New Zealand Local Weather Forum
Weather Discussion => Hardware Software and Technology => Projects => Topic started by: TonyC on May 31, 2012, 10:55:43 AM
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An essential item in the Blokes Shed arsenal is the soldering iron. Even before my grey cells started dying off at an accellerated rate, remembering to turn the iron off was a bit of a challenge and many times, a day later after using it, I'd find my 40w iron merrily chewing up electricity and wearing out the tip. Finally I decided to do something about it. After checking out the price of solder stations, I thought I'd build one mainly out of junk box spares. The only expense for me was the delay timer which I picked up on Ebay. The exact item is listed here:-
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AC-220V-Power-Delay-Timer-Time-Relay-1-999-Seconds-/300553670611?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item45fa650fd3
The conversion rate at the time meant I paid about NZ$21. The rest of the stuff including the plastic box was out of the junk box. The time is adjustable for 0-999 seconds (about 7.5 minutes). I used an old light switch to re-set it if I was soldering for longer periods.
Here's a couple of pictures.
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I see its IP67 rated!! LOL! Well done - nice and neat and tidy and very functional... Yes, I have a few different soldering irons and even had a 12Vdc one for working out on the farm with it - which i don't think i have any more. Having them left on, the tips, if a 6mm copper rod tend to droop, the left over solder on the tip erodes away at the shape of the tip - esp if a bevel tip, and then they dry up and need filing back to shape. Apart from the danger of touching the hot iron (may not be you) and the consumption of power. Good project!