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Tools that could be used on snowblower repairs, maintenance and/or upgrades

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  skutflut 
#1 ·
Ok, I'll go first. As I become more and more vintage, I find myself working on my vintage vehicles, equipment and even snowblowers. And some of the work is electrical.

When rewiring or adding electrical components, I prefer solder and shrink tubing instead of butt connectors. To me, solder joins the wires more solidly and heat shrink tubing - especially adhesive lined shrink tubing - makes a waterproof cover for the wire joint and when it extends a little past the joint ends, it also provides some strain relief. But electric soldering irons or guns can be a pain to use outdoors. So that is where this tool which I recently learned about, purchased and have been using, comes in handy:

Weller WPA2 Pyropen Professional Self-Igniting Cordless Butane Soldering Iron





Bottom line: It is perfect. It heats quickly and cools quickly. (Kind of like how chefs like to cook on a gas burner rather than on an electric burner because it takes an electric burner longer to get up to heat and longer to lose heat while gas heat goes on, up, down, or off quicker and is more easy to adjust.) So, it is now my go to iron.

There is a vent on the tip holder (not pictured) to vent the gas fumes (clean burning clear butane) which I used to shrink heat shrink tubing. Not as quickly as a Milwaukee 1200w Heat Gun, but good enough for one stop shopping outdoor work! Apparently there is also an optional heat shrink air tip, which replaces the soldering tip, which I have no doubt would shrink tube quickly.

I will likely also use this gun indoors for everything but circuit board work. It is that good. And when you put it down on the bench, it doesn't pivot and burn other stuff on your bench like a corded iron or gun does when the cord is pulled by gravity. And you can even put its sheath on after you have turned off the flame, the sheath is vented and designed so as not to touch the tip.

Some Amazon reviews said it works badly with bad butane. I bought this Master Appliance 11799 Ultratane Butane, 3-3/4-Ounce, 106-Grams - Pack of 4 which was recommended and it works great. Period. And the Hakko tip cleaner works great too.



 

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#2 · (Edited)
Agreed that solder is better than butts and that looks like a very good iron.

As for me, if I am working on external connections on a snow blower, I like them to be removable, as the were intended to be in the first place. I use connections like this, that are quite water resistant. They are used in the boating industry a lot and stand up well, even in salt water environments:

Deutsch DT 2 Pin Connector Kit 14 16 GA Nickel Contacts | eBay

Or:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#deutsch-compatible-connectors/=zvj0jb
 
#4 ·
+1 on the Deutsch connectors! They're high-quality, easy to use, and not stupidly expensive.

Regarding tools: more than once I've wished for a small thermonuclear device to get things apart, but those are a bit hard to come by... :biggrin:
 
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