Magnastat soldering iron bits users in the UK , here?

I cannot find any major suppliers of these bits anymore in the UK, despite the likes of RS selling magnastat irons. I have a few hundred NOS , plated copper long cone bits, not Weller or Cooper AFAIK, that take about 10 minutes to convert to magnastat , assuming you have the curie temp magnastat end caps from old bits hanging around, easily removed when you know how. If any interest I'll post more details, I'll not be around long enough to have used up a few hundred

Reply to
N_Cook
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Have the bits been removed from the RS catalogue recently? I bought some about a year ago and they had a good selection listed then.

A lot of good stuff has dissapeared from RS in the last few years, but most of it is still available from Farnell and their prices are comparable. (e.g. A lot of the transistors from the ZTX range, good quality 4mm plugs and sockets, plug-in DIL chips etc.)

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Reply to
Adrian Tuddenham

It was about a year ago I checked on wwwRS and they carried the bits then and also 24V heaters which I was actually checking for as the heater on mine is perhaps 20 years old. Who wants to use 240V magnastat irons in post_CMOS days, especially without stocking replacement bits, they do stock those though.

Reply to
N_Cook

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Reply to
Chris Jones

I've never seen a "Frenchman" style before but the tip diameter and general conicity? looks much the same as the popular long conical type

Reply to
N_Cook

As usual at least one of the pictures on the Farnell site is wrong, but if you get the manufacture's part number and look it up elsewhere you can see what shape it is. Those are the two kinds of Weller tips I use regularly, one of them is fine and conical and the other is a big fat one for large terminals. I do all my really fine soldering with a Metcal these days.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Jones

I got the nice man at Hedge End, England RS counter to check and no 24V bits or heaters. Just as well I checked my spares status, bits no problem as I can make my own brand ones easily, but what I thought was a spare element was a spare new switch. So I'll have to look into determining what W/W resitor/s to unwind or resistance wire, for 24V 50W, plus fire cement and strips of mica to make one. I cannot see me moving over to Metcal

Reply to
N_Cook

I dismantled a 240V soldering iron heater. All these years I thought it would disintegrate into a pile of mica but now I see the secret, should be no problem making one. How do you form mica into a tube, simple. You part score mm apart lines into the material, then it will roll neatly. This one accepts a magnastat tip so may even be reusable in itself with the right resistance wire for 24V 50W instead of this one of 4,000 ohm . Mica tube 6.7 and 5.8mm diameters as a former and 2 layers of wire with an interlayer of 10x35mm scored sheet of mica rolled up, terminals just clipped over the central core.

Reply to
N_Cook

I think the bloke at Hedge End might not be too good at searching.

Heaters are supposedly in stock:

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Admittedy not cheap, but your time winding one might be worth more.

Tips are in stock also, e.g.:

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Chris

Reply to
Chris Jones

I'm not sure its that simple and what is a " hoof ", not at all obvious the RS listings tally with Weller , especially the all important curie temperature settings, probably a lot of farting about then " This item is from our Extended Range This item is from our Extended Range

Orders for Extended Range items with a total value of less than

Delivery within 5-10 working days, subject to supplier's availability. For quantity discounts call "

Reply to
N_Cook

The items I gave you links to say in stock for next day delivery in the UK, and nothing about extended range, when I look at it. They are also available from Farnell if you have something against RS.

If you want to know the curie temperature, that is given by the number stamped on the back end of the tip. It is also the last digit of the Weller part number, e.g. for a PTDD7 tip, the number is 7, which means

700F, or 370 deg C. Also, 7 is the right temperature for normal uses. 6 is too cold and 8 is too hot.

If you want to know what the shape looks like, type "PTDD7 Weller" into google image search and you will get a lot of pictures of it. Likewise for the other tip styles.

Anyway it sounds like you don't want the answer to your problem to be simple, so feel free to make your own tips and heater, but don't complain that you have to. I am certainly able to buy them, and have them delivered tomorrow free of charge. Chris

Reply to
Chris Jones

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