I recently purchased an American Beauty 'Little Dandy' soldering iron. I took it out of the box and noticed a couple things. The handle did not appear to have any means of securing it to the frame of the iron and it was put on crooked so it looked bent. I decided that's just the way it was and started to use it.
It was a 50 watt with a large tip that I bought to work on pc boards with large traces and ground planes. The tip runs very hot and it was hard to keep it tinned especially with the flux I was using.
I had only used the iron about three times when THE TIP BECAME ELECTRIFIED TO THE MAINS VOLTAGE, 120VAC!
It sparked on the equipment I was working on even thought the equipment was not connected to any power source.
I have a metal soldering iron holder where I can park three irons while working. When I went to put the American Beauty back into the holder it sparked again because it conducted through the other irons grounded tips. I measured the tip with my Fluke and it had 120 volts on it.
I returned the iron to American Beauty and they blamed me. They said I did not keep the tip properly tinned and therefore had to put too much pressure on the iron, bending the handle back and forth until the wires inside came undone. They did give me a refund but would not take any responsibility for what I think is a defective and dangerous product.
I have worked on equipment like this for more that forty years. I have used all types of soldering irons. Not one of them has ever come apart like this and I have not recently changed my soldering methods. I have a Weller, an Unger, and a Radio shack iron all used for the same purpose and they are over twenty years old and have never failed.
So who is to blame? And what should I do? I fear someone may be killed by this iron.