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Old 24th May 2018, 1:36 pm   #7
QQVO6/40
Hexode
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Newcastle, Australia
Posts: 321
Default Re: Scope Laboratories soldering iron

Hello Young Phil and all of the other forum members.

Good to see you have acquired a Scope iron.
Used in the correct places they are a great iron to have around.
Not for surface mount stuff I am afraid.
I have one on my bench and use it quite often. For the larger soldering jobs.
My Scope iron is powered by the original National transformer. 3.3 Volts 30 Amps intermittent service.
I have used Scope irons for probably 60 years and will continue to. I also have a Miniscope iron sitting on the same holder alongside the big one. I might add that the Scope irons are not the only soldering irons I have on my workbench.
As has been said in a previous post it is not prudent to use them on sensitive circuits.
However they have a place on my bench. Try to solder a ground connection to a chassis with a modern solder station. Easy with the Scope. As you have found.
I had an American made soldering gun. Such a pain to use, literally. If I tried to do big jobs with it the transformer would get so hot that I would have to stop work.
One thing I found it good for was de-magnetising screw drivers and such with a coil of wire where the soldering tip would normally be.

Some ideas for working with a Scope iron:-
The tips are just copper and not iron clad so they will erode in normal use. Keep this in mind as they will develop craters on each side of the flat tip.
Do not let the iron overheat as it will oxidise the copper tip where it screws into the barrel. This can lead to sparking and other damage that can lead to the tip seizing into the barrel. Using Murphy’s law it will occur at a most inopportune time and can be a mongrel to fix. I was present when a workshop owner sacked a technician because he lit a cigarette by using an overheated Scope iron. I think it might have been the last straw in a long list of misdemeanors for this tech.
Clean the internals of the iron often. The ceramic beads are getting hard to get so look after them as they are fragile. The beads and the spring should slide easily on the small internal rod with no rough spots. Obviously switch off the iron first as they can short out when the barrel is unscrewed. I have found the easiest thing to use to polish the inner rod in one of those kitchen scouring pads.
The internal parts of the iron should be dry with no lubricants. I have seen irons clagged up because somebody has used some sort of lubricant inside the barrel and it has oxidised with the heat and jammed up the works.
When cleaning the internals and checking the carbon etc. Just invert the barrel and gently tap the side of the barrel on a piece of wood to dislodge any loose carbon.
When attaching a carbon tip to the end of the small rod do not overtighten it. Just finger tight and then bring the locknut up to the steel ferrule and tighten. It is possible to pop the carbon element out of the ferrule (I won’t reveal how I have known this for many years) and these things are getting harder to obtain.
Just in case I forgot to mention it, keep the internal bits clean and free running.

There is a later more modern looking version of the Scope iron. Orange main handle with a black contoured longer trigger collar. The transformer also has an orange plastic case and a different design of iron holder. My transformers are of the older style metal cased ones.
As said earlier there is the Miniscope iron.
There was a long leaded one as well that was sold predominately to the automotive repair businesses. It was fitted with leads of about 4 metres. The iron itself was a standard one so I guess they used the voltage drop in the longer leads to prevent damage to the iron.
On the subject of leads I have looked at the picture of your iron and it just may have the original lead on it. Original was figure 8 cable reasonably heavy with a rubber like insulation and grey in colour. From memory one sheath had small raised ribs running parallel with the length of the wire for polarity identification.
There was also an etching tool called a "Vibroscope". Very simple and was used to write on metal. The writing was very rough looking but in a workshop setup it was good enough to put your name on stuff so others couldn't nick it.

That is about all I can say at this time as my health issues prevent me from going to my workshop to seek more info.
Probably more correct to say She Who Must be Obeyed has taken control and won’t let me out to my shed.
I am sure I can sneak out for short visits when she goes to bed early.

Enough of my chatter for now.

If anyone wants more info I am sure I can provide it. I do not have any of the paperwork for them but I do have the fully working irons.

I forgot to mention that the low voltage secondary of the National Scope transformers were isolated from ground or the mains supply. Handy if working on something live.

Cheers, Robert.
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