This year I'll turn 52 (If all goes well)... so it will have performed its duties for 34 years now. Quite a testament to the Magnastat "technology"
My WECP-20 I bought 2nd hand in 2007 (And had seen a lot of use by the techs who used it in the field) gave up the ghost (probably the heater). What's up with the replacement heaters price! Daylight robbery. Glad I can depend on my W600.
My WECP-20 I bought 2nd hand in 2007 (And had seen a lot of use by the techs who used it in the field) gave up the ghost (probably the heater). What's up with the replacement heaters price! Daylight robbery. Glad I can depend on my W600.
Wow, 34 years! Not much stuff made these days will survive that long.
I have a Weller WS81 for about 20 years, still very happy with it.
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I have a Weller WS81 for about 20 years, still very happy with it.
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This cork-grip Ungar 776 was bought around 1966 (so, 54 years?) and passed through family. It was one of my two workhorses to the end of the 20th century when I cut-back my lead habit. The other had the "clean room", really just cheaper, polypropylene grip (real cork was getting scarce by 1972).
Both were upgraded with heaters and tips. This one now has the 45W Weller heater, and of course the good iron-plate tip.
The Vulcan 310W is not really mine, I'm just keeping it. The current Vulcan factory is an hour away and still makes heaters but not soldering irons. It is probably pre-1960.
Both irons work fine and have been used in recent years.
Both were upgraded with heaters and tips. This one now has the 45W Weller heater, and of course the good iron-plate tip.
The Vulcan 310W is not really mine, I'm just keeping it. The current Vulcan factory is an hour away and still makes heaters but not soldering irons. It is probably pre-1960.
Both irons work fine and have been used in recent years.
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The Weller TCP I bought in the late 1980s is still going strong as well. The lettering on the hand piece has worn off from years of use.
Tom
Tom
I have got a TCP-1 made up from bits that were saved on there way to the skip in the early 1980s.
It was many years before I got a couple of stations from a workshop that was closing down.
I still like the one with a wooden station and have carried on using it and doing repairs as needed.
The light blue handles are hard to get as a spare now.
It was many years before I got a couple of stations from a workshop that was closing down.
I still like the one with a wooden station and have carried on using it and doing repairs as needed.
The light blue handles are hard to get as a spare now.
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Not strictly related to Wellers (even though I own a WECP-20 from the early 80s) just the other day I complained to my wife that the buttons of my shirt are coming loose. They really should try make these last longer. The shirt is only 48 years old 😀
Wow...that is excellent quality. Washing machines and dryers these days are pretty hard on fabrics...(In the winters we use a dryer)
It is a sort of Finnish designer brand shirt from the 60s that is still being made.
Jokapoika shirt.
Unfortunately today they make them in the far east. Mine is even more retro-colored lime-turqoise. Originally the shirt belonged to my father-in-law. When he passed away I found it in his wardrobe. Needless to say my wife hates it 😀
Jokapoika shirt.
Unfortunately today they make them in the far east. Mine is even more retro-colored lime-turqoise. Originally the shirt belonged to my father-in-law. When he passed away I found it in his wardrobe. Needless to say my wife hates it 😀