Question about cheap WSP80 iron from ebay

[gamer388]

Hi,
I recently ordered a cheap WSP80 iron for my PU81 station that I bought on ebay too for 40€.
I received the iron last weekend and it works, heats up and stuff.

But something tells me that it it not a genuine Weller WSP80. Well I know what you going to say : for this price you don't expect the product to be genuine.
At first I looked for real fake Weller iron or station : didn't found one so my guess was that there were less fake than hakko but apparently I was wrong.
When I unscrew the barrel the tip fall off.
I remember that at my last work we used Weller WSP80 irons and I'm pretty sure that the tip was hold to the iron with a magnet.
This is very handy when you use stand like the WDH10 you just have to unscrew the barrel that secure the tip and then you put the hot one in the stand and stick the new cold tip to the iron.

My question is all genuine WSP80 from Weller have this feature where the tip is held by a magnet to the iron ?

The iron I ordered is this one : http://www.ebay.fr/itm/soldering-Iron-for-Weller-WSP80-solder-WSD81-WD1-WP80-soldering-rework-station/262176163055?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
You can find cheaper one but they are located in Hong Kong or China. Must be the same stuff though.

[voltsandjolts]

I have genuine WSP80 - there is no magnet, the tips 'fall off' as you describe.
Maybe you are thinking of the older style Curie point regulated irons which used a magnet to regulate temperature.

Edit: Ooops. I have WP80 not WSP80 

[nanofrog]

I do have a WSP80, and there is no magnet in them (WP80 has a slightly shorter tip-to-grip distance). Tips just butt up to the heating element, and are held in place by the tip retainer (metal tube w/ plastic wheel with an embedded nut).

FWIW, I purchased additional tip retainer tubes (faster tip changes & less likely to get burnt), and even though they're genuine, they're not identical (Bosnian v. German made). I'll let you figure out which one has the best fit, but both do their job. 

As per copies, I've seen there's LT series compatible tips coming out of China sold on eBay (example), but I can't recall if the packaging tried to insinuate they're genuine Weller or not.  Sorry the link doesn't have photos of the packaging, nor did I take any photos of that mine came in.

Plato also offers LT compatible tips made in Costa Rica if you need/want an alternative source. I've tried them both, and they do work.

[rbm]

I have a WRS1002 rework station with a WP80 soldering pencil and the tip is not magnetized, as others have pointed out. You could open up the iron to see if the circuit card is indeed original.  Looking at that ad you referenced however, I note that the seller included the description "Aftermarket SOLDERING STATION IRON for Weller WSP80" which leads me to believe that the iron is not genuine.  There are a lot of Weller clones for sale on the net so you might have snagged yourself one of these.  If you want a genuine WP80 or WSP80 iron, check out this Ebay reference ID 322464548875 (plug this ID into the Ebay search bar to bring up the ad).

[gamer388]

Ok thanks for the answers

[stj]

40Euro for a 24v iron without a controller - you where robbed either way! 

well,well,weller 

[gamer388]

40Euro for a 24v iron without a controller - you where robbed either way! 

well,well,weller 

Yeah I got the Weller PU81 soldering station for 40€ (used condition but works fine for me).
Weller irons are very good if you can afford them, amazing quality.
I don't think I was robbed because a brand new PU81 station and WSP80 iron cost way more than what I've just payed.

Of course you can find cheaper solution (like yihua or aoyue) if you want to spend less.