"Joerg" wrote in message
...
ian field wrote:
"Joerg" wrote in message
...
William Sommerwerck wrote:
I don't know which brands you're referring to, but I've owned EDSYN
(Engineering Dedicated To Suit Your Needs!) irons for 20+ years, and
they
don't look anything like that.


... and wherever in the world I happened to be, there were always those
Weller stations. Antex? Never seen it, never heard of it. Strange, ain't
it?


The weller irons were once the best money could buy - then they got took
over by cooper tools, since then the bean counters reduced the thickness
of the iron plating so the bit oxidises in the barrel, "freezing" in and
impossible to remove without damaging the element.

Years ago I bought a new weller - the stat lasted nearly 2 weeks before
welding closed, they sent me a replacement FOC which lasted nearly a
month before also welding closed - unfortunately I was away from my bench
at the time and it burned out the element, I've been using Antex irons
ever since, they usually last at least 5 years as long as the bit is
replaced at the proper interval and I can buy at least a 30 year supply
of Antex irons for just the weller (not including transformer base) iron.

I'd only use weller again if it was free (and I was allowed to keep an
Antex on standby for when the weller packs up).

Strange. I've suggested the Weller WES51 with the PES51 pencil to many
clients and then they bought oodles of those. Never a problem, in years,
and this stuff is cranking at least 10h/day. Ok, they don't light
cigarettes anymore like people use to with the older Wellers because
smoking is no longer allowed in US businesses.

Last year in December I bought a WES51 also here for the lab, to have a
spare. But I started using it a lot because the tiny PES51 pencil lays
much nicer in the hand than the fat LR-20 of the older stations. They also
added a nice feature, not important to me but to companies and the fire
marshall: If the iron isn't moved in an hour or so it automatically shuts
down. Grand total of $92 plus tax, with pencil and one tip, not a bad deal
at all.


Maybe they learned from the mass exodus of customers and fixed the non
existent reliability since the last time I had the misfortune to pay good
money for one of their products, but once bitten twice shy, I'm not giving
them any more of my money.