Weller Soldering Iron

[Wonks]

No. No picture hosting on this forum.

[GRAHAM99]

Why not?!

[blinddrew]

Copyright liability, hosting space, probably other reasons too.

[Mike Stranks]

Here y'go... this will show you how to do it... NB. NO sound

https://youtu.be/s7vVDGTOHW0

[blinddrew]

Thought you'd managed to find a video of some making their own Weller power supply there Mike.

[ef37a]

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/chassis- ... rs/0504672*

With a suitable enclosure, 30-35 quid all up? You have the pencil which are about £100 and so even if that proves no good you could get a new one which I assure you will work on that transformer thus saving you another £100 or so.

"One has to speculate..."

*N.B. I am assuming you have the necessary knowledge to work on and make safe 'mains side' equipment? If not your transformer options are much more limited.

Dave.

[Mike Stranks]

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/chassis- ... rs/0504672

I am assuming you have the necessary knowledge to work on and make safe 'mains side' equipment? If not your transformer options are much more limited.

Dave.

Not so sure on that Dave... Ohm's Law had to be explained earlier in the thread...

[GRAHAM99]

Thanks for all the input on this!!
I have never put anything together involving mains voltage so perhaps it is best left alone.
I will have a think about what to do.

[MarkOne]

I hadn't ever thought about this until a few days ago, I'm looking at building a bench PSU for lab projects and looking through a few YouTubes (Yes, not the best source of advice when it comes to legal/regulatory matters) I noted a couple of comments about making mains powered kit and where you might stand in the event it blew up/burned your house down/killed someone

So I'm thinking, in this world of regulation, health and safety, etc, where does that leave the ardent DIY-er?

If you make something with a donor supply like an ATX supply or a laptop brick and you don't modify that in any way, it comes complete with a CE mark (or a UL mark if you are Leftpondian) and has been certified as fit for purpose. Conversely if you cobble something together with a Toroidal, a rectifier, and a regulator from RS and some strip board, even if you know what you are doing, and sometime later it er... burned down your house, would an insurance company see that as a big get out for not cutting you a cheque for a new one (house that is)

Over the years I've designed and built supplies for all kinds of things, both as a DIY-er and in a professional capacity for my job on everything from HiFi kit to bits for fighter jets. But I'm not sure I'd do that any more without using a certified module to convert the killer-watts to the benign ones that run my logic board

[GRAHAM99]

I don’t give up easily!

[GRAHAM99]

There are laptop adaptors on Amazon for about £17 stating 25v and 2a.
I think this would work and be a safer than cobbling something together?
Does the output voltage have to be ac or dc?

[Hugh Robjohns]

...even if you know what you are doing, and sometime later it er... burned down your house, would an insurance company see that as a big get out for not cutting you a cheque for a new one (house that is)

Insurance companies will try all sorts of crap to avoid doing what they charge you lots of money to do!

But legally I think it comes down to 'competence'. You need to show that you have sufficient competence to do what you did. Obviously an appropriate qualification or professional experience would demonstrate competence. Without a qualification, you'd have to indicate that you are knowledgable in the subject, aware of the dangers, and took appropriate and adequate precautions to mitigate those risks.

So demonstrating that you selected an appropriate size of mains cables, calculated the correct fuse ratings, used appropriate insulation around live connections, mounted components in a safe way, etc etc....