Quick fix for a loose iron in the (938D style) soldering station - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Joules
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2013, 03:02:50 pm
content: Hi guys,Having just bought one of these irons I found out how loose the iron is rattling in its stand. So time to bodge a fixJust get yourself some stiff wire, single core mains cable in my case and bend a support as in the photo to hold the iron in place. Now the iron can sit and not try to slide out of the stand.Job done and took about 5 mins.One last pic showing how the wire should look in the stand.

author: staxquad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 03:10:46 am
content: I ended up with the same kind of stand with my Kada air station. The stand doesn't hold and it's even worse when the soldering iron's chord is stiff.If the Kada was my sole soldering iron, I would have made a new stand for it, but my other 3 irons work better, so to storage it goes.Made two stands for my two stand alone soldering irons. The soldering iron's metal parts don't touch the stand, only the iron's insulation touches, so no loss of heat heating the stand. Used hard silver solder for the holders (needs acetylene torch, higher melt temp than 480*C), and used plumbing solder for the pots. I know a plumber who gives me used copper pipes of all kinds of diameters. I open up large pipes for flat stock.pictured, the Yihua 939D stand (works well, all metal) and my two stands

author: Joules
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 09:01:43 am
content: I like it.... I use alot of copper here too. Nice to work with on both a small english wheel and a set of bending rolls. The bus bars in my solar distribution panel are flattened copper pipe.

author: onlooker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 01:26:38 pm
content: These are mine DIY/improvements on iron holders. The left is really old and the red irons are from dollar store. The box is made of a triac light ctrl switch. The right is a newer one and the original holder was overly loose. When someone wants to borrow my iron without specifics, I give the left one to him.

author: Joules
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 02:26:49 pm
content: I love the switch you have on that box, it looks like is was moulded with a glue gun.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 08:40:15 am
content: Good idea to not have the holder touching the heated parts of the iron. Otherwise you'll waste power making the stand rather warm.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 09:53:45 am
content: Quote from: Joules on April 26, 2013, 02:26:49 pmThat is a standard US wall switch, just the illuminated version that has a neon inside to show the switch location when it is off in a dark room.

author: onlooker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2013, 12:05:06 pm
content: QuoteIt is a dimmer switch. One slides it to control the power output. The neon light changes the brightness in reverse to the power output. This is counter-intuitive for this use and I marked "L" and "H" to remind myself which way I should slide the switch when temperature adjustment is needed.