[west]

I'm about to buy a 300-0-300, 80ma; 0-12.6; 0-6.5; 0-15v R-Core Xsfr. for my
preamp project. What do you think of this xfr. for a hi-end preamp system?
Thanks.

-west

[Patrick Turner]

west wrote:

I'm about to buy a 300-0-300, 80ma; 0-12.6; 0-6.5; 0-15v R-Core Xsfr. for my
preamp project. What do you think of this xfr. for a hi-end preamp system?
Thanks.

-west

Without any details other than the nominal voltages, its hard to cast an
opinion
that you are asking for.

Are the voltages mentioned the loaded or unloaded?

Then we have no idea what the Bmax or magnetic field strength is for the
transformer,
and experience tells me that B shouldn't be more than 0.9 Tesla for
hi-fi
so that there is less noise especially with solid state rectifiers
connected.
Trannies wound for audiophiles should have Bmax 0.9 Tesla instead of
the industry standard of 1.25T
which is noisy but which requires 33% less turns than 0.9T.
The 0.9T means that to get copper losses as as the 1.25T tranny the wire
must be thicker
for the extra 33% turns to keep the winding R the same or lower, so the
size of the
tranny wound for 0.9T is thus going to weigh lots more than the
el-cheapo wound some damn where
in asia and possibly with barely enough turns to prevent the onset of
saturation.
Many power trannies from China seem to be suited to 220V but we get 250V
most days.
( Chinese 'Nicholson' 40W soldering irons only last a month at 250V, so
I have a switchable
resistance to ensure the voltage is only about 220V max at the iron, and
the irons then last 18mths..)
When are the chinese going to make irons ok for 250V which will last
without me
having to fiddle with mods? who knows, and I don't like their
transformers either!

What sort of wire grade is being used to wind the transformer?

What is the method of winding, is it neat layer by layer with
insulation between each layer, or just wound on randomly?

Does the item come with any adherence to safety standards?
Is there a warranty?

Does the company have a good reputation?

R core material is just GOSS wound into a rectangle with each side an
effective round bar of
GOSS lamination, so that the bobbin is a simple round wound bobbin very
similar
to what a roll of solder is wound on, and thus very easy for the
manufacturer to wind the wire on
with special machinery.

But all the rules about B max, Afe, saturation, noise, heat losses,
varnishing method and
mechanical construction still apply with an R core tranny.

With R core its possible to have excellent isolation of the P and S
windings which are on two
bobbins on each of two legs, and in fact you could have 4 bobbins, one
for each
side of the rectangle or square, so that making a supply for Circlotron
which needs
two B+ supplies is easily done with good distance between windings to
avoid stray capacitance.
But for regular amps with one supply there are no special benefits other
than good isolation.

But since the mains primary winding copper cross sectional area should
be equal
to the total sectional area of secondary wires, there are generally only
two bobbins.
One could have 3 for the circlotron where one is the primary, and two
others are
for the "floating" B+ windings, made so they are half the length or
traverse width of the primary.

R-core suits factory production and I know of nobody who makes them at
home.

I much prefer wasteless pattern E&I laminations which are old fashioned,
but
one can easily make an excellent tranny and be able to rewind it later
after stripping it down if there is a problem.

R-cores like toroidals could be used for OPTs but the continuous core
makes it tend to easily saturate with a DC offset.

At least with a preamp you are not asking very much from the power
tranny
which could be rated for 3 times the VA without it being too heavy,
wheras with a power amp one has to think twice about the size and
weight.

But the longevity of the tranny is due to the craftmanship used to make
it.

And for a preamp it should be potted.

Patrick Turner.

[Jerry]

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:11:05 GMT, "west" wrote:

I'm about to buy a 300-0-300, 80ma; 0-12.6; 0-6.5; 0-15v R-Core Xsfr. for my
preamp project. What do you think of this xfr. for a hi-end preamp system?
Thanks.

-west

I designed R-transformers for about three years and then that
division was sold to another company.

The stray flux emanation is very, very low so you should
not have any problem with hum into the circuit.

The regulation of the B+ circuit is good and the overall
efficiency of the transformer is quite acceptable.

Jerry

[Patrick Turner]

Bret Ludwig wrote:

On Jan 30, 9:57 am, Jerry wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:11:05 GMT, "west" wrote:
I'm about to buy a 300-0-300, 80ma; 0-12.6; 0-6.5; 0-15v R-Core Xsfr. for my
preamp project. What do you think of this xfr. for a hi-end preamp system?
Thanks.

