when soldering irons go bad

[Dave McGuire]

On May 28, 2009, at 4:21 AM, David Griffith wrote:
> Tonight I had one of those I-gotta-tinker moments at midnight.  I  
> had the Atari 2600 laid open, ready to accept the AV mod board I  
> finished up a couple days ago.  I plugged in the soldering iron and  
> poured a capful of water from a bottle into the sponge.  After  
> about ten minutes, I picked up the iron and poked it at the  
> sponge.  No sizzle.  Dink around with the cord and shank.  No  
> heat.  Ah.  This is the iron that I lent to someone who put melty  
> marks in the cord.  I guess it's dead.  There went another  
> disposable soldering iron.

   Ugh!  Don't buy those crappy disposable irons.  Quality tools are  
important.

> One reason I never graduated to /real/ soldering stations is that I  
> kept wondering "what do I do when it goes bad?".  What do you guys  
> recommend?

   They generally don't go bad.  I've had my Metcal for ten years...I  
did low-volume commercial assembly with it for a while; I've probably  
soldered a thousand PCBs with it, mostly surface mount.  It was used  
when I got it.

   It replaced a Weller WTCPT (I second Tim's recommendation) that  
was easily twenty years old when I got it, and I used it for another  
fifteen.

   Another thing about real soldering equipment.  Once you use a  
temperature-controlled iron, you'll never go back to one that isn't.

            -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL