[Boatanchors] Weller Iron Frustrations

[WQ9E at btsnetworks.net]

I share the hatred of Weller and retired mine in favor of my father's old Wen.  The Weller looks nice and after carefully cleaning the tip and terminals it would be OK for awhile but then back to slow warm-up and low heat.  At least it only cost me $10 at Farm and Fleet 15 years ago.

On the other hand I love my Weller TCP soldering iron station.  I bought a couple of the military packaged sets with the large assortment of tips, IC tips, desoldering bulb etc. from Fair several years ago and those are my mainstay irons on both benches.  I do keep an authentic American Beauty iron around for handling large chassis ground connections and other places where its high wattage and thermal mass are needed.

Rodger WQ9E

-------- Original Message --------
> From: john fitzsimmons <w3jn at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 7:50 AM
> To: Boatanchors Mail List <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Weller Iron Frustrations
> 
> I also *hate* Weller guns, and I've had the same experiences with the tips eventually breaking, going high resistance, needing to be tightened, etc.  It's highly annoying.
> 
> Find an old Wen soldering gun.  The tip is iron and it's welded onto the electrodes.  It's almost instant heat and the tip NEVER goes bad.  I have one that my dad bought new circa 1959 that, although the case is broken, still works fine with the original tip. 
> 
> You'll never mess with one of those stupid Wellers again after using a Wen.
> 
>