On Tuesday, February 25, 2020 at 10:43:19 AM UTC-5, legg wrote:
I had a Baku 601D hot air reflow soldering station smoke
on my bench over the weekend, with all switches 'off'.
It's not CSA or UL (or anything else)

It was a transformer failure. None of the front panel
switches actually disconnect the line. Only protection
was an 8A fast blow fuse. It had blown sometime before
the plug was pulled, so I guess it did its job.

The hot air gun is directly live through a triac circuit
at all times that it's plugged in.

I've rewound a new transformer, with a thermal link, higher
temperature bobbin/wire. It will have its own fuse.
Will also repurpose one of the front panel switches to
disconnect the AC line and add a ground wire on the line
cord.

. . . . of course it's still not CSA or UL.


When I started working in a TV shop in the mid '60s, every bench had a switch to shut off all power. It had two intended uses. A way to kill a bench if someone was being shocked or something was arching, and to turn off everything when the bench wasn't being used. They were mounted on the ends of the benches, where there was nothing to block access. My shop has each light fixture on its own switch, so all the tools and test equipment are powered down when I leave and turn out the lights. All of these are switched by the main door, so they are easy to get to.

This is similar to the General Electric switches we used back in the '60s. They can be padlocked if you don't want anyone to use the bench when you aren't there.

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