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[TheBoy]

Suspect its stuck on, as overheats.

Is it part of element assembly, or a separate switch?

[Bigron]

Any help?

www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=44888

Ron.

[Matchless]

If you twiddle your tip daily as you are supposed to then it doesnt get stuck. Is your end glowing red?

The thermostat works by magnetics, it is attracted to the tip closing a switch. As the temp rises above the curie point the magnetic attraction is overcome by spring force and the contacts separate. The tip and thermostat on your iron are probably stuck together by rust or corrosion so the contacts are closed permanently.

These irons were common in the 70's but be careful using them on modern high speed / low voltage electronics, they create a massive emc pulse when switching and can destroy small geometry parts. We used to use them for finding holes in the emc protection of fibre receivers.

[Kevin Wood]

What he said ^.

You can get replacement switches and they are easy enough to change. Sometimes you can free them up by aforementioned tip-twiddling, though.

I wouldn't be without a Weller TCP. 

[Sir Tigger KC]

When I saw the title I thought TB's hair straighteners had packed up!   

[aaronjb]

When I saw the title I thought TB's hair straighteners had packed up!   

I had to google to figure out if this was a pink or blue repair job, too..

[Stemo]

If you twiddle your tip daily as you are supposed to then it doesnt get stuck. Is your end glowing red?

OOOOOOO you are awful.........but I like you 

[biggriffin]

Mmm bet fathers got 1 or two of them in tut barn,unless the owls have poo'd all over them.

[TheBoy]

I've replaced the bit, and it doesn't seem too corroded. It gets hot enough that both the bit and the end of the tube glow.

Is the switch obvious, wondering if the contacts have welded...

[Bigron]

TB, you might consider updating your iron. I used to use loads of that model when lecturing in Electronics at college, some years back, but marvellous though they were, they have been superseded by much superior electronically controlled irons, much more suited to the work that Matchless referred to.
However, if you insist on saving your present one, they are easy enough to dismantle.
When they were owned by Cooper Tools, spares were plentiful, but since 2010, I think, another large company joined with them and I no longer have dealing with them so don't know the spares position......

Ron.

[Andy H]

Is this the part?

Farnell - Weller TCP switch

£29.29 (+ tax & postage....)

[Kevin Wood]

Is this the part?

Farnell - Weller TCP switch

£29.29 (+ tax & postage....)

Yep, that looks familiar, but I'm sure there are cheaper sources. Ebay is worth a look.

[Kevin Wood]

Actually, I keep meaning to see if I can shoe-horn a triac into my irons to take the load off the switch. That may make it last better.

[Andy H]

Actually, I keep meaning to see if I can shoe-horn a triac into my irons to take the load off the switch. That may make it last better.

Zero point switching might even reduce (or eliminate) the spikes Bigron reported

[TheBoy]

Is this the part?

Farnell - Weller TCP switch

£29.29 (+ tax & postage....)

Mine doesn't look like that...