Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

The initial outlay to allow me to do the job was small compared to buying a torch and gas tank etc. and it was safer and let me do a good job, so i'm happy with it

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

The shim material rolls up if not very carfull when changing heads and head moves with out set screw.

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

The unit heads needs to be resized to fit the fittings instead of the pipe. To solder you always heat the fitting, not the pipe.
The unit needs a latch so that you don't have to hold it once it is clamped on the pipe.

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

It works well where you have plenty of room, like on a work bench. It heats up slowly, but that is okay. Where it should be useful is in a confined area, like under a sink. Unfortunately the little heating elements twist when you are in an awkward position and the heat conduction suffers and it takes very long to heat up, if ever. That is when I gave up and got the torch, risking a fire with the water off. The handle could be a little shorter. Squeezing the handles is useful sometimes when the heating elements act like pliers, but sometimes it would work better if you could squeeze the handles to release them. Then you wouldn't have to hold it several minutes in an awkward position. Overall I think the tool is close to useless. You can get by without it.

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

The task was to replace a faulty tub/shower control. Cutting the old pipes and connecting in the new ones required eight solder joints.
I'm not the greatest at soldering in general and I was rather concerned about using an torch in the confined space of the linen closet which is the access to the pipes.

I followed the instructions and the Pipemaster worked flawlessly. Some of the joints were made only 1/4 inch away from the studs. No problem. Eight joint made in tight quarters with not a single drip.

The clamp heads are about 1/2 thick so if you needed to do some fancy compond elbow joint work or were dealing with very short pieces of pipe the tool might not be useable.

But for my application it was perfect!

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

Did a trial run with tube and fitting on work bench--worked fast. Actually application under sink had a couple of valves already connected by torch and needed to make one coupling joint--time to bring the joint to temperature to melt solder was long. Did work.

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

As compared to a torch this tool is extremely slow. The heads are sized for the pipe and not for the fittings. I am of the old school that heats the fitting to suck the solder into it. The more mass this tool has to heat the less effective it is. Two 3/4" fitting close together will render this tool useless. Working 1/2" and 3/4" at the same time, forget this tool.

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

We have used the pipemaster a couple of times and works farily well. The one problem we found with the unit is that the jaws don't fit tight around the fittings, only fits tight around the pipe itself. Usually when you solder copper you want to heat up the fittings, not the pipe.

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

Great for tight spaces

Comments about Antex Electronics Antex Pipemaster Soldering Tool:

Handles straight and 90 fittings reasobably well. Not a lot of power for heavy valves.