[modeleng] Re: Mica?
- From: Allen Messer <al_messer@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 06:40:20 -0700 (PDT)
Sorry, Roger, electrics are beyond my ken. Hopefuul
one of the others will know. Is there no "little
electric repair shop" tucked in a little space "round
the corner from Main Street" in your town that
specializes in repairs of this sort?
Al Messer
--- Roger Mason <roger.g3tdm@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I've just had a disaster!
>
> I have a large electric soldering iron (300
> watts). I was using
> this the other day when a sort of Frying noise came
> from it. Shortly
> afterwards I realised that it was cooling down,
> despite still being
> plugged in and turned on. I quickly discovered
> that the element was
> open circuit.
>
> So in the "nothing ventured - nothing gained"
> spirit I opened up the
> iron. I eventually found the secret to getting
> inside it and found the
> element very easy to get to.
>
> The element was a simple coil of heater wire
> insulated in sheets of
> translucent material which I assumed was mica.
> However as I delved
> deeper into the element the sheets of mica became
> "welded" together.
> It appears that the element produced a 'hot-spot'.
> In this region the
> mica has changed in appearance and texture.
> Instead of being sheet
> material with a slippery feel, it was a pink
> brittle uniform
> substance, which looked for all the world like the
> pink plaster one
> uses on walls of a room. I carefully chipped this
> away and came to a
> hollow lump of what looked like a black glassy
> substance - very like
> silver solder flux which has melted and solidified.
> I presumed this
> is where the frying came from - a little arc between
> the element and an
> end wire.
>
> My questions are - was this insulation material
> really mica? Does
> mica behave in this way? If it was not mica what
> was it? Have the
> chemists come up with a modern alternative for
> natural mica?
>
> In the meantime I am trying to find a source for
> a new element.
> The iron was made by Goot, a Japanese company who
> have a web site, so
> I have asked if they have a U.K. dealer who can
> supply me - but maybe
> someone on this list has this knowledge.
>
> I look forward to the list's input on this
> topic.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Roger Mason, in St. Agnes.
>
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