Maintenance & Repair of shop tools & bench instruments

[DrGonz78]

How about ditch the circuit bending thread and rename it Maintenance & Repair of shop Tools & Bench Instruments.

[Enzo]

That would be improvement.

I think ther is the notion that if we name a special section for it, that magically all kinds of content will appear. I doubt we will get any more traffic on the topic than we do now. We ALREADY have fun talking shop, we just don't have to go "over there" to discuss things. In the past nothing has stopped us from discussing test gear, discussing running the bench, discussing running the business, and so on.

Pickup winders DO get it, they have a ton of content.

[big_teee]

How about ditch the circuit bending thread and rename it Maintenance & Repair of shop Tools & Bench Instruments.

That sounds like a good alternative to me.
Someone needs to PM and refer this to tboy!
T

[eschertron]

When I discovered MEF, and all the content was new to me, I used the forum directory navigation to 'tunnel' into the topics I wanted to read about. After a few years, there's not so much that hasn't at least been skimmed over, and I use it less. I think it would benefit the newcomer to have a forum/subforum topic for tools and test gear (and building and repair of), if that's what they've come to learn about.

And IMHO the content makes the discussion area, not the other way around. Let the folks who want to start this area have a stab at it, post a few threads and see if it's viable. A few minutes of a moderator's time. Can only tboy create a new subforum heading?

[drewl]

I'm always having to repair my Weller soldering irons.

I used to have repair kits that came with a new element and magnet switch, but I ran out of them.

They get way too hot, no regulation, so I run it off a variac to adjust the temperature.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I'm always having to repair my Weller soldering irons.

I used to have repair kits that came with a new element and magnet switch, but I ran out of them.

They get way too hot, no regulation, so I run it off a variac to adjust the temperature.

I've been using the Variac on soldering irons since college. Back in the days dinosaurs roamed the earth. OK, don't believe that, how about Spiro Agnew?

The Weller model I favor has a handle into which fits a choice of screw-in heater elements about 23, 35 and 45 watts. Seldom use any but the 35 watt element. After about a year of average use I find it becomes weak and have to replace it. At first I was flummoxed, how can a soldering iron heating element go bad? Well, if I forget to switch off, and let it run all night a couple times... Maybe more than a couple... Now I just keep a spare available, and swap in a fresh one if I sense the iron's not heating as it should.

[nevetslab]

I'm always having to repair my Weller soldering irons.

I used to have repair kits that came with a new element and magnet switch, but I ran out of them.

They get way too hot, no regulation, so I run it off a variac to adjust the temperature.

I like DrGonz78's idea "How about ditch the circuit bending thread and rename it Maintenance & Repair of shop Tools & Bench Instruments?"

And, since I'm part way into the maintenance of my Weller EC2002A Base Unit, with the Read value NOT in agreement of the SET value in the digital readout with the EC1201A Iron attached, I'll post that thread and get onto the particulars.

It's been some time since I used any of the NON-regulating Weller irons (or Ungar's for that matter). I hadn't thought of using one of my spare Variac's for controlling the temp on my higher temp American Beauty irons, but then, I only fire those up when I need to do some serious soldering/desoldering onto a chassis.