Power cords for soldering irons that don't get burned
James Newton wrote 05/22/2019 at 18:30 • 0 pointsSo we teach soldering from time to time at the San Diego Makers Guild, and newbies learning to solder don't have extra cycles to spare for watching what they are doing with the tip of the iron and it's power cord. They burn the cords quite often, no matter how carefully we are watching. We are looking into replacing the cords, but I had the bright idea of replacing them with cords that use silicone insulation so it would be harder to melt them... can't find such an animal. Why? Is silicone not a good electrical insulator for AC power for some reason? For now, we are thinking about covering the cords with silicon tubing, but I'm really curious why power cords aren't made of silicone.
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Also, you may use cords with textile sheathing, like the ones used by clothes irons, as those have same or similar problem.
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agreed I was gonna suggest that
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I am certain there are rubber sheathed power cords for that, they are commonly used for thermal electrical appliances, such as stoves, hot plates, or space heaters.
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Silicone is very soft. But it's easy to damage mechanically - I have some silicone-insulated wire kit, and I can easily strip them with just fingernails. All my soldering stations have silicone wires, but they are low-voltage.
Consider PTFE-insulation too. Like these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/26-24-22-20-18AWG-0-2-0-35-0-5-1-0mm2-multicolor-Tin-plating/32839704086.html
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You're looking for IEC-type power cords, or just raw 2/3 conductor cable that can be used to replace the cords on pencil-style irons? (most of the two-piece irons I've seen seem to have silicone in between the iron and the power supply. Hmm. The Weller did, anyway. RIP)
I think silicone tends to be weak mechanically, and may fail UL testing on that basis.
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I had same problem and used heat shrink to cover the cables. Is easy to find and not expansive. Also easy to install and you don't need to replace the cable, you can only tear down the iron to pass through it before heating, when the diameter of the heat shrink still wide enough...
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I'm liking this idea...
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Antex sell 230V soldering irons for use in the UK with Silicone leads: https://www.antex.co.uk/products/precision-range-soldering-irons/xs25/
Maybe it's a restriction for your country?
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In the UK power cords for steam irons are covered in a heat resistant fabric-like covering specifically to avoid burning them. Possibly something like that would be of use.
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Yeah I think I used to have some samples of flexible kevlar or fiberglass mat tube sleeving that would be perfect. I had sheets of the stuff too and used to solder right on them on top of my exacto cutting mat and never had an issue with heat melting the mat. Can't remember where I got them from though.
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Something like this?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-6ft-Original-Vintage-Western-Electric-Cloth-Wire-Power-Cords-/111714603551
There are silicon power cords: google "UL silicone power cord"
I got some fibreglass sleeves from aliexpress (along with regular PVC), but haven't used that yet.
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"No results found for "UL silicone power cord"." Without quotes there are hits, of course, but all of those appear to be simple plastic, and not actually high temp silicone. Perhaps I'm missing something?
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Sorry I use duckduckgo. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ul+silicone+power+cord&atb=v129-4_i&ia=web
First 5 results are all about silicon wires.
https://www.coonerwire.com/silicone-flexible-power-cable/
https://www.awcwire.com/productspec.aspx?id=ul-4535-silicone-cable
https://www.shinecable.com/productds/71.html
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