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I thought using a heat gun on coax connectors was a bad idea until a job in Phoenix
We had a whole rack of BNC connectors to replace on a Citation in 110 degree heat, and the old ones were seized solid. A guy from another shop said to hit the metal barrel with a heat gun for 15 seconds on low, and it worked perfectly without hurting the dielectric. Has anyone else found a safe temp or time limit for this trick on different connector types?
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wade_perez23d agoMost Upvoted
Buddy melted a whole F-connector once. Not pretty.
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the_sean1mo ago
Honestly though, is it worth the risk of cooking the dielectric just to save a few minutes. That heat has to go somewhere and old plastic gets brittle. Seen it go wrong more than once on cheap connectors.
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the_henry1mo ago
People act like coax connectors are made of glass. A little heat on the barrel to break the threadlocker isn't going to melt the world. We used to do it all the time on old TNCs in radio trucks. Just don't hold it on the plastic center pin and you're fine.
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