On Aug 23, 2004, at 11:40 PM, Charles Lepple wrote:
Well...nobody comes to my lab to give sales pitches, but the details ring true with what I see on the bench. I have an older, high-end Weller iron (I don't recall the model number, the one with the digital temp display) and putting it side-by-side with the Metcal I can say my observed behavior matches that description.The techical details sound right... or maybe someone gave the same sales pitch at my lab :-)Please remember that this is my understanding of what's going on in a Metcal gained by lab heresay; I might always be confused about some detail or another . . . .
A Metcal will give you the same amount of heat whether you are heating a QFP lead or a wad of 12 gauge wires (unless you reach the wattage limit for that particular tip). With a slightly less sophisticated temperature-controlled iron, you may have to boost the temperature setting slightly if there is a lot of thermal mass to whatever you are soldering.Yes. The problem there, though, is that the thermal mass of whatever you're soldering affects things much more with pretty much any other make of iron. With the Weller irons, it seems they're depending on having a larger thermal mass in the tip than what it's designed to solder...because all that heat diffuses into what you're soldering, and it takes so long for it to be replenished by the heating element.