Anybody know Weller soldering guns?

[Bob Cleek]

I've got a couple of Weller soldering guns that appear to be "new in the box" but have been stored for years. They didn't work when I got them and they still don't. One is the standard Weller 120 watt gun and the other is the heavy duty dual heat 240 watt model. I needed to do some soldering and decided to check them out one last time before I threw them out. (Can't stand to part with a tool, even a useless one.)

Both seem to have the same problem: no heat. The heavy duty one gets a bit warm, but not enough to melt solder. The other... nada. The lights on both guns turn on when the triggers are pulled. When I hold the bodies of both guns up to my ear, I can hear a coil hum. I've removed the copper tips, cleaned the connections and replaced them, making sure the contact was good. Nothing. I checked the Weller website and couldn't find anything useful for troubleshooting or the like.

Has anybody had this problem? More importantly, does anybody know how to fix it? It isn't like they are really super expensive items, but I'd hate to throw away a couple of like-new soldering guns if it were a simple fix.

[ssor]

The weller soldering guns are based on a transformer with just one turn in the secondary. They were always fussy about the contact between the tips and the binding nuts. Often we would loosen and retighten the binding nuts 2 or 3 times before we got good heat. There isn't much to go bad with them as long as the tips make good contact.

[Murf247]

I have had a lot of trouble with my solder gun as well. The screws that hold the tip in place must be really tight. I mean really tight. I gave up on the solder guns and have solder iron. I love it. It is a Weller. One thing I can say is spend some money for a modle above the hobbist version.

[JTA]

Remove the element, clean off the oxidation. And as already pointed out, when you re-install it, tighten the nuts. After it begins to warm, tighten them again

jack

[Concordia...41]

The weller soldering guns are based on a transformer with just one turn in the secondary. They were always fussy about the contact between the tips and the binding nuts. Often we would loosen and retighten the binding nuts 2 or 3 times before we got good heat. There isn't much to go bad with them as long as the tips make good contact.

Well that might explain why my Weller Hot Knife is more like a Weller Luke Warm Knife. Only the loan of a friend's Engle kept me from loosing my patience and the Weller from accidentally falling overboard... :mad:

[Bob Cleek]

Yea, I can't see what could go bad beyond that connection, so long as it's getting power. The back end of the coil only puts out about 1 volt at high amperage, I think. Come to think of it, that low voltage may well be the reason the connections are so sensitive.

Okay... I'll clean the ass end of the tip contacts again and play with the tightening nuts. It sure seems like everything else about them is working just fine. I'll let you know the results! BTW, both of these are the old style Weller guns with the better compression nuts holding the tips on, rather than threaded set screws like on the newer ones, so I'd prefer to hold on to them.

[paladin]

I sure hope that you're not using those things for anything electronic, because you may permanently destroy the electronics. Those were not designed for electronic work...

[ssor]

Chuck, they were great on vacuum tube circuits since we pulled the tube anyway. I wouldn't get them any where near a transistor or SCR.

[paladin]

vacuum tubes come under electromechanical injuneering.....

[ssor]

I wonder if todays students would have as much difficulty making the transition to vacuum tubes as I had going to solid state?

[Bob Cleek]

Good point for all to know, Paladin. I cut my Weller soldering gun teeth on CK722's and 2N107's, back when we had to clip a heat sink on the pigtails to keep from frying 'em. Then they made these little sockets they'd plug into so you could solder to the socket instead of the can pigtail. Long time ago! I wanted the guy to use for assembling brass railing on a ship model I was restoring for somebody. I'd have used a small torch, but I was planning on doing the rail repair without having to remove it from the model, which a torch would require.

These days, soldering electronic components and printed circuit boards has become far more technical. That's for sure.

[paladin]

I wuz an old analog rf injuneer.....we had mention of such things as transistors the last semester of school, and the only models on the market were Raytheon CK722's, Ge 2N107's and 2N170's the npn/pnp models, the CK722 was a pnp....but my favorite was phase locked loops...we had a vague mention of the technology in a 1 or 2 day class with the concept, and I was fascinated....and those became my single point focus for other things....When I started designing I concentrated on PLL detectors and signal generation circuits.

[Bob Adams]

I wonder if todays students would have as much difficulty making the transition to vacuum tubes as I had going to solid state?

I had no trouble transitioning to solid state, but to play with as a hobby, I still love vacuum tubes!