Dangerous soldering iron? Or am I to blame?

[MarkF]

I guess what you bought is similar to this? https://americanbeautytools.com/soldering-iron-3112/8/features

I think in general this kind of iron tends to run hot and will smoke flux. If it is pumping 50 W of heat into the tip all the time even when not touching the work then that 50 W has nowhere to go, so the tip will get hotter and hotter and hotter until the convective cooling in the air balances it. That means every part of the iron is potentially vulnerable to heat damage. If the iron is parked tip downwards (for example in a stand), then heat will tend to rise up towards the handle and affect any wires or connections at the handle end.

There is a place for irons like this in hobby and craft work, but probably not for electronics.

Gee.  For that kind of money get the Hakko FX888D for only $10 bucks more with the EEVBlog discount:
   https://www.tequipment.net/HakkoFX888D-23BY.html?v=0

[roberts.tech]

I guess what you bought is similar to this? https://americanbeautytools.com/soldering-iron-3112/8/features

I think in general this kind of iron tends to run hot and will smoke flux. If it is pumping 50 W of heat into the tip all the time even when not touching the work then that 50 W has nowhere to go, so the tip will get hotter and hotter and hotter until the convective cooling in the air balances it. That means every part of the iron is potentially vulnerable to heat damage. If the iron is parked tip downwards (for example in a stand), then heat will tend to rise up towards the handle and affect any wires or connections at the handle end.

There is a place for irons like this in hobby and craft work, but probably not for electronics.

Gee.  For that kind of money get the Hakko FX888D for only $10 bucks more with the EEVBlog discount:
   https://www.tequipment.net/HakkoFX888D-23BY.html?v=0

Yes this is the same iron but I do not remember the name being on the handle.
Yes it was also very difficult to keep the tip tinned. I only used the iron three times and I did my best to keep the tip clean and tinned. So I was surprised when they said I did not properly tin the iron. What was I supposed to do. It just kept burning the tin off and then burning the flux to the tip. When I saw this happen I would stop and clean the tip so I don't know what else I could have done.

[Specmaster]

Nothing you could do, what they were telling you was manufacturers speak for lets find away to not admit liability and chuck some doubt towards the ends user and batten down the hatches. 

[Ian.M]

Yes, it was a piece of s--t that should never have been sold to you in that condition.  Also it shouldn't have lost ground continuity before loosing the element circuit under *ANY* circumstances so maybe should never have been let out of the factory.

The only way to keep a high wattage firestick like that tinned is to drop the power when its in the stand to reduce the temperature so it doesn't oxidise the bit so fast.   The easy option there is a series diode to reduce the power to 50% + a switch to bypass it.   Another option would be a modded light dimmer for power control with a switch to change over between two pots, one for standby and the other for active use.   Ideally you rig a long lever microswitch to the stand so all you have to do is put it in the stand to go to standby power.

However as you can get a Hakko clone + a genuine Hakko element and bit for far cheaper it just doen't make sense to add open loop power control to a firestick, or even to buy a high wattage firestick in the first place.

Personally I use a 100W Weller soldering gun for the heavy stuff - transformer isolated bit + rapid heat + very little problem with burning bits, as you have to hold the trigger to power it.   I'd *never* buy a firestick over 25W.

[stj]

I guess what you bought is similar to this? https://americanbeautytools.com/soldering-iron-3112/8/features

somebody call the police, there is a robbery in progress!!!   

but seriously,
that piece of shit is not earthed.
i dont care how many pins they put on the plug, it has a "figure-of-eight" 2core cable on it. 

[Specmaster]

I guess what you bought is similar to this? https://americanbeautytools.com/soldering-iron-3112/8/features

somebody call the police, there is a robbery in progress!!!   

but seriously,
that piece of shit is not earthed.
i dont care how many pins they put on the plug, it has a "figure-of-eight" 2core cable on it. 

Actually you wrong, it is earthed (or it is supposed to be earthed) if you take the photo of it in the person's hand and enlarge it you will notice very clearly that it has what appears to be a flat 3 core, similar to the figure 8 cable but with 3 cores.

[stj]

someone needs to meter one.

[jmelson]

This iron does not have a control box. It plugs directly into the 120 volt outlet. It has a three prong plug.

