On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:14:40 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote:

On 2008-02-09, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

You're welcome. Solder is one of my favorite metals. ;-)

And it was the first metal that I worked regularly.


I started at 10. My dad had a crappy old iron that was pretty bad,
but it did melt solder. Of course, the stuff that was easy to find in
the early '60s was large diameter 50/50 cored junk that was already dull
looking when you bought it.



Bad news. The irons are too old for them to have any repair
parts still around. The choices seem to be for me to make my own handle
for the broken one, or to buy a more modern version.


There is always Ebay. OTOH, a newer iron would have parts available,
if you have to depend on always having a good iron available. I had
three 'Loners' on my bench at Microdyne, and spent the first five
minutes of each day cleaning and testing them for tip to ground
resistance and inspecting the tips.


Now, where DID I put all those spare, NOS 175 Watt American Beauty
soldering iron elements? I know I had at least a dozen.
I haven't needed any replacement parts other than the generic 100 watt
tips for my Weller Junior that I bought, mail order from Allied
sometime in the early '50s. I've bought several newer copies for a
buck or two on Saturday mornings since the and found homes for them
among offspring, friends and/or acquaintances, but the old original
stays plugged in my shop (it was loaned out for 1959 to a TV repair
shop owner whose Wen gun ate tips at one per week). Granted, this is
not the tool for modern printed circuit work, and I have some
specials, but then, I am somewhat of an antique myself.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada