<p>I have had this iron for years and the other day, it decided to not to turn on.&nbsp;i&nbsp;was very pissed off due to it was very expensive and&nbsp;i&nbsp;love using it. It is more or less a smart soldering iron, it can sense how much heat is required to solder different size pads or solder. I use this a lot and has been great (even tho&nbsp;i&nbsp;need new tips) and&nbsp;i&nbsp;would recommend it to anyone. While it was down and not working, I was using my old iron that&nbsp;i&nbsp;had not used in a very long time, it was weird.<br>
I took it apart to see if&nbsp;i&nbsp;could fix it and was a bit confusing at first but after a while started to understand how it worked. I traced the problem to where it was, it was a 60V to 12V step down regulator. I don't know exactly what the problem was but it was not outputting the 12V power need to run the controller for the iron. After&nbsp;i&nbsp;attached 12V power&nbsp;from a lab power supply, the iron would turn on. I changed the regulator, tested few other and re-solder them. I got it back up and running, working like it use to.<br>
The over all design of this iron is very interesting, from the electronics inside to the case design. Everything in this iron&nbsp;look&nbsp;very well designed.</p>

Tinkers Projects

Tag: metcal

OKI Metcal MFR-1160 Soldering Repair