Hi.
What is the optimal copper wire gauge to replace the factory tips ? Cannot remember if awg 12, 14... other ? Too thin heats up to much and fails early, too thick and does not deliver the temperature... Anyone remembers ?

 

Oft forgotten in the Weller Gun is the first and second pull of the trigger.!
The first pull is the highest heat, I wish it was reverse!

 

Oft forgotten in the Weller Gun is the first and second pull of the trigger.!
The first pull is the highest heat, I wish it was reverse!

Yours must be backwards to mine. I don't know which model but mine is, first pull is low power.

Edit: I had to look it up. Mine is Model 8200 100/140 WATTS, Kingston Ontario.

 

This seems to be the standard..

 

Yours must be backwards to mine. I don't know which model but mine is, first pull is low power.
Edit: I had to look it up. Mine is Model 8200 100/140 WATTS, Kingston Ontario.

All the web searches seem to say otherwise?
e.g.

 

Take a caliper gauge and measure the width and heigth of the tip wire. If you lived in a country with SI units, a simple multiplication would give you the result. So you have to convert the cross section into AWG.

 

BUT: could it be that the tip is not made of pure copper but made of some alloy which has a higher resistance so that the power is only dissipated inside the solder tip and not in the whole secondary winding of the solder gun? A solder gu is a simple transformer with a primary oil consisting of many windings and a secondary coil consisting only of 1 winding: the solder tip and its fixture.

 

All the web searches seem to say otherwise?

That's strange. Every Weller soldering gun I have ever used has always been low power on the first click.
I had to double check my soldering gun. I even put it on a AC current meter to check.
Sure enough, it draws 0.8 A @ 120 VAC on the first click and 1.2 A @ VAC on full trigger.

 

A solder gu is a simple transformer with a primary oil consisting of many windings and a secondary coil consisting only of 1 winding: the solder tip and its fixture.

Also Basically describes a spot welder, be intersting to see if a weller could be adapted, pressure would have to be maintained at the points, however, during the weld.

 

Oft forgotten in the Weller Gun is the first and second pull of the trigger.!
The first pull is the highest heat, I wish it was reverse!

I think the idea is that you do most of the work with the low-heat setting (the high-heat being primarily used to quickly heat the tip, but also for particularly husky jobs). It's easier to focus on putting the tip where you need it for the job if you aren't having to also make sure that you keep just enough tension in the trigger to keep it in the first position. Conversely, if you are doing work that requires high heat, it is more likely that fine control of the tip position isn't as critical.

 

Sure enough, it draws 0.8 A @ 120 VAC on the first click and 1.2 A @ VAC on full trigger.

I wish mine was the case, it is awkard to maintain the first pull!