54 year soldering iron.

[terry]

Modifying/repairing some fluorescent fixtures recently decided to use soldered connections and heat shrink tubing to minimise the bulkiness of the 'wire nuts' usually used.

Having not too long ago added some 230 volt outlets to the work bench to accommodate some 230 volt items brought back from the Middle East, dug out the 65 watt Weller soldering iron acquired back around the mid

1950s (probably in Liverpool?) and since its plug had already been modified to the appropriate NEMA (North American Electrical Manufacturers) 230 volt type, plugged it in.

It worked beautifully. Not only that but its 'rubber' wire/cord is still fully flexible and pliable without nicks or cracks. Unlike much more recent plastic wired devices (and extension cords) which have insulation which has dried out, lost its plasticizers and cracked. Also have a 25 watt soldering iron although had to replace the more plasticky wire on that some time ago. At 230 volts 25 watts is only about one tenth of an amp anyway!

In the intervening years have occasionally used these irons from a 115 to 230 volt step up transformer. Which also occasionally powered a Wolf electric drill bought on Paradise Street, Liverpool, in 1953 and has helped in the construction and wiring of two homes.

A testament to when quality meant something?

[Graham.]

It would put your post in context if you told us where you are now. (Canada according to your email addy)

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , terry writes

Paradise Street looks very different now...

[Roger]

The message

from terry contains these words:

I don't do much with an electrical soldering iron so I am still using the same iron I have had since my father passed it on to me some time after I left home in 1962. I don't know when it was purchased but it is probably even earlier than the mid 50s. It too is a 65W iron, manufactured by Henley, whoever they are. It still has a switched 13 amp plug but I can't recall whether than was the original plug.

[meow2222]

There are still many old Henleys that see use, though not normally as a person's number 1 iron. TBH I dont see any reason why modern plastic ones shouldnt survive as well, there isnt too much to go wrong. The elements are normally designed for very long life.

NT

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , [e-mail] writes

But the tips aren't. A good idea to get a couple of spare tips at the same time as buying a new iron.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

More to the fact they're rarely used.

I've got a 125 watt Henley Solon which dates from the '60s and still works. Although I don't use it - a small butane blowlamp is far more useful for that sort of thing and such things weren't available then.

I've also got a 25 watt one of the same make - which was meant for electronics. But is far too clunky for today's stuff. And in truth was then too.

My choice now is an Antex 24 volt 50 watt temperature controlled - small light and powerful with easily changed bits. Not that I do - I have four of them with the bits I commonly use and simply swap the entire unit. Although my home built station can cope with two anyway. Two sizes of bits covers the vast majority of my use.

[Frank Erskine]

Many many years ago I had a Henley Solon 25W iron. Unless you periodically removed and replaced the tip (held in by a split pin) it would seize and you'd have to replace the aluminium holder into which the element was fitted.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember terry saying something like:

Indeed. I was using a 1940's Black and Decker alloy-bodied drill a few years ago. Complete with W^D markings on it, too, so it might originally have been used in aircraft production or similar. Taking it apart for some cleaning, I was amazed at the internal condition of it - no cheap crap there.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There's always been a big difference in these sort of things designed for industrial use. Starting with the price...

[Andrew Gabriel]

My dad has one of those, and I used it through my teens. It's got an incredibly pitted bit which shedded great gobs of copper oxide whilst using it, but I still managed to learn how to do good soldering with it. The bit is quite loose in the holder -- it's probably not original, and may not be the right bit at all.

It was always hooked onto the wire stand for the glass funnel of a cona coffee machine, and the drip saucer was excellent for flicking excess solder into. (Didn't have wet sponges back then;-)

The other thing I remember about dad's was that it never had a plug on it, because whenever we were short of a plug, it got stolen from the iron. That meant it was always used by pushing the wires in the socket holes and plugging in some other plug on top to make the connections and hold it in.

[Owain]

Strange set of priorities. My iron's still go the MK Safetyplug I 'borrowed' from the table lamp at university 20+ years ago.

Owain

[Doctor Drivel]

You do not buy drills next to Harvey Nichols.

[Doctor Drivel]

And the average person could not afford one at all. Not even tradesmen either.

[meow2222]

I dont understand why most users today seem to think they cant file the tip once it needs it. The iron plating is to make it take longer to reach this point, but once it does need filing, doing so is not in any way a problem. You then have a copper tip, as people have been using perfectly successfully for the last century or so. Its a real non issue. You can file that sucker once every few years and it'll last decades.

NT

[meow2222]

Yes, today is no different. Our perception is skewed by the fact that old mil spec and industrial kit is affordable, whereas new stuff isnt for most of us. Plus the fact that most of the 1940s kit that died has been disposed of by now, leaving us with a high proportion of the better quality stuff.

NT

[Bob Eager]

My dad had one too, and I never got on with it. I was bought an Antex for my 14th birthday, and only replaced it a few years ago, with another Antex!

[Andrew Gabriel]

When a lump of copper oxide gets stuck to pin 4 of your octal valve base, it didn't much matter. When it gets stuck to pin

4 of your microprocessor, it will be shorting out pins 1 to 20 as well ;-)

[Chris J Dixon]

Then there was an electronics lab in which one of the less practical design engineers was working. On enquiring if there were any spare 13 A plugs for his soldering iron, he was pointed towards the SafeBloc. Some time later it was noticed that the SafeBloc was still on the bench, but it no longer had its plug!

Chris

[Andrew Mawson]

which

..hehe Frank yes been there and played that game. My Henley 25watt was a major step up from the one I heated on the gas ring to make my first crystal set (probably arround 1962!). Then Multicore 'savbit' solder was introduced which had traces of copper in so the bit wasn't dissolved into the solder. Now I use a Weller with the clicky bits.

AWEM