For an upcoming tutorial we need a photo of a totally damaged/oxidized/corroded iron. But we don’t have any (we try to take good care of our tools) do you have a messed up iron? Left your firestarter on all night? post a link to it or add it to the Adafruit Flickr pool tagged “solderingiron” – we’ll pick the best (worst one) this weekend and we’ll give you a prize… a soldering iron from our store, soldering iron holder and some cool accessories!
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15 Comments
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Here you go! No, I don’t have it anymore.
http://www.azog.org/images/soldering-iron.jpg
Great… i just threw away mine…
Oooh, I have a few terrible, terrible tips and a good camera, but it might be cheating because the iron was broken:
I picked up a jury-rigged Weller soldering iron from a swap meet that burned through tips. I didn’t know that this wasn’t normal, so I just bought more tips until one exploded (http://letsmakerobots.com/node/17999). The mechanical temperature control had been disabled by a shoddy fix, and the irons were running hot enough to corrode tips in a few days.
Pics to follow.
These irons were both used on a repair bench and were turned on first thing in the morning and off last thing in the evening. 8-10 hours/day 5 days / week for years.
They and I have retired from the bench but are still melting solder and fixing things.
http://gmra.org/n0nhp/soldering_iron.tif
73 Bruce N0NHP
These irons were both used on a repair bench and were turned on first thing in the morning and off last thing in the evening. 8-10 hours/day 5 days / week for years.
They and I have retired from the bench but are still melting solder and fixing things.
http://gmra.org/n0nhp/soldering_iron.tif
73 Bruce N0NHP
I think I’ve got this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuixro/4580215058/
It has since been replaced.
Burnt Tips:
http://letsmakerobots.com/files/DSC_2258.JPG
http://letsmakerobots.com/files/DSC_2260.JPG
(from “Why Did My Soldering Iron Explode?” at http://letsmakerobots.com/node/17999)
The Weller TC-201 iron was jury-rigged and the temperature control was bypassed. I bought it second-hand so I didn’t know these tips can last for years.
-John
Hey Adafruit,
Since I don’t have a flicker account, here is my entry,
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz329/physic_dude/SANY0017.jpg
I don’t have a flicker account but I do have this extremely worn out soldering iron. It was a 30 watt iron from Radio Shack with a replacement tip for a 15 watt iron. I was very harsh on it, for example, since I did not have a good way to clean the tip I used a very rough wood working file.
I did buy a new iron (Weller WESD51) which I plan to take care of for years to come, but I still use Radio Shack brand solder, solder wick, tip tinner,exc. (Which I really don’t approve of.)
I posted mine to flickr and added them to the pool
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimlovell777
A lovely old Weller I rescued that I’ve been meaning to clean up.
http://labs.n-rd.com/IMG_1624.JPG
http://labs.n-rd.com/IMG_1625.JPG
Quite the shame really, even the cord has been burnt through by someones neglect.
A lovely old Weller I rescued that I’ve been meaning to clean up.
http://labs.n-rd.com/IMG_1624.JPG
http://labs.n-rd.com/IMG_1625.JPG
Quite the shame really, even the cord has been burnt through by someones neglect.
This is my soldering iron. I’m still using it because it’s the only one I have. It’s also the only tip I have.
http://denkershp.de.funpic.de/iron1.jpg
http://denkershp.de.funpic.de/iron2.jpg
It’s a very simple one without regulation.
I have a WES51 that I accidentally left on for … I don’t even know… several weeks, maybe a month, when the “master” switch to my workstation was accidentally turned on by someone. But I had thoroughly cleaned my tools before putting them away, and the tip was still usably clean.
Then, just last month I had hastily shut off my station while doing so desolating work when I got called away for something urgent. I came back to it the next day, and the tip was no longer usable for any serious work.
I don’t have one, but my folks had one from the early 70’s that was left on overnight, shorted, and started a fire at their shop.