-west

I designed R-transformers for about three years and then that
division was sold to another company.

The stray flux emanation is very, very low so you should
not have any problem with hum into the circuit.


Toroids have many similarities with R-core transformers, good and
bad.

As you say stray flux is low, which is good, and coupling is nearly
perfect-but DC offsets are quite troublesome.

Power transformers for preamp use should be overspecified and very
conservatively used, and preferably potted in a shielding can.

Without a great more information we cannot say with certainty as to
whether this transformer is suitable or not, my guess is that is,
depending on how it is used. If an outboard supply for a preamp is to
be avoided, the supply should ideally be fully enclosed and DC power
brought out through feedthroughs or a shielded bypassed connector. It
all boils down to, "How much do you want to spend?"

As for Patrick's issues with soldering irons, I can't comment because
I have used nothing but regulated Weller, Hakko, Hexacon or Metcal
irons for going on 20 years. Hakko is Japanese, as far as I know the
others are American. I consider a nonregulated iron suitable only for
emergency use or for wood burning. I routinely scrap garage sale ones
I get in silent key or TV shop buyouts. I suggest Patrick buy a GOOD
regulated setup, new, and feed it from a transformer (he winds them,
but could use surplus ones by autoformering or boost/bucking the
windings) the "bogey" voltage for which it is specified. He will then
have no further issues with irons.

The Chinese made iron is $20, and the equivalent Weller is $87.

I used to buy Weller when they cost $60, but they only lasted 18mths
max,
and I sent sent two of the failed irons back to Weller, who said they
wondered why they failed.
They said they thought it was salt in the water used to make a sort of
clay used in the irons.
I told them that since the filament is inherently such a fine bit of
wire, why not
make the irons 12V, and have thick wire unlikely to break.
They whinged about the cost of a transformer.
They had no intention of increasing the heating wire diameter and using
more turns to make it more rugged.

They sent me a free replacement which failed in 12mths.

I now no longer have any faith in Weller products, and may they stick
their
irons up their arse!

The Chinese irons have saved me a lot of money, and I don't worry they
last only
18mths; they are 13dB cheaper than the Weller, so who needs Weller? I
sure don't.

The only voltage "regulation" I needed was a couple of 10 watt resistors
in a metal box
and a switch with medium and low settings; a $15 solution!

For brief very hot work I plug in without any R in series.

The chinese 80 watt irons for heavy work lasted only briefly with full
mains voltage and
also needed the supply cut back about 15% to make them last.

One must taper grind the bits to allow removal for oxide cleaning, lest
the bit expand ands
get stuck in the iron. I use home made bits from copper rod
because all the chinese tips and Weller steel coated tips last only a
month,
so its not just the irons that are bad, its the tips as well.

Chinese pencils are also bad, poor wood, and brittle lead, and not in
the centre so sharpening
breaks the lead. But they are 5c, not 45c like the Oz made pencils.

I use propelling pencils because of pencil cost rises and poor pencil
quality.

Patrick Turner.

[Patrick Turner]

Bret Ludwig wrote:

On Jan 30, 9:19 pm, Patrick Turner wrote:
Bret Ludwig wrote:

On Jan 30, 9:57 am, Jerry wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 06:11:05 GMT, "west" wrote:
I'm about to buy a 300-0-300, 80ma; 0-12.6; 0-6.5; 0-15v R-Core Xsfr. for my
preamp project. What do you think of this xfr. for a hi-end preamp system?
Thanks.

-west

I designed R-transformers for about three years and then that
division was sold to another company.

The stray flux emanation is very, very low so you should
not have any problem with hum into the circuit.

Toroids have many similarities with R-core transformers, good and
bad.

As you say stray flux is low, which is good, and coupling is nearly
perfect-but DC offsets are quite troublesome.

Power transformers for preamp use should be overspecified and very
conservatively used, and preferably potted in a shielding can.

Without a great more information we cannot say with certainty as to
whether this transformer is suitable or not, my guess is that is,
depending on how it is used. If an outboard supply for a preamp is to
be avoided, the supply should ideally be fully enclosed and DC power
brought out through feedthroughs or a shielded bypassed connector. It
all boils down to, "How much do you want to spend?"

