So I repaired a Weller soldering iron yesterday ...

[midwayfair]

and WOW these things are far simpler than I'd have expected. After I took it apart, I could see that it basically just generates heat through the AC oscillation. The ground wire goes on one side and is connected to the tip, and then the black and white wires go in two other points on the tip. Current passes through, and because it's going right to ground, it heats up the metal tip. A couple of screws hold the tip into the base and dispense heat through those little holes in the top.

Weirdest thing, though. After I took mine apart and figured this out, I checked continuity on the multimeter and one of the wires wasn't connected to the a prong anymore. Uncased the wire all the way down, no breaks. Really heavy duty plug and the end and nothing's budging. Somehow it disconnected from the plug on the inside of the three-prong housing. I can't think of how that would happen. :/

In any case, repairing it was simply a matter of finding a really cheap 3-prong extension chord, stripping the wire, and clamping them into the molex plugs on the inside of the iron. A bunch of electrical and duct tape later, it works good as new.

Saved myself $50 and didn't hurt myself in the process. Yay!

I'm glad -- but find it ironic -- that a soldering iron has no soldered parts.

[angrykoko]

I'm always curious to see the insides of stuff... any pics?

[icecycle66]

How would you be able to make a soldering iron if you first needed a soldering iron?


That's deep.

[atreidesheir]

^^^fine line between the profound and the absurd.  We maintain a beautiful balance around here... on a good day.

[midwayfair]

I'm always curious to see the insides of stuff... any pics?

Nah. It was quite literally just three wires (the AC lines) inside the handle. If you have one and you unscrew the part that holds the tip on, you'll see everything there is to see.

[pickdropper]

I've repaired a few Weller stations.  Not cheap ones either, but an older design.  All of them failed at the strain relieve of the soldering pencil.  Not the best design, really.  The strain relief on the newer stations is a lot better thought out.  I am guessing they took their lumps on the old design and decided to fix it.

[jeffaroo]

somebody swiped my iron and when i got home from work it was to late to get another one. I was soooo pissed off ! So i went to Walmart not expecting much and i found a red handled $10 POS. I bought it and came home, figured id do the more simple stuff with it. it worked, infact it worked really good ! It came with a tube of solder and a extra tip. only complaint is the tips burn up after a bit of usage (2 weeks or so) but for $10 bucks, i'll buy another one after i burn up the extra tip !