Oh dear: shouldn't have touched that 'calibration' screw...

[aptquark]

yea...sorry I just deleted my post after I saw you tried that...WOW you're quick on the draw!

[AndrewT]

I never thought of testing the calibration of my soldering iron read out.

That's another bit of homework.

[lorriman]

Originally Posted by aptquark

yea...sorry I just deleted my post after I saw you tried that...WOW you're quick on the draw!

Ho ho. I've got my laptop setup with push imap notification. So when the diyaudio notification email comes through I know within a few seconds.

[Spiny]

My temp controlled iron seems to use a thermocouple to measure temperature - I can use a spare element as a thermometer with the temperature option on my meter instead of the standard unit.

If the unit is anything like mine then the display reads the current element temp when switched on so it may be possible to calibrate by checking the displayed temp against the current temp with the heater element disconnected. If its a ceramic enclosed element then it could be put in a pot of hot water along with a thermometer.

[lorriman]

Originally Posted by Spiny

My temp controlled iron seems to use a thermocouple to measure temperature - I can use a spare element as a thermometer with the temperature option on my meter instead of the standard unit.

If the unit is anything like mine then the display reads the current element temp when switched on so it may be possible to calibrate by checking the displayed temp against the current temp with the heater element disconnected. If its a ceramic enclosed element then it could be put in a pot of hot water along with a thermometer.

Not a bad idea. I might do that if I get one of the digi ones one day. Currently I've just a dial.

[Pano]

I think the solder melt idea is great. Have you tried it yet?

[5th element]

Originally Posted by Pano

I think the solder melt idea is great. Have you tried it yet?

I agree, I think it's a great idea too. You can get some high content tin solder that melts in the range that the OPs soldering iron will probably run at.

[dchisholm]

Originally Posted by Pano

I think the solder melt idea is great. Have you tried it yet?

That sounds like it has the potential for good accuracy, but may be a little finicky to implement in practice.

My wife has a couple of cooking thermometers for candy making and deep-fat frying with graduations up to 200C/400F or a bit more. If you trust the calibration of such a thing . . . they could be used to measure an oil bath at several different temperatures, and compare to the readout on your soldering station with the iron's tip immersed in the oil. (Two or three calibration points will give you a feeling for the interaction of gain and offset errors, even though only one of these parameters has an associated adjustment.) I recall being told once that synthetic automotive engine oil boils above 450F, so it might be a better candidate for the oil bath than common cooking oils.

Dale

[5th element]

Originally Posted by dchisholm

That sounds like it has the potential for good accuracy, but may be a little finicky to implement in practice.

My wife has a couple of cooking thermometers for candy making and deep-fat frying with graduations up to 200C/400F or a bit more. If you trust the calibration of such a thing . . . they could be used to measure an oil bath at several different temperatures, and compare to the readout on your soldering station with the iron's tip immersed in the oil. (Two or three calibration points will give you a feeling for the interaction of gain and offset errors, even though only one of these parameters has an associated adjustment.) I recall being told once that synthetic automotive engine oil boils above 450F, so it might be a better candidate for the oil bath than common cooking oils.

Dale

I would approach this idea with caution as thermometers will explode and violently sometimes if their maximum temperature is exceeded. The other issue is that soldering irons aren't amazingly powerful and if you ask it to heat up something inside a container you will end up with quite a different result then you might expect. I once tried this with heating a small amount of water and was quite surprised at how long it took, measuring the waters temperature wouldn't have helped me a jot! But don't let this stop you from trying.

[Pano]

I thought his iron didn't have a readout, just a dial - right?