Re: Soldering irons: made in America but designed in Russia?

If you buy cheap, you get cheap.

Get a Metcal. No screw at all.

Mini. Citroën. Vauxhall. Volvo. Rolls. Porsche. Fiat.

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John

Reply to
John Larkin
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Hello Rich, I'm the OP. I'm sorry to hear you think I'm a troll.

I don't know what you mean by "same" becuase I have only posted here recently and I hope there isn't another post which could be misconstrued as a troll.

Perhaps you just don't like my point of view?

Reply to
Allus Smith

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.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

... 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?

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Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

EDSYN are lovely irons but none of them list for under $100 and I believe they all have temperature regulation.

Apologies if I wasn't clear but EDSYN wasn't what I had in mind when I said "An ordinary soldering iron in the US with unregulated temperature". I mean the cheaper end of the market but not as cheap the rock-bottom $5 irons!

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Reply to
Allus Smith

Ahm, what? See below.

Tell me, where's that ugly side-screw on this one?

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Regarding your comment above, last time I checked $54.86 was still less than $100 ...

Oh, and no temperature regulation :-)

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Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

How about the Weller irons like the SP23? I have owned one or more at a time from the early '70s. The tip is threaded into the heating element and it retails for under $20. I bought a new one last year after the threads finally corroded out of the element after 35 years of use. I only use the non regulated irons to make cables, or for antique electronics. For modern ESD sensitive equipment I used the Edsyn Loner series and had three irons on my bench, one with a .015" tip in a reducing collet.

I also have the 175 watt version that does use a set screw to hold the tip.

25 watt:

175 watt:

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You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Good point Joerg. I missed that one in the online catalogue.

You may be misunderstanding me if you think I said ALL basic American soldering irons look Russian. I meant to say there was a lot more of this sort of poor design in the US than in western Europe. A single item doesn't really prove or disprove it.

However. as you kindly drew my attention to EDSYN then I show illustrate the Antexes I mentioned.

Consumer goods are cheaper in the US, so the usual $1 = £1 is probably a good indicator of the sort of price level these irons are at. It's the sub $20 market (including tax).

Reply to
Allus Smith

Well, there are tons of them that look sleek and modern. Visit a good hardware store over here and see for yourself. Or any major Radio Shack.

Antex may be good but they seem to have the same problem as Ersa (I loved their irons while in Europe): International marketing may be lacking.

Well, check this one out, under $10, no side screw, the tip is threaded and that screws in as a whole from the front (IIRC):

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If I'd need a simple iron I'd got for a good name brand, like this one for $40:

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Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

Model C ?

I had one of those in my hobby days. Lovely for miniature work ( 15W ). I also had a SOLON 25W. Another classic. The copper bit was held in place with a split pin. Of course I've had a Weller TCP for decades now. Love 'em.

Graham

Reply to
Eeyore

If you expect something from a $10 hardware store soldering iron that's made in China, you shouldn't be in electronics. The only people who use those are kids starting out in tronics and people who don't know anything about electronics.

If you want a good iron, get a Metcal (now OK). Metcal has soldering irons for under $200 which work very well for SMT and thruhole. My only gripe about the cheap Metcals is the tip temperature only goes up to 750 deg F. Gotta use my 20+ year old Weller iron for melting isulation off of magnet wire.

If you really want to see a classic soldering iron, get your hands on an American Beauty! You'll drop your shorts when you get your hands on that one.

Reply to
qrk

Now, you ARE trolling.

See ya! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

My dad had one, 150 W i think. It would solder 12 Ga. sheet metal. .

Reply to
JosephKK

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