Weller Iron not working?

[steve-o]

Hey all,
My WES51 iron isn't working! I got it new a month ago and it has very little use on it (less than 7 hours). It won't melt the solder unless I push fairly hard on the solder, and, even then, I can't tin the iron. The solder just balls up and either sticks to the unmelted solder or falls to the ground when it's heavy enough.

Has anyone run into this with this iron? Any ideas what's going on?
Thanks for your help!

[ampdan]

If you are going to do any serious soldering/amp building i would highly recommend that you get a temperature controlled soldering station.

[Omar]

I have a friend that has the same Weller and had the same problem with not being able to tin the iron. I borrowed it thinking he was doing something wrong and found it difficult to tin.

He found this:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

and said that it a godsend. Iron works great now.

Omar

[Bob-I]

I had that problem with mine at one point. Turned out that the thermostat in the pencil was bad. They sent me a new pencil in a few days. I wish I could remember who I contacted to help you out, but I think the info was in the manual.

[steve-o]

Thanks guys, I'll see if I can't get some of that tip cleaner at radioshack tomorrow. I remember reading in the manual something about "wettable" surface on the iron that gets covered up by corrosion of the tip. But I'll also call the service number listed on the back of my manual. I hope they're as helpful with me as they were with you, Bob.
(By the way, I'm glad you're okay. As a noob, I hadn't been wearing safety glasses -- I didn't know that was something I had to worry about -- I will be now.)

[steve-o]

Hey all, Just wanted to let you know, I contacted the service rep for the weller soldering products, and he was really helpful. I can't remember his first name off the top of my head, but his last name is "smith". Anyway, he said he'd get a new pencil out to me right away. hooray for good customer service, eh?