[sdiy] Bad Weller soldering iron

[l.a.j.p. vermeulen]

I agree, Wellers are bad today, but not obly the irons but also the compagny
sucks.
I have one which is working for now 30 years and my new one is broken for
the third time in 3 years. Always the "FAMOUS" switch what is broken.
I send mails to the compagny, but no respond at all.

Bert



----- Original Message -----
From: "Batz Goodfortune" <batzman at all-electric.com>
To: "patchell" <patchell at silcom.com>; <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 3:35 AM
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Perverse Nature of Equipment...


> Y-ellow Jim 'n' all.
>          My heart goes out to you...
>
> At 12:31 PM 4/5/03 -0800, patchell wrote:
>
> >     I can't believe it...the heating element in my WTCPT Weller Iron
> >just died...just when I needed it not to fail me.  Doing some last
> >minute work on stuff I am going to bring to the below meet.  Similar
> >thing happeded last June...while finishing up the Mikado, my crimping
> >tool broke.  A new iron should be here on Wed...(fortunatly a
> >replacement iron is not overly expensive...I could have replaced the
> >heater for $15, but after looking at this thing, over 20 years old, it
> >seemed best to replace it, the plastic is cracking, the cord is showing
> >signs of wear...).
>
> I'm glad you could get replacement bits so cheap. That's what I would have
> done a few years back when mine gave up the ghost but it wasn't to be so.
> It was a Friday morning when it died. I'd planned on doing a lot of
> soldering over the weekend. I managed to find the only one available in
the
> whole frigging town and get them to send it to me by currier.
>
> Right from the start I didn't like the design of the new irons. The pencil
> was the same but having the holder separate to the transformer was really
> annoying. Every time I'd go to pick the iron up I'd drag the base and all
> with me and the transformer box it self is shaped stupidly so you couldn't
> even glue or strap the base to it. This thing cost me just under 200 clams
BTW.
>
> Maybe a year later I was working one day and it died again. Last time it
> was the element in the iron that died so naturally that's where I started.
> It took me some time to figure it out but eventually I figured I was
> chasing a red herring and opened up the transformer box.
>
> Inside I discovered a transformer which was only a bit over half the size
> of the original one. They'd scrimped on the transformer to the point where
> it was right on the edge of the current needed to run the iron. So to safe
> guard that, they placed this stupid "SOLDERED IN" in-line fuse between the
> transformer and the socket. For a start, the only way to get it out is
with
> a soldering iron. DER!!!! And of course it was the fuse that was blown.
>
> But it was not an ordinary 3AG or whatever. It was some damn cheap-assed
> proprietary thing and it had no rating stamped on it. The only other iron
I
> had to unsolder it was something a friend dumped on me at some point.
She'd
> bought it in Holland so it had the wrong plug. So first I had to modify
that.
>
> After looking at the fuse and all things considered, I just thought.
> "Bugger this!" And decided to crack out my old transformer. But there was
> one more snag waiting me. The cheap plastic proprietary plug on the thing
> had broken years ago. I replaced it with the only suitable (current wise)
> plug I had at the time. A 4 pin Jones plug. So in essence, what I had to
do
> was pull the connecting hardware out of the new one and put it into the
old
> one. Which meant even more modifications. Grinding, cutting and shaping.
>
> I have to say that the net result is brilliant. The transformer's in the
> base so the holder is stable. You don't have to fill the sponge with half
a
> liter of water just to keep it wet. And the transformer is pokey enough to
> handle the job.
>
> But here in lies my beef. Comparing the old one to the new one, they've
> scrimped so much over the years. The old one was/is ergonomically designed
> and had more than enough grunt so as it wouldn't fail. The new ones are
> right on the edge and really badly designed IMHO. The things are made so
> cheaply these days that I'm sure I'd never buy another one. Except, what
> else is there? Some cheap-assed Dick Smith or Tandy crap that's even
worse?
> And you can always get Weller tips. Chances are that 2 years down the line
> you won't be able to find anything that actually fits a Tandy or Duck
> Smuth's iron. (Which has been known.) And is there even anything better
out
> there?
>
> Considering the money I had to pay for the thing. And this was from the
> distributor here BTW. And their insistence that If I did want just the
> pencil it would only be 20 or 30 dollars less than the whole thing anyway.
> I feel considerably cheated.
>
> The old one has this nice big furgie flat pack in it. The new one has a
> transformer that even dick smith wouldn't put on the shelf. With just over
> half the VA. I feel that Wellers aren't what they use to be. And like so
> many other companies these days, are trading on the reputation they use to
> have. We buy Wellers thinking we're getting the best and most reliable but
> that just isn't the case anymore it would seem.
>
> Bad Weller. Naughty Weller. Grrrrr.
>
> Be absolutely Icebox.
>
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