On 12/3/2010 6:13 PM, Tony Miklos wrote:
On 12/2/2010 2:29 AM, The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/2/2010 1:01 AM, Jeff Thies wrote:
On 11/30/2010 12:57 AM, The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 11/29/2010 9:23 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:01:40 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 11/29/2010 9:41 AM, homer wrote:

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:26:05 -0500, wrote:

snip

That's what the wet sponge is for. A little tray in my 40 year old
Weller temperature controlled soldering station. I have some 40 year
old tips for it that are still working fine. I bought it new and have
replaced a few parts over the years but it ran 8-12 hours a day for
years when I was doing bench work with few problems.

40 seems like a lot, but now that you mention it, those Weller irons are
workhorses. Tips lasted a long long time and you could replace whatever
part needed it. I have some vague memory of needing a new "body" every
dozen years or so. Never had more than a WP25, maybe the temp control
lasted longer! The Ungars were terrible.

Jeff



http://www.action-electronics.com/pd...ntechsheet.pdf


When I accidentally dropped the iron on the plastic case, it melted
a grove in it and Weller replaced it at no charge back in the 70's.
I replaced the heater element once and of course several tips but
that's all. The soldering station is still working like new. The
replacement for it has a sponge tray and iron holder that can be
snapped onto either side of the transformer housing.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qfRFCKv4L.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

http://www.parts-express.com/images/.../372-140_s.jpg

TDD

I think I have the next model up, "Weller EC 2001" adjustable and with
digital temperature readout. Great tool! It's over 20 years old and
there were many times it was on 8 hours a day. I think I replaced the
whole heater and cord once, lots of tips.

My old Pace solder sucker went through a lot of heaters, the second one
I bought is much better, (Pace ST115) I think it's been about 8 years
with no problems. I love to desolder a 40 pin IC and have it litteraly
fall out of the board.

I love those vacuum desoldering stations, I had one sold by ECG back in
the late 70's and like you said, a DIP chip would often fall out in your
hand after sucking the melted solder off the circuit board. The ECG unit
was affordable by just about any electronic tech back then.

TDD