I soft soldered a piece of 18 guage round copper wire on to the
end of a solder iron for using while spruing and treeing. It give
me a longer, yet smaller tip to do some real delicate repair work
on waxes and sprues.
Don Norris
@Donald_Norris
PO Box 2433 Estes Park, CO 80517
I have a number of irons from Radio Shack with dual temp switch.
The tips are 8 gauge (???) wire. (they also sell packe of extra
tips for a buck or 2). I make mine from copper wire (ground wire
from the local hardware store is my source costing about a buck a
foot) which I cut to ANY length, thread the one end with a proper
threading die, and I then poud out the “tip” to what ever form I
want. I hammer it to shape cold, on an anvel or most any stout
piece of steel, file to final shape, sand a bit if needed then
polish it. If I want it to carry a reasonable load of wax, I
file in some groves on the flat surfaces to an edge. I keep a
box of different lengthed, pre threaded tips in the studio so if
needed, I can make a new, “speciality” tip in just a few minutes.
Radio Shack also has soldering iron holders (a heavy spring,
mounted at an angle on a weighted base, with a cleaning sponge
too) that keep the hot iron under control on the work table.
John D.