Howdy,

Thank you for the suggestion. I have posted an image of the
iron at www.dwave.net/~twomules/sterling_iron.jpg

The manufacturer's name is Sterling and it's marked made in
England. The handle is tri-lobular in cross section. In the
handle there is a thermostat which is adjusted by means ofan
allen key and there is a neon bulb indicating the heater status.

I'd like to know if it's still being manufactured.


73,
Grumpy


Ian White GM3SEK wrote in
:

SNIP
If you can post a photograph on a website, someone here in the UK may be
able to identify it.

Grumpy The Mule wrote:
Howdy,

Thank you for the suggestion. I have posted an image of the
iron at www.dwave.net/~twomules/sterling_iron.jpg

The manufacturer's name is Sterling and it's marked made in
England. The handle is tri-lobular in cross section. In the
handle there is a thermostat which is adjusted by means ofan
allen key and there is a neon bulb indicating the heater status.

I'd like to know if it's still being manufactured.


I used to have one of those, but it didn't last as well as yours did so
it's long gone... along with all memory of the name!

Cross-posted to the good people at uk.d-i-y, some of whom have a
bottomless memory about old tools.




--

73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Ian White GM3SEK wrote:
Grumpy The Mule wrote:
Howdy,

Thank you for the suggestion. I have posted an image of the
iron at www.dwave.net/~twomules/sterling_iron.jpg

The manufacturer's name is Sterling and it's marked made in
England. The handle is tri-lobular in cross section. In the
handle there is a thermostat which is adjusted by means ofan
allen key and there is a neon bulb indicating the heater status.

I'd like to know if it's still being manufactured.


I used to have one of those, but it didn't last as well as yours did so
it's long gone... along with all memory of the name!

Cross-posted to the good people at uk.d-i-y, some of whom have a
bottomless memory about old tools.

Oh boy, do they ever! Thirteen replies already, all heavily laden with
soldering iron nostalgia... this thread will run and run.

One of them was even the right answer. From Jeff Layman:

It's an Oryx 50.

Yes, that's the one I used to have.

The name should be on the opposite side to that shown in the photo. Has
interchangeable tips, is thermostically controlled, and the temperature
is ajustable (up to 400°C), by mans of a hex key (1/16"?) set in a
small plastic handle. I've had mine over 40 years, and it's still
going strong.

Mine doesn't have "Made in England" - just "Model 50; 220-240v. 50w". I
guess the MiE was for the US market, as the iron was made in 24, 50,
115, and 210/250v versions.


A bit of further Googling reveals that the Oryx tradename is still in
use, apparently owned by an Irish company named Portasol which now
specialises in gas-fueled irons (www.portasol.com).



--

73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Howdy,


Thanks Ian! Sounds like I'm out of luck on buying
a new Oryx 50. The writing on the handle is nearly
worn off. Now I can see why the people at Wahl didn't
know what I was talking about. I had it all wrong.

DOH! I Should have looked carefully at the stand!
It plainly reads ORYX and below that Reading England.
The name is moulded into the black plastic base but
not painted or ink stamped. I just never noticed it
before.

Wahl is still selling their battery powered soldering
iron. I used to own one of those until the nicad's
went bad. They're in Sterling Ill.


73,
Grumpy

Grumpy The Mule wrote:
Howdy,


Thanks Ian! Sounds like I'm out of luck on buying
a new Oryx 50. The writing on the handle is nearly
worn off. Now I can see why the people at Wahl didn't
know what I was talking about. I had it all wrong.

DOH! I Should have looked carefully at the stand!
It plainly reads ORYX and below that Reading England.
The name is moulded into the black plastic base but
not painted or ink stamped. I just never noticed it
before.

Wahl is still selling their battery powered soldering
iron. I used to own one of those until the nicad's
went bad. They're in Sterling Ill.

Ah, too bad. Here's another picture of the genuine article:

Someone in the USA would like to identify this old British made
soldering iron:

As others have said - Oryx
Photo of mine (with stand - sponge missing) at:-
http://www.diy.110mb.com/oryx.jpg



--

73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek

Wahl is still selling their battery powered soldering
iron. I used to own one of those until the nicad's
went bad. They're in Sterling Ill.

I have had one since 79' and is on it's 5th set of batteries. I replaced
the last set with 3ah NiMH and they never seem to go down now and has a
permanent place in my field case.

On Oct 31, 5:47*pm, "Ralph Mowery" wrote:
I was given this Weller soldering station. *The display is not working. *It
does flash 888 on it when first turned on. *The tip does heat up, but I have
not determined if I can vary the heat or not. *Also have an extra soldering
pencle that plugs in it. *Changed them to see if the display would light,
but it didnot. *Any hints on it ?

