Sunday, May 25, 2008

Breaking In New Tools


Have you ever had an old appliance, owned for a long time, and you're familiar with its quirks and the little things you have to do to keep it going, until finally with sadness you accept that the time has come and then you replace it. And realize what a difference the new one makes, causing wonderment and a kind of thrill. And wonder why you hung onto the old one for such a long time?

Enter the magnificent new soldering iron with temperature controller. Always thought the old Weller iron was good enough with 80 watts of power, minimally narrow tip and no heat controller. It was sufficient and have been struggling to keep it going after several years of use, making do.

Finally ordered the 100 watt Mika with temperature controller and chisel tip. It is larger, looks heavier. Would it be okay after the Weller finally gave up?

Oh my. It's so much better. And the temperature controller is a wonderful thing, don't know how to do without it any more. To reach over and lower the temperature just a little bit is an amazing thing to do. Especially since sometimes the item being worked is not glass and may need a much lower temperature to avoid scorching.

Going down to Studio B Basement to fire up the kiln, heat up the torch and turn up the music.

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