[Boatanchors] Y'all are right, the Harbor Fright Soldering gun is a piece...

[Ed via Boatanchors]

I have my weller  from  when I was a kid  but   it  is a 2  wire  one Ed#
 
 
In a message dated 9/11/2015 4:26:50 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
ko6bb1 at gmail.com writes:

Well,  when I tried to stand up for the HF soldering gun Y'all tried to 
tell me  they aren't any good.  The tips burn out very quickly and HF 
doesn't  sell any replacement tips for it.  Think somebody here said 
theirs  melted the plastic the first time they used it.

Today, preparatory to  getting an ESD static mat, I was grounding my 
metal workbench and the bar  stool I sit on at the bench (yeah I'm aware 
of the safety ramifications  and plan to getting an isolation xformer 
too).  I haven't worked on  any AC/DC sets in a long time, but it pays to 
be safe.  There is a  foam mat glued on the bench top as well as on the 
floor in front of the  bench, but they are NOT ESD safe as they generate 
static electricity  themselves (didn't realize that when I glued it to 
the new bench top back  in March).  I'm thinking about building a 
SoftRock SDR receiver as my  next project and I don't want to fry 
everything on it while building it. .  .

Anyway, I was putting some solder lugs on wires to interconnect  
everything when the "Harbor Fright" Soldering gun gave out with a loud  
"sizzle" and let a bit of the "Magic Smoke" out!  Results, one dead  
soldering gun.  I opened it up and it appears that the primary is  open, 
no continuity across it at all.

Think I bought it sometime  around April, give or take.  It was shortly 
after I installed the HF  workbench in March (now, the workbench is a 
real jewel, I love  it).

I can't find the receipt, but I AM going to try to exchange it at  the 
store.  I know that they DO warrant their hand-tools  (screwdrivers, 
pliers etc) for life.  But likely a Soldering gun  doesn't fall into that 
category, but it's worth a try.  All my  purchases are in their computer 
(I've had to exchange a couple things  shortly after buying them).

IF they DO exchange it, I'll probably give  it to some hapless local ham 
who doesn't know any better ;-)  I  intend to buy a new Weller this next 
week, either the 100/140W model or  the next size up, maybe both IF my 
pockets are deep enough and I find a  good price on them.  I use the temp 
controlled solder station for all  my regular electronics work (that new 
X-Tronic dual iron station wifey  bought be is a real beauty).  But there 
are times that a soldering  gun is MUCH better, quick connections like 
wire splicing, outdoor  antenna/ground work etc (I WON'T take the 
X-Tronic station  outside).

-- 
73 de Phil,   KO6BB
http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/  (Web Page)

PRESENT  RADIOS:
Grundigs:    S-350 (~2006), G6 (2011) & S450DLX  (2014).
HOMEBREW:    7 Tube+Rect Regenerative RX for LF (built  2015)
Icom:        R-75 With Cascaded 250 & 125Hz  CW Filters. (~2005)
Icom:        IC-7200 Transceiver  (~2015).
Radio Shack: DX-380 digital portable (~1990).
Zenith:   Royal-7000 Transoceanic Portable (~1968).

ACCESSORIES:  HOMEBREW LF-MF Pre-Amp, MFJ-993B HF Auto-Tuner.
HOMEBREW 8 Hz Audio Filter.

ANTENNAS:  88  foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole at 35 feet AGL for MW/SW.
HOMEBREW Active Mini-Whip at 36 Feet AGL for  LF/MW/SW.
HOMEBREW 37 foot "Low  Noise Vertical" at 11 feet AGL for LF/MW/SW.

Merced, Central  California, 37, 18, 37N   120, 30, 6W  CM97rh

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