Weller MLR-21 substitute

[shakalnokturn]

I've been using Wellers for the past 2-3 decades without much trouble.
I have two WECP-20 stations, two LR-21 irons, and up to a week ago a MLR-21 iron, that was my favorite one, very convenient for SMD.

The MLR-21 has died with an open heater and of course is now obsolete, although Weller do make spare parts available for some time I find they are never cheap nor available anymore when needed.

I've been looking into used MLR-20/MLR-21 irons but find the cost a little high for something that may be close to end of life.

The Weller WSP-80 could be an option, if I understand right the thermocouple has a similar range only the plug would need swapping to fit the WECP-20 stations.

Can anyone give me advice on similar size or smaller irons that would adapt easily (changing plug) to my stations even other than Weller branded ones.

I have just missed a cheap used Pace TW-50 station with TD-100 iron that could have been the size I'm looking for.

The ERSA i-CON Nano/Pico look good too although I can't figure the difference between them, don't get the point in having a PC interface or microSD card for temperature presets and fear having a corrupt firmware one day due to aging SMPS trouble. (Nice iron, crap station...)

Please give me your opinions on soldering pencils, new or used my price limit is around 150$, it has to have adjustable regulated temperature.

[shakalnokturn]

I finally went for this WSP-80:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192518310953

Described as "aftermarket" but also "genuine" sounds a little contradictory really.
It arrived in good shape but I do have serious doubts it is genuine, the LT tip definitely does not look original, it looks like the one here:
https://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/253666

The iron itself has a silicone cable but the individual wire insulations are PTFE.
The overall cable diameter is lower than on the original MLR-21 or LR-21 I have.
I has expecting to swap the plug from the dead MLR-21 to fit the WECP-20 station but the plug on the WSP-80 appears to be molded, can anyone with a WSP-80 from a trusted dealer confirm this?

I ended up swapping the whole cable to fit the new iron, I'm aware that with 6.3ohm cold resistance for the heater I'm overloading the station a little but other than that things are working well for now.

[chryslerdude]

I finally went for this WSP-80:

I ended up swapping the whole cable to fit the new iron, I'm aware that with 6.3ohm cold resistance for the heater I'm overloading the station a little but other than that things are working well for now.

Hello sir, and thanks for sharing your endevors with finding a MLR-21 replacement.

I also have troubles finding a replacement MLR-21 (bad cable), for my WMD3 station, which has followed me from workplace to workplace, (or vice versa  ), since the early 1990´íes, and finally, I saved it from being scrapped, and brought it home..

It has seen good use, so I keep on shortening my cable, and I am not particularly interested in paying the inflated prices for the last remaining original / unobtanium cables, and would love to hear, how your station kept up with the extra load from the WSP-80... (or what ever happned since 2018 :-) )  I found the (copy) WSP-80 on AliExpress at a resonable price, and even with a very well detailed postive review, so unless you warn me not to, I will go ahead and buy that for now!

Thnx in advance.. 

[shakalnokturn]

The iron I bought then is still working, nothing bad has happened to the station since either and it has seen quite some hours of use.

The other thing that goes wrong once in a while on my Weller stations is the on/off switch contacts charring.