Weller Soldering Irons

[Focker]

I love Weller. My introduction to Weller started over 45 years ago when I was blessed to use my dad's at the early age of 10-ish. My friend's dad had the big bulky pistol type. I felt sorry for him.

This just arrived. I had the beautiful blue Weller approx. 25 years ago. One day while in my garage talking to my dad and working on a '42 Willys transfer case...I looked over and my 5 year old son was cutting the cord to the iron into a hundred pieces. LOL. Good thing my dad was there...I might have gone nuts on my son.

I tossed my cheaper orange Weller (it's tucked away in a cabinet). I miss the blue color, but scored this on Amazon Prime Deals for $75 ($45 more for the blue accents...Nah).

 

[OzFin]

Nice unit !
Being able to control the heat beyond a single temperature or a high / low 2 temp model is a great asset .

 

[Focker]

I'm looking forward to using it. Crazy...When I was younger I was excited about Battlestar Galactica, Hot Wheels, J.I. Joe, He-Man, KISS

FF to 2026 and a soldering iron does it for me.

 

[nickmil]

I'm looking forward to using it. Crazy...When I was younger I was excited about Battlestar Galactica, Hot Wheels, J.I. Joe, He-Man, KISS

FF to 2026 and a soldering iron does it for me.

Try using a Power Probe sometime. Game changer for electrical diagnosis.

 

[Howard Eisenhauer]

I like the blue Weller iron for use in the shop, I also have a gun for the bigger stuff.

If those don't work then we're into the torches

The Weller doesn't cut it anymore for electronics thoughFor that I moved up to an Aoyue 2703 station.

 

[blevisay]

Needs to be blue , period!
I grew up with Blue Wellers, my dad was a Ham (WB4YFU) and an electronics engineer.
Fast forward I started working at an electronics manufacturer out of high school and worked for them for 20 years and all the irons were Blue Wellers.
When I started we did all hand soldering and through hole.
Matter fact , I brought in a wave solder machine and eventually a SMT operation.
I was expecting a blue Wellers when I opened this.

 

[Jeepenstein]

My friend's dad had the big bulky pistol type. I felt sorry for him.

I still use it.. Not that I do a lot of soldering, but it's handy..

 

[Jw60]

Leave it to the staff member to post in off topic instead of the tool shed... here's my old beauty. It's great for jeep stuff. Weller with 30w / 130w settings.

 

[Focker]

Leave it to the staff member to post in off topic instead of the tool shed

Ok...I moved it.

 

[timgr]

I like the Weller soldering pistols for automotive wiring.
Common and cheap on the used market.
Pencil irons are marginal for automotive wiring (not enough watts).
Add flux, good solder (Kester), hot iron, get in, touch the solder to the work, get out.

My current pencil iron is a Hakko, which seems to be the popular choice today for electronic hobbyists.

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX888DX-010BY-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B0D4DJW54S?ref_=ast_bl_cpl_dp

Replaced an aqua-blue Weller which just stopped after only 20 or 30 years of service.

 

[Focker]

WOW...I am impressed. I fired up my new Weller for the first time tonight. I set the temp to 650F and it took approx. 18 seconds to reach temp. CRAZY fast! My orange Weller station at max dial (temp unknown) would take a minimum of 8-10 minutes to reach a worthy temp.

BTW...My portable iron is a Bernzomatic ST500 Cordless Soldering Iron powered by fuel...It's pretty hot.

 

[Tralehead]

Where were all you guys today when I was soldering new batteries in to my Dremel Stylus? I ended up using my Portasol butane (now sold under the Weller name).

 

[Howard Eisenhauer]

The Weller doesn't cut it anymore for electronics though

Yet once again I'm proven incorrect.

By myself this time.

After only 35 years of operation the bathroom tube went on the fritz- it's been sporadically losing vertical for the last year or so but giving it a good smack (as is applicable to electronic devices of that era) was enough to get the full 2D experience back. The other day it went into 1D mode permanently so out it came. The only space I had available was the kitchen table so I set up shop & started tap testing; I found an twitchy IC in the vertical section so out came the board & I had a close look-see.




And sure e'nuff I found a cracked joint-



The rest of them didn't look too healthy either so I hit them all with the Weller & some fresh solder.

Looks a lot better now & no more singular horizontal line on the screen






So the Weller, within the constraints of my skill & an abused chisel tip bit, did O.K.

So much for Planned Obsolescence.