They gave it to you because Weller stuff is junk. I have seen more
Weller soldering stations fail then I care to remember over the years.
Don't spend a lot of time on it. Break down and buy a Hexacon station.
We have four here. They have worked flawlessly for over ten years with
heavy use.

Wahl is still selling their battery powered soldering
iron. I used to own one of those until the nicad's
went bad. They're in Sterling Ill.
=======================================
I am using a Wahl battery powered soldering iron since the 1980s
However the battery charger is rather crude ;just a transformer with an
embedded diode.
I have changed the charging circuit by using a 12V transformer
,rectifier and an LM317 and a switch enabling charging at 300 mA (when
soldering iron is in use)and 10 mA (permanently) when iron is not in use.

Frank KN6WH (GM0CSZ temporarily in California)

On Oct 31, 5:47 pm, Ralph Mowery wrote:
I was given this Weller soldering station. The display is not working. It
does flash 888 on it when first turned on. The tip does heat up, but I
have
not determined if I can vary the heat or not. Also have an extra
soldering
pencle that plugs in it. Changed them to see if the display would light,
but it did not. Any hints on it ?

Telstar Electronics wrote:
They gave it to you because Weller stuff is junk. I have seen more
Weller soldering stations fail then I care to remember over the years.
Don't spend a lot of time on it. Break down and buy a Hexacon station.
We have four here. They have worked flawlessly for over ten years with
heavy use.

No... they gave it to him because it didn't cost much and was defective. At
my current place of employ, we have many Weller EC-series soldering stations
and over the 6 years I've been there, I've seen only a couple of failures.
In 30+ years in radio/electronics, I haven't seen many failures of these
units. I recently bought a new WES50 for myself and am very satisfied.
Tips are widely available and inexpensive.

Bryan WA7PRC

Grumpy The Mule wrote:
Howdy,

I've managed several labs where we had dozens of WTCP stations
in daily use.

The only problem I found with WTCP is the connector between the
base and the cord. I usually remove the connector and hardwire
the cord at the base. It causes the intermittent operation that
you've decribed.

I couldn't agree with you more concerning the damage Cooper
did to the Weller brand. Since they moved production to Mexico
the quality control is nonexistant. Some of the design changes
which I believe were intended as cost reductions were ill advised
too. The old Weller soldering guns are indestructable.

At home I have a Pace soldering/desoldering station and a Metcal
SMT station. I've no complaints other than the price.

At work we have a Hakko soldering/deslodering station and it's a
real work horse. We also have a Metcal SMT station which is a bit
fussy but it has been though hell and back. We just bought a couple
Pace ST70 soldering stations for general purpose work. I think we will
buy a few more, they're great.

It's too bad that Wahl quit selling Sterling soldering irons in
the US. It's an odd little iron but I love it. Thirty years old
and it's still the first iron I reach for in my shop. The original
tip is perfect! I called Wahl about buying a second iron and no one
there knew what I was talking about. The most clever feature is an
aluminum washer between the tip and body of the iron. The difference
in coefficient of expansion keeps the tip from seizing. It says made
in England on the body. Google was no help... sigh.


73,
Grumpy

I remember the Wahl 'iso tip' battery irons. Nice portable tool for
field repairs (but useless for field day PL-259 assembly!). Only
problems were battery and tip replacement. The tips would eventually
fall apart as the ceramic insulation surrounding the heating element
cracked.

As for field day, once I figured out how to quickly assemble PL259's
onto RG8U, I got drafted by the radio club to handle this duty at field
day. (Strip back about 4" of outer insulation, tin the braid with a HOT
soldering gun (I used the BIG Weller gun), file down the excess solder,
cut down the braid with a tubing cuter or a razer saw, remove the center
insulation, cut the center conductor to size and tin it, then slip the
coupling ring over the coax and screw on the connector, then solder it
home (with the BIG Weller gun again!). Took about 4 minutes per connector.


ken scharf wrote in
:

Tim N3QE
I went through two WTCP's. They worked ok, but eventually got
intermittent and would not stay hot. I now have a WES51/PES51 setup.
No more changing tips to change temperature, just dial it in. No led
display, but the dial is calibrated close enough. Also the soldering
pencil is lighter and less bulky than the WTCP was. Still I did like
the WTCP's all in one construction over the two piece (power supply and
iron stand) of the 'ES51. The Coper group has destroyed Weller. I
collect old Weller guns whenever I find them, the new ones SUCK.