How the hell did it NOT blow the breaker, then?  Are your outlets 3-prong and properly grounded?

Or, did the ground pin conveniently also fail on this iron?

Geez, I sure wouldn't want one of these in my shop!

Jon

[Specmaster]

Assuming the outlets are earthed then the oly way for it not to blow a breaker is if the earth in the plug was not connected.

[roberts.tech]

This iron does not have a control box. It plugs directly into the 120 volt outlet. It has a three prong plug.

How the hell did it NOT blow the breaker, then?  Are your outlets 3-prong and properly grounded?

Or, did the ground pin conveniently also fail on this iron?

Geez, I sure wouldn't want one of these in my shop!

Jon

According to the manufacturers own investigation the ground wire did come off inside the handle. Then the AC hot wire came off after that and touched the frame. The equipment I was working on was not connected to the power or ground but still somehow sparked when I touched the iron to a circuit board in the unit. It never did blow the breaker at this point and my bench is properly wired with ground. It finally did blow the breaker when I placed the iron back in my multi-iron holder because it conducted through one of the other irons grounded tips. It threw a lot of sparks and was quite scary then the bench went dark.

[Ian.M]

Without severe damage to the cord that actually cuts or breaks the ground wire somewhere between the plug and the iron, or severe physical damage to the point the handle is split and disintegrating, there is *NO* way that should happen, and if it can,  the design is not fit for purpose.

As Specmaster said back in reply#21:

... the ground wire should always be longest wire on a termination point so that is the last connection to fail if pressure is applied that causes wires to be come disconnected.

It just shouldn't be possible for a loose handle or loose cord grip to let the ground wire break or pull off before either of the live wires to the element.

[jmelson]

According to the manufacturers own investigation the ground wire did come off inside the handle. Then the AC hot wire came off after that and touched the frame. The equipment I was working on was not connected to the power or ground but still somehow sparked when I touched the iron to a circuit board in the unit. It never did blow the breaker at this point and my bench is properly wired with ground. It finally did blow the breaker when I placed the iron back in my multi-iron holder because it conducted through one of the other irons grounded tips. It threw a lot of sparks and was quite scary then the bench went dark.

WOW, just SCARY, that's all!  The iron handle/cord get a fair bit of wear over time, so a really great feature of the transformer-powered units with a base station is that the mains have one more layer of isolation to the tip.

Glad nobody got hurt, and no fires were started!

Jon

[macboy]

File a complaint :

https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/consumer-product-safety-commission

[stj]

too late, he gave back the evidence.
he should atleast have taken lots of foto's including inside first.

[metrologist]

And what should I do?

Buy Hakko FX888D or better FX951 and sleep easy.

[roberts.tech]

Thank you to everyone for all of your comments and suggestions.
I was not ready to spend the big bucks on a powerful station so I bought a Hakko FX601-2.
I have been using it now for a couple of weeks and it does everything I need and is very well made.
The tip is grounded. The handle is secured with screws and feels very solid.
Temperature is adjustable so I can lower it to help to keep it tinned.
I can apply some pressure on it I if I want and there is no flex on the handle so I know the wires will not come off inside.
It puts out a ton of heat so I can solder/desolder components on large ground planes. I work mostly with large power systems so I need a lot of heat.
It cost just a little more than the suicide iron. Thank you Hakko.

[Bassman59]

I guess what you bought is similar to this? https://americanbeautytools.com/soldering-iron-3112/8/features

I think in general this kind of iron tends to run hot and will smoke flux. If it is pumping 50 W of heat into the tip all the time even when not touching the work then that 50 W has nowhere to go, so the tip will get hotter and hotter and hotter until the convective cooling in the air balances it. That means every part of the iron is potentially vulnerable to heat damage. If the iron is parked tip downwards (for example in a stand), then heat will tend to rise up towards the handle and affect any wires or connections at the handle end.

There is a place for irons like this in hobby and craft work, but probably not for electronics.

Looking through their catalog, it seems as if they haven't had any new product ideas in 30 years. I suppose you should know what you're in for when their soldering tools are listed in order of power dissipation and not tip temperature!

[Terry01]

I think your 100% to blame i'm afraid!