Home made soldering tips, and element for my Weller WPS18MP Soldering Iron

[Jeff Nading]

Made an element and soldering tip for my Weller WPS18MP soldering iron. Used #31 insulated nichrome element wire, 8 1/2" long, measures 6 ohms, crimped each end attaching Teflon coated wire, nichrome wire wrapped around a threaded brass rod, connected other ends of Teflon coated wire to the old pin connector, inserted the element into a SS housing I turned on my lathe, same style as old tip just longer. Please view my other video on how to build the element below first video, same procedure just smaller, did not glue element in place either.

 

[dr pepper]

I just made my mrs a pyrogrpahy pen, the tips though are commercial, everything else is home made, these things are just too expensive.

 

[Jeff Nading]

Agreed, I got to thinking these tips cost half or a little more of what a new soldering iron costs once you pay shipping you could have bought a new soldering iron. I do own two of these irons, in the process of building another tip for my second iron. Thanks for your input.

 

[Mosaic]

Self sufficiency is a hallmark of an authentic hobbyist.

 

[Jeff Nading]

I believe there is nothing a person can not accomplish once they put their mind to it. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Mosaic]

About 3 years ago when I got into SMD circuitry assembly I converted a regular ($15) 40W soldering iron to a hot air unit by adding an aquarium air pump and drilling a hole (in the handle) for the air tube while sealing up the iron with JBweld.
I replaced the screw on spade tip with a tight spiral of galvanized iron wire for a heat exchanger and pushed it into the empty tip slot.
To make 60/40 solder paste I harvested old solder lumps (from desoldering) melted them in a s/s teaspoon, then filed the large solder chunk into powder with an iron file then added some rosin flux gel to make the paste. It worked quite well.

PS: it cost $0 cuz i had everything already.

 

[Jeff Nading]

That's awesome Mosaic, like minds think alike. I try to build rather than buy anymore. Things just cost way to much. I've built like 5 3D Printers, built the hotends for them all and the heat bed for the first one I ever built, made 11 12 volt dc heating elements using nichrome wire. The aluminum heat bed pulls 16 amps with all 11 elements, heats quickly with a Dell server 57 amp power supply. The power supply I got off eBay for 8 bucks, learned how to make it run with external electronics, did not have to modify it at all. It works oh so well. Here is a video:

The links to make the power supply run are in the show more of this video, enjoy.
Also made all the opto endstop boards, I must say it was a really fun project to build a 3 D Printer.
Sounds like you have been building for a while also. I am currently printing a base for a Tesla Coil, what other projects are you working on?

 

[Mosaic]

Working an an automated ,smart battery Lead acid recovery system. I have a couple DIY kits on sale @ clubjameco.com. Nothing up to the mechatronic scale you are doing though!
This is the most recent DIY kit:

I am kinda interested in your 3D printer kits. You have a website?

 

[Jeff Nading]

Very cool, I like it. As for the printers I use to print and sell kits on eBay, but Chinese manufacturing is and has flooded the market. The printer software and electronics are metamorphosing. If you want to get into 3D Printing, might I suggest looking into the Delta style 3 D Printer, they are about the newest style printer and will print taller objects, the Kossel or mini Kossel would be good ones to own.

Here is a good site to buy from http://www.tridprinting.com/ . Here are good sites to learn from http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kossel-clear , http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/deltabot .

If you prefer to build your own, look into a very rigid frame like 2020 aluminum extrusions, there is a guy on the second link Google group forum that will send a free kit of abs plastic parts, but the catch is once your done building your printer you will need to print two more for others, pay it forward policy, which is a good policy I think.

Here is another link I set up on another forum all about 3 D Printers, http://app.hydrofuel.ca/viewforum.php?f=23&sid=e5bf7927c580ad4145ffdd7787084da3 . You might look at it as well, especially under the sub topic "Thinking about building a 3 D Printer", it has listed parts and links to buy most of the parts needed to build a printer.
Well I hope this helps, have a good evening.