Behind every smooth‑running studio is a man with a soldering iron, and when you're working in a cramped corner or with your head stuck inside an equipment rack, the idea of a cordless soldering iron seems very attractive. There are a couple of butane‑powered, cordless irons on the market, so I decided to treat myself to the Portasol, which is available from Tandy for around £20. This particular model can operate for up to one hour on a quick fill from standard butane lighter fuel.
At the heart of the iron is a catalytic heater, which forms part of the bit assembly. When you change the bit, which costs around six pounds, you get a new heater. The whole iron is designed to look rather like a fat ballpoint pen, and a flint and wheel spark mechanism is fitted to the end of the cover. This is used to light the butane, although within a couple of seconds the flame is gone, and all that's left is a warm glow from the heater. A few seconds later, and the Portasol is hot enough to use — much faster than most electric irons. When you want to finish work, a slide switch shuts off the gas supply, and the switch is held in the off position when the cover is fitted.
At the base end of the iron is a rotary heat control, which gives a range nominally equivalent to a 15W iron when on minimum, and around 50W on maximum. This is a very useful feature, as you can use low settings for soldering ICs or other small components, and higher settings for wiring connectors. I had no trouble wiring heavy banana speaker plugs with this iron.
Having used the Portasol a few times now, I can confirm that it works every bit as well as a typical electric iron, while it's portable enough to keep in your gig bag for dealing with faulty leads on the road. I wouldn't be without it now. Paul White