I have this soldering iron which i inherited with temp control etc. i javent used it much but when trying to desolder some burnt capacitors, it struggled to get up to temp.

i believe 375 to 450 C is good for deaoldering (quickly). This was struggling to reach 330c although the max set temp is 480c.

any advice on how i can repair it? Is it likley the heating element (dont think its the temp sensor since it wasnt melting the solder)?

also im not sure of the brand and heating elements generic?

any tips and advice would be great, thanks!

 

well... what have you tried? Did you try it in another outlet and with no power cord or extension of any sorts?
is the tip secure? did you check heater element / measure resistance?
did you open it and take a look inside? did you open controller? anything melted/broken/lose or suspicious inside?

 

Ah, i see, seems i have some homework to do!
Thanks for the tips Panic Mode, i will come back shortly with anawers…

 

If the heating element and temperature sensor seem fine, the issue might lie in the internal electronics.

 

How big is the solder joint you can not unsolder? If it is a fairly large terminal, or on a ground plane, you will need to use a broader tip. A small conical tip is good for fine work, but just can't distribute enough heat on a large joint.

 

Welcome to AAC.

First, if the iron can actually maintain the temperature, then I would use a maximum temperature of 350°C for lead-bearing and 400°C for lead-free solders.

Second, your tip is much too find for general desoldering, but you can try to lay it on its edge to get more surface area. In the photo it appears to be oxidized and not tinned, that is, coated in solder which is critical for heat transfer.

 

How big is the solder joint you can not unsolder? If it is a fairly large terminal, or on a ground plane, you will need to use a broader tip. A small conical tip is good for fine work, but just can't distribute enough heat on a large joint.

Ok, it is fairly large, around 2 mm circle, i am using the whole side of the tip though…

 

Welcome to AAC.

First, if the iron can actually maintain the temperature, then I would use a maximum temperature of 350°C for lead-bearing and 400°C for lead-free solders.

Second, your tip is much too find for general desoldering, but you can try to lay it on its edge to get more surface area. In the photo it appears to be oxidized and not tinned, that is, coated in solder which is critical for heat transfer.

Thanks for the temp tips and also Re tinning, will do so!
i am using the whole side of the tip.

 

There is definitely something wrong, opening up the handle there is heat damage from (i think) the live wire…

I seperates the wires and commected again and the live wire where the heat wrap is damaged shoots up in temperature (checked with separate thermocouple).

so i guess the element is cooked??

I would test for resistance but i dont know which other wire is the neutral, black and ?? I tried getting a resistance reading from the end of the plug but none of the combinations i tried gave a reading…

 

So seems it was a bad connection on the live where it was heating up (see photo).

I resoldered it and seems to have sorted it out, temp reaches 400c now.

will keep an eye on it see how it works thru time…

 

OK, it looks likeyou found the problem and repaired the problem. Very good.
Be very careful cleaning the tip. One of my jobs a while back, the soldering tool tips were a thick plating over some strange material that could not be tinned. It might have been ceramic, because it was as hard to tin as a ceramic material. So the replacements at several dollars each were needed to be purchased. So for quite a while I used the Radio Shack $4.95 solder iron and a Variac to set the heat. And I could make my custom tips of #10 copper wire: stretch it straight, thread it 3/8 inch, cut it off and put it in the drill press and with a file get whatever profile I wanted. For a lower heat range make it a half inch longer.