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Registered Member #50
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:07AM
Location: Vernon, B.C, Canada
Posts: 324
The other night I was sitting down for a hour of soldering, plugging in my iron, letting it heat up and then picked it up. As I lowered it towards the resistors I was going to tin...BANG. Followed by sparks, smoke and an eerie burning smell. As I look down I saw this.... (see picture) a large hole blown in the side. What a suprise, its a radio shack product. When questioned on it they said "oh well, too bad, we don't care" Now thats poor service....
Registered Member #188
Joined: Thu Feb 16 2006, 05:18PM
Location:
Posts: 67
Nice, yours blew up too?
I had a cheap 100w one blow up a few months ago, element shorted because the cheap isolation failed and the thin lead wires were mostly vaporized, the thin plastic grip cracked and the "barrel" deformed. Blew the 16A fuse too and the bright flash made me see a orange spot for 2 hours later. The soldering iron had less then 5 total hours, mostly running at 180v or even less from a variable transformer.
Registered Member #89
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145
Nope, I have an weller iron powered from lov-voltage station so it can't blow up. :p
Really interesting how it blew hole in solid metal. This could really be bad if pointed towards your hand, bonus you can also fry yourself badly dropping the iron after that
Registered Member #146
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 04:21AM
Location: Austin Tx
Posts: 1055
Even the cheapest weller station will last at least 30 times longer (if not more) than those crappy radioshack irons. So even if the WLC100 is $40-50, its better than buying lots of the RS irons that only last for a few hours anyway. Save yourself some grief, and at the same time make better solder joints and buy a real station. Im still using the original tip, and the iron is about 3 years old now (and i use it heavily). I have gone through a few of the very fine 1.6mm pencil tips, but with such little material, that is to be expected, but they still last > 1 year.
Registered Member #89
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145
I definitely agree Weller pwns any other cheap iron in lots of things.
It can run forever, mine is about 2 years old and heavily used, it heats up in matter of seconds (no need of leaving it ON) and tip is very durable. My tip has a small hole on side some 10mm from top, but it doesn't affect performance at all.
Not to mention regulate-able temperature and other gizmos there.
Registered Member #50
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:07AM
Location: Vernon, B.C, Canada
Posts: 324
I use mine almost everyday and for paying $15 it lasted a suprisingly long time. I probably should buy a nice good quality one, i'm always afraid of tv gimicky things. Can anyone vouch for the "Cold Heat" Soldering iron...EVR..Are you a owner of one?
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Soldering Iron Detonation
