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By aleut
#96467
Hi, I inherited a Weller WTCPL soldering station a while ago:

Image

It was my grandpa's, and although I can't find a direct reference to it anywhere on the net, I'm guessing it's anywhere from 40 to 60 years old. It worked for some time, but sadly, it recently has stopped. When I was soldering the other day, I noticed the wand getting progressively colder, until it eventually wouldn't even melt solder. Now, it turns on (or at least the indicator light does), but the iron does not heat up. Is this fixable or do I need a new iron?
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By leon_heller
#96468
Check the element resistance, it's probably failed. I doubt if you will find a replacement if it's that old, but Weller might have them.
By riden
#96470
Some Weller irons as part of the temperature control have a small spring loaded magnetic plate that the tip attracts. I have seen binding in the movement of the plate over time. If your iron is one of these, unscrew the end of the rod and carefully clean the tip and make sure that the mechanism works smoothly. I used to slide the tip in and out to make sure that the tip could attract the magnetic plate.
By aleut
#96481
riden wrote:Some Weller irons as part of the temperature control have a small spring loaded magnetic plate that the tip attracts. I have seen binding in the movement of the plate over time. If your iron is one of these, unscrew the end of the rod and carefully clean the tip and make sure that the mechanism works smoothly. I used to slide the tip in and out to make sure that the tip could attract the magnetic plate.
This worked perfectly, thank you. I'm gonna buy a new tip so this doesn't happen again. :)

I used a toothbrush to clean it out.
By riden
#96529
Fantastic! If this is the first time this happened, your tip will probably last quite a bit longer, but it is always good to have a spare on hand.