As for Patrick's issues with soldering irons, I can't comment because
I have used nothing but regulated Weller, Hakko, Hexacon or Metcal
irons for going on 20 years. Hakko is Japanese, as far as I know the
others are American. I consider a nonregulated iron suitable only for
emergency use or for wood burning. I routinely scrap garage sale ones
I get in silent key or TV shop buyouts. I suggest Patrick buy a GOOD
regulated setup, new, and feed it from a transformer (he winds them,
but could use surplus ones by autoformering or boost/bucking the
windings) the "bogey" voltage for which it is specified. He will then
have no further issues with irons.

The Chinese made iron is $20, and the equivalent Weller is $87.

I used to buy Weller when they cost $60, but they only lasted 18mths
max,
and I sent sent two of the failed irons back to Weller, who said they
wondered why they failed.
They said they thought it was salt in the water used to make a sort of
clay used in the irons.
I told them that since the filament is inherently such a fine bit of
wire, why not
make the irons 12V, and have thick wire unlikely to break.
They whinged about the cost of a transformer.
They had no intention of increasing the heating wire diameter and using
more turns to make it more rugged.

They sent me a free replacement which failed in 12mths.

I now no longer have any faith in Weller products, and may they stick
their
irons up their arse!

The Chinese irons have saved me a lot of money, and I don't worry they
last only
18mths; they are 13dB cheaper than the Weller, so who needs Weller? I
sure don't.

The Wellers I used were the WTCPT series which had a transformer.
Actually for awhile I just used the handpieces and made my own
transformer supply. This is in line with the idea that the best iron
to use is the one they use where you, or people you know well, work as
the tips and supplies are rather cheaper that way.

Metcal are the ultimate in irons but the price is high. I ran out of
WTCPT stuff some time ago and am using Hakkos now.


There was once a time when any mains voltage soldering iron you bought
would last 20 years
and use of being left on for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week,
or for the time you were in the workshop doing work.

Not any ****ing more.

Nah, they make the ****ing iron so it breaks real soon.

And its a real pity that western nation manufacturing companies cannot
compete
with the cheap Chinese crap. But compete they must, so what do they try
to do
to stay ahead? reduce the quality. Now how DUMB is this?
I wouldn't mind paying more for a Weller which feels better in my hands
than the Chinese Nicholson.

But the Chinese iron lasts just as well as the Weller, with a cheap mod
of series resistance.

So Weller deserve to go broke, and close down if they just subtract
quality, then insist
on charging over 4 times the price of Nicholson. The Chinese deserve a
medal for
giving us all the good alternative to the crap made by "our brothers" in
our own countries.


The "brothers" are always complaining that Chinese labour is so cheap,
and the can't
compete, but just how much damn labour is there in a largely machine
made 40 watt
soldering iron?
10 minutes? or is it a whopping 1/2 an hour?

Still they want $87 when the factory wage is about $20 per hour or even
less if they have people
on piece rates.

I will continue to solder on and my ally in this war with connections is
the Chinese Worker.

Its a terrible shame that Mr Chinese Worker gets so badly exploited,
since the 10minutes it takes to build a soldering iron
costs only cents at the $2 per day wage rates the Chinese endure.

When I become PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD I will issue an edict that
all middle men have their activities attenuated by -20dB.

I will ensure that WORKERS OF THE WORLD will be able to enjoy the same
conditions, rights
duties of care, etc all the world over, so it won't make any difference
where
workers are engaged for their services, real wages will be the same.

Downgrading western wages or quality won't be permitted, and China with
all the other nations will have to provide the improved conditions and
have it all paid
for by the nations now expoiting them, so that if any US company wants
its soldering irns
produced in China, they would be forced by law to ensure the Chinese
worker has the same wage as
the US worker.

Pigs will fly before such wage justice occurs, but at least I can dream
of a more just world
without the life upsetting dislocations caused by "moving operations
offshore"
and getting dirty work all done by underpaid slave labour out of sight,
and out of mind.

So when Nike want their shoes made in Indonesian factories for 20C, but
sell them for
$20 in Sydney, they must be made to pay $18.80 to the indonesian worker
directly, or build the hospitals
and schools and roads for the Indonesians so they have our way of
living.

The present Globilization going on and
present removal of worker rights and dumbing down of conditions unions
fought for
for in western nations is a mockery of justice, an insult to
altruism, and a shame on us all.


