Yes, I've noticed like the hot plates mentioned elsewhere I saw Ian of Dangerous Prototypes say that they can get gear at ridiculous prices time to follow him on one of his trip to China he organises.
A tip should never be sanded, in fact never rubbed or any force used. It should just touch the surface you're trying to solder. If your tip became faulty without doing this, then unfortunately it is because the iron is too hot (due to no temperature control).
Unfortunately these days it's not quite so simple. Lead free solder erodes the tip coating quite well on it's own. Combine that with the higher temperatures required for lead free and you can see where it's going.
Just looked them up on the web ...Amazingly they are 20 quid more on Ebay than CPC or Maplin or Antex them selves ...very strange
Not really.. It's becomming quite normal for prices on ebay to be more than buying from a traditional shop. Certainly for stuff thats easily available elsewhere that trend has been ongoing for a few years now. For electronics stuff, Aliexpress and shipping it in from China may be a better option these days.
Yeah I got the Tcs50 in '85 I think and I still have it ...not in regular use now but was hammered all day every day for a good 10 years and only 2 bits
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