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| X-Tronic XTS-8080 -- Is it safe? |
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| EEVblog:
I have in the office a WEP brand hot air gun that literally melted, haven't investigated why. The problem with these cheap brands is that we are dealing with heating elements that get hot. If the control loop fails or whatever they can race out of control and melt and potentially catch fire. But I don't recall ever hearing of a soldering iron that failed and started a fire? The hot air gun you are always there when using it, so not a problem. Irons tend to get left on and unattended though, but again, the odds of it failing and catching on fire are pretty remote. Most likely scenario by far is that it simply fails because of some shoddy manufacturing defect. Xtronic aren't a completely no-name Aliexpress thing, they are at least a US company and carry spare parts etc. So I probably wouldn't worry, I'd be stunned if there was anything inherently dangerous with it. |
| chickenHeadKnob:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on October 30, 2018, 01:09:10 am ---I have in the office a WEP brand hot air gun that literally melted, haven't investigated why. The problem with these cheap brands is that we are dealing with heating elements that get hot. If the control loop fails or whatever they can race out of control and melt and potentially catch fire. But I don't recall ever hearing of a soldering iron that failed and started a fire? The hot air gun you are always there when using it, so not a problem. Irons tend to get left on and unattended though, but again, the odds of it failing and catching on fire are pretty remote. Most likely scenario by far is that it simply fails because of some shoddy manufacturing defect. Xtronic aren't a completely no-name Aliexpress thing, they are at least a US company and carry spare parts etc. So I probably wouldn't worry, I'd be stunned if there was anything inherently dangerous with it. --- End quote --- There appears to be two common failure modes with the wand type hot air unit. The first is as you allude to; the wand which has the heating element overheats, either the fan fails or control loop ect. The second mode is a triac which is always under power even when the unit is "off" failing short in the main box. That is likely the cause of the russian workshop fire in the video linked. You can greatly mitigate both risks by only powering the unit when you are using it and in attendance. I have one of the cheapest of these 858D clones and always remove the plug completely when not using it, no way am I turning my back on that bastard. |
| JJST:
I appreciate all of the responses. After a bit of an argument, I believe that my brother at least understands that I'm not trying to sabotage his efforts; just that I am concerned about safety. (that video of the fire-starter was helpful in that regard). As I mentioned before, I suppose what really unsettles me is the fact that as of now -- other than my brother -- no-one has ever looked at the insides of this model (or any X-Tronic station) from what I can tell. And as two people mentioned here, one thinks the inside at least looks decent, the other says it is total crap. And sadly, now that my brother opened his, there's no possibility of a return or refund. Though I still don't think he's totally convinced. Chalk it up to a learning experience I guess, and maybe he supplied a new entry on the journal to the folks here. Just wish someone would actually do a real review/teardown of this model to see what the quality is really like. I bought an extra ABC fire extinguisher this afternoon. Regards, --James |
| SpinDoctor:
what is there to even be convinced about? Some guy left his iron on and it started a fire, so dont leave it unattended (duh) Westfw thinks it looks ok, wraper thinks it doesnt, so its a wash. Dont waste peoples time. At least i opened the damn thing, which instead of being afraid. Just because something isnt a name brand doesn't make it garbage |
| wraper:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on October 30, 2018, 01:09:10 am ---I have in the office a WEP brand hot air gun that literally melted, haven't investigated why. --- End quote --- Good stations like Quick have thermal fuse next to the heater. So even if heater is powered without blower spinning, it won't catch fire. 861DS I have even detects that thermal response is abnormal and shuts down in a few seconds with beeping (I played with it a little bit). |
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