> And how would you suggest doing that? I'm not talking about a "soldering
> station" here, which were still fairly pricey when I was buying this
> stuff.
> I'm talking about the ∗cheap∗ stuff. And a reduction in temperature was
> accomplished by placing a diode in series with the iron, running it at
> half
> power...
>
>
I see... well stations are not much more expensive (maybe 2x to 3x)
and they are worth the money.
You can easily build your own i reckon, it's just a triac and a few other
parts after all.
Supply it with rectified (and cap. filtered) AC and you get the necessary
"plus"
in power for enabling the control loop to work - so you can still use
your 110VAC heater.
Would be a nice project, only a few hours...
ST