Crusty old tools! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: lowimpedance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 06:51:42 am
content: Found this crusty old adcola mains iron lurking at the bottom of a drawer at work today and after the, thought about sharing a photo.Looks like it comes with a fully rubber molded mains plug, a nice bakerlite handle and what plug in mains iron would be complete without the obligatory insulation burnsAlso gotta love the choice of mains cord size.I wonder how many more of these and other crusty horrors are still lurking in drawers and cupboards out there !.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 07:28:43 am
content: Crusty doesn't even begin to describe it.

author: setq
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 08:15:19 am
content: My first one was even worse. I bought it from a car boot sale here in the UK for 20p in the 1980s. It was old then, probably 1950's. It had waxed thread insulation on the outside of the cable and when I plugged it in it caught fire instantly. Then I bought an Antex iron.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 12:24:24 pm
content: You call that crusty? My Grandpa got into radio after WW1 and this is his iron. Still in full working order and electrically safe!

author: setq
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 12:30:44 pm
content: Could electrify that with a couple of jump leads and a car battery

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 12:54:32 pm
content: .... and drill a 1.8mm hole in the end of the tip, swage in a short piece of 2.5mm2copper wire, bend it 30 degs and file it to a hoof tip for SMD work!

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 02:50:52 pm
content: Those old irons may be ELECTRICALLY safe but then there is the open flame gas hotplate to heat them up....What's astonishing is to look at model magazines from the 30's and see the fine work done when that was the best sort of soldering tool available, and modern glues that can attach metal to metal would seem like an outright miracle. Yet somehow they did it.I did find an old iron of that type when cleaning out my Mom's house, but I've never had the (dis)pleasure to use one. The first one I used was fairly modern with even a nice spring strain relief coming off the handle and a heavy duty power cord. I think it was either 40 or 60 watts, so proper power, except the tip was much too large for fine work. I did manage to solder together my first computer with it though, and it still works (the computer), some 35 years later. All CMOS, too, and I didn't know the first thing about proper ESD protection. The instructions said to lay the board on Al foil, and to touch a water pipe before handling the ICs (board assembly was easy, everything was socketed), which I did, and amazingly it all worked fine.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 06:25:30 pm
content: Well, this is what I used today to replace a failing capacitor on an aircon control board. A little battered, a bit bent and held together with some epoxy and glue on the case breaks, but does the job perfectly. Solder is in the plastic tablet case, as I really do not like having dirty fingers from holding solder, and it will hold around 30m of wire in there, which lasts a long time. Replaced CB71 and the one on show is the old one, which dropped in value from a nominal 2uF to around 800n. I have been changing a lot of those 2uF caps recently, but they are cheap to buy.Funny thing is I have taken apart a dead Panasonic ceiling fan, which was made in 1984, and which finally dies from worn bearings. Capacitor in there is a nominal 1u8, and still is a 1u99 unit when I checked. 30 odd years of being on 5 days a week, and still it is as new, just like the non PCB ones in an old Amana aircon I removed a while ago ( alloy coils rotted apart, and the compressor was hanging in the air under the case held only by the wiring and the copper piping) which are still perfect.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2016, 10:22:53 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on September 14, 2016, 02:50:52 pmAn open flame gas hotplate would be comparatively safe. Grandpa had a Sievert petrol blowtorch for that purpose that was one f***ing dangerous beast. If you primed it incorrectly or turned it down too far then opened the valve again too quickly, the vaporisor would flood and it would act as a flamethrower, spewing a jet of burming petrol for five to ten yards or so depending on how recently you'd pumped up its tank. Not exactly suitable for indoor use unless you were working on a metal table and could rig a fireproof sandtrap to aim it at. Sticking the bit in the coal fire was actually a much safer option.He wasn't much into modelling but did build various cigar box and later pocket radios. I remember one built into a tin about the size of a thick paperback, which had a couple of wire ended valves, and a long decayed pair of 22.5V batteries for HT and a C cell for the filaments.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2016, 12:17:59 am
content: I know exactly the type of blowtorch you mean. Never had the pleasure of using one, thankfully. Did set a hunk of rusted metal on fire with an oxyacetylene torch once - well, not me but I helped. Was trying to salvage parts off an old portable cement mixer, tried various penetrating oils but the bolts were rusted fast, so my neighbor who owned the shop hauled out the torch to just burn the bolts off. Needless to say, pretty much any sort of penetrating oil you can think of is highly flammable and the whole thing went up in flames for a few minutes until it all burned off. Got the parts out in the end, and didn't set the weeds in which the hulk sat on fire, much.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2016, 12:41:31 am
content: The good thing about those petrol blowtorches is they put out a lot of heat. Sometimes you need that, and if you don't have an oxy-acetylene rig, or don't have a rosette tip for it, the gas torch is the cats pajamas.In the mid-70s those torches were still available in US hardware stores. Got one since I couldn't steal dads. Unfortunately, somewhere over the years water got into the tank and rusted little pinholes. No pressure, no torch (not to mention the fun of spreading petrol through the pinholes). Fortunately found a good used one at a yard sale a few years later. It doesn't get fired up often, but those times it sure is good to have.