Curious why you say the Brute is better for earlier caps? I bought a new cap and stem last year and it works the same as my old caps. As with most I always go a couple seconds after the click.The Wand with the SK insert is great. Brute is great with earlier caps. Fluxer Flite rules, best DV IH bar none. I've been using/loving IHs since the Lucid Customs Atlas but I still get better results with most tips by torching, unless conditions are too rough. IH is nice to have when the TV's on, for sure.
The Brute and the Lucid Customs are similar in that you need to count past the clicks with newer caps. As IHs were becoming more popular (there's discussion in the Fluxer thread) they reformulated the cap's metal to be more ferrous so they'd interact with induction fields better, requiring less battery drainage. IHs tuned for older caps heat newer caps too fast, necessitating the post-clicks counting (which can vary by cap and tip). I find it aggravating so I only use those two IHs with older caps. The Flite and Wand at the proper depth do much better--the DV's ready at the clicks.
Interesting, I haven’t found that to be the case. Even with the old caps and PSM I would usually go a couple seconds past the click. Maybe the caps are more consistent now…. i’ve had a few older ones that varied from each other.
Watch the classifieds for a Flite. There was also a tiny desktop plugin heater he made called the Flix--I think only a round or two of those ever shipped--that had the same heater technology. The Flix and Flite have a standard setting, and also a pulse width modulation setting. The PWM pulses the induction field at adjustable rates to slow down heating to correct for any cap funniness. I really never need to use the PWM because the standard setting is tuned so well.
Lol. I have a second one for that! ; ) I really got it because I thought my first one was crapping out but it really just seems to not like the Helix (and one other). But I did learn how to use it without the insert first; I got the insert to make it more brainless, I guess. At the time I was only using it for DVs.
It's a great tool, no doubt. And I think most IH-only DVers are getting great results that they're happy with. But the torch brings a little more precision to adding more or less heat, adjusting for any cap induction issues, etc. Not absolutely necessary but once you find your comfort it adds some flexibility. It's a skill worth developing at your leisure, I feel, even if you're happy with your IH.Exactly this. The wand is quiet where the torch is noisy. Downside is minimal practice for my torch technique since I bought my dv and wand together.
