Weller Soldering Iron Stations

[FrankB]

Having had my share of Weller WTCP and such stations fail on me the following are the most likely culprits:

No Heat:
1. Loosen and re-tighten the barrel nut, making sure its snug. (If you repeatedly tighten it too much, the end of the barrel the tip sticks out of will expand and it wont hold the tip properly in place. Its a good idea to loosen and re-tighten the barrel at least 1x a week in heavy use. It keeps the nut from freezing to the body of the iron.
2. If the pilot light is not lit, be sure the station is plugged in and the circuit feeding the outlet is live.
3. Check the fuse (2A IIRC) in the base to be sure it is not blown. Sometimes they blew out of pure cussedness.
4. If the pilot light is lit, odds are either the heater (most common to fail item) or the thermal switch is not working.
5. Broken cord. Typically it breaks at the strain relief at the base of the station. EZ fix; Just shorten the cord about 3" and re-attach to the proper points.

If you are at a "jumble sale' and the station does not have a tip and you want to test it before shelling out good money, just stick a metal screwdriver into the barrel with the station turned on. It will stick from magnetization and likely get warm in a few seconds too. (I use this trick all the time at the ham fairs.) If it does not heat up, likely the station is dead.

The 24V transformer can be replaced by another one of equal or larger size if it fails. Just depends if you want it to fit inside the base or not.

To prolong the life of the expensive tips, I tin mine with silver solder immediately upon turning them on the first time. (The newer ones just do not last as long as the old ones did ).

Remember they come in different heat ranges and tip styles too. I prefer 800 deg., as I can get on and off the conn. quickly, and don't over heat the parts.

Don't leave the station on all day long. I would cycle mine on and off as I needed it. It sure saved me replacing the tips at least once a month and the heaters too.

If your sponge falls apart, I have replaced mine from the "Dollar Store" types or there the "Pound Stores" there. One small sponge , cut up lasted me well over 1-2 years. Keep the sponge wet too.

One last thing: NEVER wear polyester pants when soldering. Hot solder falling on them immediately melts the polyester and it sticks to your body like napalm. (I have 2 huge scars on my legs from that when I first started out.)

[MrBungle]

Useful info - thanks for this. On my second one of these units. Still my favourite iron after 25 years.

I've found that the sponges are rubbish personally and use a brass Xytronix tip cleaner instead. Tips last about 9-12 months on average.

I had a friend who was into radio controlled cars in the early 1990s and used those little gas portasol irons. One rolled off the table onto his shell suit resulted in a spell in hospital due to 3rd degree burns. Suitable attire always and wear eye protection too!

[SiriusHardware]

Brief aside re: the Portasol irons. They were (intentionally, I believe) just the right size to fit snugly down the inside of a standard solder reel.

Stand the reel (which should still be at least half full of solder, of course) on one end / side and drop the iron vertically down into the inner hollow of the reel. Makes for a very steady and stable Portasol iron holder.

[MrBungle]

Interesting - never thought of that!

[mole42uk]

I've used the same Weller TCP for about 40 years now. The base has never failed, the iron has had no more than one or two elements, a new handle and a new cable. I used to leave it on all day from arriving at work until leaving, and sometimes overnight!

[Oldcodger]

I've got an old EC1201 station+ iron. It's a bin rescue from some place in the past. The magnetic in barrel switch has gone senile, and I now keep it as a fast heat, single job iron or for jobs that need lots of heat. new switch- more than my new Maplin iron, but these days I seldom do much soldering. Pity,as I love Weller reliability- pity price don't match that.

[TonyDuell]

I would much rather spend the money on spares for my Weller iron than on some cheap replacement unit that may not do the job as well.

My Weller TCP failed a month or so ago. Element burnt out after 25 years of use on my bench. Must have soldered around 1 million connections. I bought a couple of spare elements from RS and fitted one. Only when I thought about it did I realise that if those replacement elements last as long as the original, I will probably never have to buy another, I will be in a pine box before the second one has failed....

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by Oldcodger

I've got an old EC1201 station+ iron. It's a bin rescue from some place in the past. The magnetic in barrel switch has gone senile, and I now keep it as a fast heat, single job iron or for jobs that need lots of heat. new switch- more than my new Maplin iron, but these days I seldom do much soldering. Pity,as I love Weller reliability- pity price don't match that.

Sounds like a candidate for a diode/pushbutton mod. Idle at 23W- plenty for most light soldering and won't get hot enough to burn the bit. Push the button for extra grunt when needed.

Most problems with the magnetic switches are just down to dirty or welded contacts in my experience.

[FIXITNOW]

One placed I worked many years ago would only buy the irons and then brought encased 24v transformers, sadly the irons seemed to go through heating elements and tip way to fast ,so when I got a chance to measure a proper basic unit I found out why ,on load the transformer was about 21 volts

So when I built mine in a transit case I managed to pick up a surplus toroidal transformer that was 21.5 volts
Had it 20 years now its had 1 heating element in all that time plus a few tips

[Skywave]

So, in summary, 21.0 v. not good, yet 21.5 v. is O.K. Hmm. Kinda makes me think that that 0.5 v. difference is not that relevant and that some other cause was the reason for those failures at 21.0 v. Could the real reason for the difference be no more than a large difference in the daily hours of use?
What do others here think?

Al.

[Herald1360]

I think the point is that the encased 24V transformers delivered 24 V whereas the proper base stations only delivered 21V or so. Hence the non standard 24V transformers overvolted the heaters leading to early failures but a non standard 21.5V transformer was closer to the real thing so life went back up to normal.

[FIXITNOW]

Yes that is what I was implying

[Paul Stenning]

The main problem I've had with these is the magnetic thermostats sticking on so they get too hot and ruin the tips. If left that way for too long the handles also become brittle around the element screw fixings. At that point the whole iron is really only fit for the bin.

I had one with a faulty 'stat running with a 1N5402 (3A 100V) rectifier in series for years - running at that reduced power level seems to be about right for continuous operation. I note Herald1360 mentioned this too.

I've never had any problems with the bases - the transformers seem to be adequately rated and don't run too hot or fail.

[McMurdo]

In a previous thread I posted a mod involving converting the magnastat to drive an SSR. I've never had to replace anything but tips since. My iron is in commercial use from 8am to 5 or 6pm mon-fri.
Before the mod I was replacing the magnastat several times within warranty until I got sick of doing it. The contacts dont seem to be manufactured to cope with the element current any more. (new magnastats from RS...all genuine).

[Herald1360]

I wondered whether magnastat problems were simply down to a design originally used at mains voltages having to cope with ten times the current at 24V.

[Oldcodger]

herald- might try the diode dodge. Now if I could just get hold of a faulty iron. Little dodge I used to use with GPO Antex type irons ( and the larger ,in my case 24v, in exchange lads case 50v) when I was building stuff at home ,was to route the output of my 24v transformer through an old iron thermostat and use this as the rest. Tip in rest- iron only heated up to set temperature. Off rest ,it got up to soldering temperature.

As for the Maplin iron- it's 24v 48w ,and modelled on the lines of a Weller. I've not really used it that often, as most jobs I've done since getting it either need a lot of heat or are just a quick tin and solder job.

[McMurdo]

could be, though something changed quality-wise a while ago. The contacts are held together on a small plastic shaft and one of those little starlock fixings. What happens is that the shaft gets worn and allows the contacts to ride up and down, until there's not enough pressure to keep them closed. They then arc and overheat and finally the starlock washer melts off the shaft.

[Paul Stenning]

I doubt the type used for low voltage irons, before or after the quality changes, would have had enough contact gap for 240V anyway.