DIY soldering tips

A lot of the engineers at my CPOE are replacing their Metcals with Weller WX2s (I think that's the number). I replaced mine four years ago (and the Metcal was only a year old). Weller makes nice stations and irons, now, too.

I think some of the Metcal tips used to (and maybe still do) fail due to the insulation failing on the little coil that induction heats the tip. Whatever the cause, they would stop getting hot enough to melt solder, and we were able to get Metcal to replace them free of charge, which was quite worthwhile because some of them are expensive. They would refuse to replace them if someone had dented the barrel by using pliers to change them rather than the silicone pad, and also if the tip plating had failed e.g. due to being dropped and bent. I think that is basically consistent with what it says here:

My Metcal tips stopped failing since I started using brass wool pad instead subjecting them to thermal shock of wet sponge.

Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see: Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs (among other things)

void _-void-_ in the obvious place