AN OLDIE BUT GOODIE…

Hi there.

I don’t normally write to companies like this, but I thought you would
like to hear this.

I purchased my model S.I. cordless soldering iron around 1973 when I was
in college and since then it has been my “go to” soldering iron for
everything. I have replaced the batteries numerous times and even added
an LED to show when it was properly seated in the charging station.

It’s nice to have something that always works and has lasted all these
years.

Thanks for making a good product.
E.W.

A QUICK TRIP TO AFGANISTAN

Hello,

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan with the Army, and have ‘acquired’ an
ISO-TIP Quick Charge Soldering Iron that the previous unit had ordered. I
must say that I am extremely impressed with your product, it’s perfect for
helicopter avionics! Now, enough with the kiss ass..I would like to figure
out how to order your product through my supply system. The previous unit
was able to, however I don’t have NSN’s or Part numbers that relate to the
Army supply system. I have two irons that work, but also need to order new
tips. If I can’t get the numbers, I’ll buy them…just would rather charge
them to the Army. Last, but not least, I enjoyed reading your website.
Sometimes it’s funny to just make it simple! Thanks for your time.
v/r
T.W.
SGT, USAR

The detailed answer for the cordless soldering irons and filer/sanders is:   All of the final assembly is done in the US, and almost all of the parts come from the US.  As one example of the parts distribution, for our 7700 cordless soldering irons: Of the 39 components, one part comes from Mexico, one part come from Taiwan and two from China.  We are in-process of bringing production in house for the Mexico part but the sub component for that will still probably come from overseas – we haven’t run into anyone that makes that in the US anymore.  This works out to around 8% of the total cost from overseas parts – but 92% of final production and first level fabrication are done in the US.

Test the Charging Stand:

The charging stand pins should stick out approx. 1/8″ from the bottom of the base of the plastic pocket they are in.  Use a multimeter set for DC voltage and check the those pins.  They should read around1.6 to 1.8V.  If they don’t read that then the base is bad.

It could be the transformer or the wiring connections.  The transformer can be checked with an ohm meter – if either set of shows an open circuit the transformer is bad.  There are only four connections to test in the base so it should be easy to tell what part of the charging stand is bad.

Test the Iron

If the base is good, place the iron in the stand and press the red button.

If the light does light up while in the stand we know the connections are good and the charge stand is providing power to everything.  At this point it’s most likely the battery – though it could be an issue with the wiring to the tip.  So, you can open it up and check that to confirm that it is the battery.

If the light doesn’t come on then it could be the lamp, the button assembly, the wiring inside the iron or the connection between the iron and the base.

The lamp can be removed and tested with a ohm meter and should read a couple ohms.  (You can also test it on a battery – 1.5V is enough sometimes I use a 9v but only quickly as that’s too much for the light)  We can replace the battery and test the wiring inside as needed.

Please note opening the unit is only for trained professionals and it does void the warranty.    If you open it up  a simple ohm meter walk through of all the connections tell that they are ok.  If there are issues here with the internal wiring we recommend returning the unit for repair here and we can ‘refurbish’ those parts.  If the connections are all good and in working condition the only thing left is to replace the battery.

Charger Main Failure Mode List:

No Power to Base

Transformer Bad

Bad Connection in Wiring

Charging Pins Not High Enough to Contact Iron

Cordless Solder Iron Main Failure Mode List:

Fuse Wire Open

Bad Connection in Wiring

Dead Battery

Dead Light

Red Button Not Activating the “Switch”

Bad Tip

Growing up in the late 70′s early 80′s I had 2 ISOtip 7700 in my toolkit. My first 7700, was given to me by my mentor & friend, Sydney Thomasson WB8FYI for me to work on S100 bus system I was building as so not to cause static damage. He had that 7700 for several years before he gave it to me, so I assume it’s from the late 70′s

A few years later, I bought another 7700 so that I could work longer. I even had an ISOtip drill attachment for it.

After many years, many different jobs, different homes, marriage & family I lost track of those 7700s.

2 weeks ago I was helping some friends put in a couple XLR panels on a stage, and I used a blue 25w solder pencil. And I started explaining to my friends how I used to use ISOtip 7700s, and how much I actually loved those tools. I still recalled that I could be soldering within second of rotating and pressing that little round button.

I even tweeted about my love of my long lost ISOtip over the past few weeks.

Much to my surprise this week, I did a google search a few days later, wondering what ever happened to your company, since so many companies from that period, Beckman, Simpson, B&K, Heathkit, etc, seem to disappear in the early 90s. You can’t imagine my surprise when I learned that not only were you still in business, you still made the 7700 & what I never purchased, the 7800 ’60′

I ordered and received this yesterday my new 7800… and even did an unboxing sequence of receiving it. And this morning, while working in the basement, I found my long lost 7700s, with the original tips. While I can’t seem to find the chargers, I noticed that All-spec.com has them available, which is where I ordered my 7800 from.. So now, I will order a couple of new batteries & a charger.

I also found you on twitter… so now I look forward to following you and putting my new & old friends back to work.

Thank you for all the support your products have given me in over 30 years.

From Micheal in WV.

For another project we are working on we have some 1/8″ clear acrylic we are looking at.  As long as it was on the desk I thought I’d try forming it with the Pro50 and the torch head.  Sure enough, after a pretty short time – 15 seconds? I was able to put a nice free form 90º angle in the material.  The ends of the corners swelled out a little with the bend.

I also took a small strip and bent it along the cut axis and again got a little swelling on the inside corner and thinning on the outside corner.  This one didn’t look as nice as  the first one because of the orientation of the bend.  Either way though it was really easy to bend.  I look forward to doing some localized forming and shaping with it too.

So, the question of the day was will the solder paste solder zinc alloy.  Zinc alloy is pretty broad range of materials and so the first answer was – I don’t know.  That’s pretty weak so we found a zinc die cast part we use and tested it.  This was a Zinc AG40A die cast, unplated zinc material.  We tested the solder in some porous sections and between the threads.  In both cases the paste did not adhere well to the zinc die cast.  We tried again on a nickle plated zinc part and got the same results.