Weller WTCPT issue

[jelle]

Hi guys,

My backup Weller WTCPT is heating up, and is sometimes hot enough to work, but it mostly is just not hot enough to melt solder. It does click.

Any pointers where to look?

Thanks!

jelle

[Ken Moon]

If it's a spare WTCPT, did you swap irons to make sure it's the base unit?

Did you try a new tip?

The plug for the iron is a little flimsy - try taking off the iron and cleaning the pins on the plug with a pencil eraser.

Try your best to also clean the female pins on the base unit (I wrap a <cough cough> rolling paper around the tip of a toothpick and dip it in alcohol (vodka works in a pinch), and plug it back in.

[jelle]

Will try that and report back. Jelle

[jelle]

Retensioning the female connector at the base did the trick. I cleaned the male parts with a glass fiber pen.

Thanks, that was a simple fix.

[Bob S]

That connector is a PIA but the base & pencil are great.
I replaced the connector with a cable gland & spliced the wiring in the base unit.
Still my favorite magic smoke maker.

[Alan0354]

I just bought a brand new one this week. My 32 years old weller that use the same tip but is a stand alone unit ( the pencil holder on top of the power unit) lasted until last week. It was my stupid mistake. For a while, I had to keep changing tips because I had to use a big tip to solder onto the chassis. I had no patience to let the tip cool down and just drop it on the wet foam. Then I just put the wet tip back into the pencil. After a while, it started to oxidize and the tip stuck in the heater element. I broke the heater element by yanking the tip out!!! The heater element cause $32 and I really don't want to spend more money on a 32 years old unit. So I just bought a new one..

So hope you guys learn from my stupid mistake, never drop the hot tip onto the wet foam to cool it down quicker. This station could have lasted for many more years if I had not done that. Good thing is the new station use all my tips I stocked up.