My faithful Solon 25w soldering iron has fallen to pieces after 50 years. :-( The metal shaft that holds the bit had rusted to the point where there was no strength.
I was using it to melt the bits of a bleach bottle top that stop you getting the top of easily.
Previous electrical uses have been to replace the capacitors on PVR PSU circuit boards.
Any suggestions for a replacement? I do already own a smaller soldering iron.
You cannot go wrong with an Antex. Can I suggest that you use it for solder ing only, crud from melted bottle tops will contaminate the iron making sol dering impossible. Getting the crud off is not easy and removing it can dam age the tips coating hastening its demise. A hot air gun might be better fo r your bottle tops, Aldi and Lidl often have a useful one on offer and chea p.
Richard
another old solon
NT
Antex bits are iron clad. I was never overly keen, so I'd imagine after a lifetimes use another Solon would be best.
This is advertised on ebay at £20-00
Weller 25W Soldering Iron - SP25LUK
They have about the same performance as the Solon although in my opinion the bits seize more easily.
I used to try to remove the bit each day to keep it free, but forgetting for only a day or so meant a seized bit. [ They were in use all day, every day though].
AB
Sometimes you can snip enough of the annoying bits off with sidecutters
That's the (one) beauty of the Antex design. The bits fitting over the shaft means they can always be removed easily. And that the shaft is SS.
I also love Antex, and have done a lot of soldering over the years, and used most makes.
The Antex just feels right to me. But of course may not to everyone.
But there are now cheap temperature controlled low voltage stations on the market for a lot less than a similar quality make. If money is tight, I'd probably go for one of those rather than a basic mains one of a 'better' make. Just make sure spares like bits are available. The Lidl ones which come up from time to time are probably ok.
I do still have a 25 watt Solon. In the bottom of the toolbox in case I'm desperate and away from home. But the last time I used it for anything serious was perhaps 40 years ago. And it was an outdated piece of Victoriana even then. Dreadful device with the only plus of being built like a brick thingie house. Must remember to change the plug on it from a
5 amp three pin to a 13 amp. ;-)
I'd be tempted to try that - it's likely to be far better than the antique, and you haven't wasted that much. You might be able to swap out the handpiece for another if supply of bits becomes a problem.
Weller or Metcal kit is nice, but you probably don't need that.
Then just buy a throwaway five pound job for the plastic stuff.
Theo
Solons have a rep for quality, in reality they're very long lived, but primitive and not great performers. Still, I don't have any problem soldering with them when I use one.
NT
Used Weller since I left Pye TVT in around 1972 !....
And somewhere ... there is still a Solon iron out in the shed well somewhere..
The tip on the 25 watt is more of a size for soldering large terminals or whatever, but certainly not modern electronics. Perhaps ok for tag strip construction, but not really PCBs.
But it doesn't have enough power for anything more than light work anyway
- you can get irons less than half the size with twice the power.
Old Solons are straight out of the 1930s-50s. For heavy work they do some ferocious irons, nowadays you can do a lot more with a small thermostatic iron.
NT
I'm not sure why I took to copper so much, I feel that the bit was more easily "wetted" though.
The Antex had better insulating properties incidentally, I had several Solons go short to the case in my time, never had that problem with an Antex though.
The good old days in the TV trade where the first action with a new iron would be to remove the earth!
Today's hi vis spotters would have an orgasm at the thought :-)
AB
I disconnected the earth some time ago. I did wonder if this explained why I did not get a bang when the metal shaft broke in half and I could see the heating element.
Yup, One found out about the ground faults when doing a dry joint hunt on a working TV.
I'll never forget the surprise at having a TV come to life once when I was replacing a part. The field engineer had linked the live of the mains switch, thus relying on the neutral only for isolation. My irons element had shorted to "deck", but the absence of the earth left me ignorant of the fact until I started soldering, wherupon the TV came into operation!
Transistors and IC's changed the approach a little though, when these delicate little blighters were introduced the grounds had to go back as live working and the few uA leakage across the element would easily see off any semiconductors.
Happy day's
You'd have thought with a posh name like that you'd have gone to a decent school?
In article , Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp scribeth thus
We used to service some Philips Monochrome sets that were very good at having their dropper resistors go open circuit so I used to have an instant heat gun and used a couple of plastic tape covered croc clips to hook it onto the mains fuse and chassis earth to solder the things in place whilst the power was on.
Never had a problem with it at all ever;!...
Alas no! I entered the TV trade after getting a few cse's with the rest of the uncouth rabble in the area.
The name is merely a ploy to impress my peers in the group and make any links between myself and my professional activities somewhat blurred.
AB was an email address I used to cc reports to, as I used various PC's in my line of work.
Now AB on it's own was crying out for addition and it was a toss up between Tarquin or Ignatious.
From time to time I've been tempted to go the whole hog!
If you feel the need to identify me then just send an email incidentally.
Regards
snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com
Or AB for short
I beg to differ :-)
Instant heat guns were very impressive out of the box, but I found that those I used were a little too enthusiastic about demonstrating Mr Ohm's current/ Voltage proportionality. I spent more time playing with the screws and replacing bits than soldering, although I hasten to add I was a bench engineer.
Oddly enough when doing field work one of the first devices I played with was what I assume was the last Phillips large screen mono TV, the one with the bridge reccy on the mains input.
Kneeling in the usual puddle of nicely earthed carped held effluent I went to swing the chassis down!! Shocking approach!!
AB
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