Flexible wire for soldering iron????

[abunaitoo]

The wire, on all soldering irons I've used, is to stiff for my liking.
Always seems to get in the way, tangled, mover iron when I pot it down.
I was wondering if anyone has tried replacing it with Flexible silicone wire???

[challenger_i]

Are you speaking of the silicon wire we model airplane freaks use for wiring up our power systems? If so, then yes. IF you use the correct gage. Figure your iron's wattage and pick your wire size from that.

https://www.radicalrc.com/category/Wire-Servo-and-Battery-64

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I am sure you can, most simple Irons are less than 100 watt, so you can get by with small ga wire, maybe even 20 ga, I'd probably use 18 ga.
I've only used factory quality solder stations, like that Weller WTCPT, which makes soldering in electronics much much easier and nicer joints and that one has a very flexible cable going to Iron...It's a very common tool, many on ebay, you can find them used on ebay for $50...they are like $250 new.

[MaryB]

If you are soldering ANY modern electronics(last 30 years or so!) use a quality solder station with a grounded tip to prevent static electricity. Anything else a cheap iron is fine...

[abunaitoo]

I am sure you can, most simple Irons are less than 100 watt, so you can get by with small ga wire, maybe even 20 ga, I'd probably use 18 ga.
I've only used factory quality solder stations, like that Weller WTCPT, which makes soldering in electronics much much easier and nicer joints and that one has a very flexible cable going to Iron...It's a very common tool, many on ebay, you can find them used on ebay for $50...they are like $250 new.

The one I want to change the wire on, is something like that.
It's an old Radio Shack, with two settings.
It works great, but the wire is so stiff, it's always getting in the way.
amazon had a sale on some silicone wire, 16ga, so I ordered it.
Was looking for 14ga, but was cheap, so I thought I'd give it a try.

[abunaitoo]

Well it came today, and of course, cheap is not always the best.
It's not rated for high volts.
So had to order another one.

[abunaitoo]

So I ordered both 12ga and 14ga.
Of course the 12ga was to big to fit.
Replaced the old, stiff wire and it's great.
Of course after using it, I wish I made the wire longer.