a thought that popped into my head, but would coating the tip in PAM cooking spray reduce material sticking on the tip? Works on food, so it was just a thought?

[Waylander]

I don't know about coating it with Pam but I would think that would wear off pretty quickly and you'd have to keep reapplying.

I had the problem of the plastic sticking to my tip at first and I thought I was doing it wrong because the stipple edge would keep sticking to the tip leaving just the dimple.
You may want to start with something you can waste or just turn the tip sideways and lightly touch the plastic and spin to coat the tip. It also helps to rough sand or lightly grind the tip to give it a rough texture so the plastic will coat it. I just kept coating the tip in what came off the panel and pressed it back down into the dimple, letting it dry while moving somewhere else and repeat that several times. Once the tip gets coated, it does a much better job of not sticking and not removing material. Then you can go back over the areas you started with.


At first you may not think it's going to work but once you get the tip coated and get the hang of it, it's really easy. It takes a little time for me because I'm using a fine tip but a broader tip will take less time.

Like outrider627 said, make sure you have good ventilation. I don't know how toxic those fumes are. I didn't do mine on a table looking down.
I stand my rifle up on the stock, sit down and stipple from the side so I don't breath the fumes.