I don't give a **** if ppl think I am a Socialist.

Say it, S-O-C-I-A-L-I-S-T; there now, your brain didn't fall out of your
head now
did it?

Why is it that the birthrate is so low in Oz and many countries now?
Why are ppl marrying so late in life?
Why is there so much sham in western nation living quality of life?

Its because we don't give a **** about each other.

Capitalism may be a good thing in itself, but its become obscenely
greedy, and the quality of soldering irons and pencils and much else has
become
a lot worse overthe last 50 years.


And ain't youse all lucky I prefer Soldering to Presidenting.

Patrick Turner.

[Ian Iveson]

Why is it that the birthrate is so low in Oz and many countries
now?
Why are ppl marrying so late in life?
Why is there so much sham in western nation living quality of life?

Its because we don't give a **** about each other.

Why might that be, do you wonder?

I suggest you find some classic work in anthropology. Or perhaps
Engels' "The Family, Private Property and the State". You can't call
yourself a Socialist if you don't make an effort to understand this
stuff.


Western people aren't breeding because they prefer less population,
as do I. Others don't care.And are swamping us out. I'm an advocate
of eugenics, which is a worse word than socialism these days.


People in industrial societies stopped breeding because of pensions.
Although children are just as economically necessary as they used to
be on aggregate, they are no longer valued as individuals within their
own families.

So we import cheap labour instead.

In places where children are expected to look after the older members
of families, it is in the interests of the individuals to have more
children.

China managed it's population and is now paying for its intervention
in all sorts of ways...all predicted but done anyway. Not enough young
women, too many old people, etc.

Anyway, it's got nothing to do with caring for anyone but each for
himself, as always. It's dead simple, and there is no need for hocus
pocus.

Children here are now just too expensive...just as slaves became...so
we stop having them.

cheers, Ian

[Patrick Turner]

Bret Ludwig wrote:

As for Patrick's issues with soldering irons, I can't comment because
I have used nothing but regulated Weller, Hakko, Hexacon or Metcal
irons for going on 20 years. Hakko is Japanese, as far as I know the
others are American. I consider a nonregulated iron suitable only for
emergency use or for wood burning. I routinely scrap garage sale ones
I get in silent key or TV shop buyouts. I suggest Patrick buy a GOOD
regulated setup, new, and feed it from a transformer (he winds them,
but could use surplus ones by autoformering or boost/bucking the
windings) the "bogey" voltage for which it is specified. He will then
have no further issues with irons.

The Chinese made iron is $20, and the equivalent Weller is $87.

Wow. You can buy el-cheapos here for $5 US. I'd send you a few of my
Wen or other discards, but, the last thing I sent you you never even
acknowledged. Let me know and I'll put them in a pile for you.


Bret, Forgive Me for my rudeness, but I cannot recall what it was that
you so kindly sent me
that i didn't even aknowledge.

As you must have realised, I am aghast if I cannot conduct my trading
without good will and in good faith.

The Weller 40 watt 240V mains power soldering iron is a little beauty,
but
I've never had one last longer than 18mths, and its made by Cooper Tools
located in Oz at
Albury Wodonga afaik, since when I dealt with the maker after making
enquiries,
someone directed me to a factory at the above place. They were eager to
receive a couple of stuffed
irons so they could see maybe what made them fail.
Perhaps they really were appalled they'd lasted so long,
and endeavoured to make sure they'd not last so long in future, and
maybe the company thinks $87 is ok,
because maybe enough suckers will buy the iron, but $87 was the price
I saw on one in Bunnings, a large bulk retail hardware store here.
I bought another spare Chinese iron for $19, and the Weller was
alongside it amoung
the few irons they had.
After the first Chinese iron went phut after a month because I hadn't
rigged the series resistances,
the shop gave me a new one without asking any questions or wanting to
see the sales docket.
Maybe the shop gets them for $2 each direct from China in batches of
10,000 at a time.

Many ppl trading with China conduct business this way and its the only
way they can make money
to pay for the huge staff and building costs based on Australian costs,
not Chinese costs.





I used to buy Weller when they cost $60, but they only lasted 18mths
max,
and I sent sent two of the failed irons back to Weller, who said they
wondered why they failed.
They said they thought it was salt in the water used to make a sort of
clay used in the irons.
I told them that since the filament is inherently such a fine bit of
wire, why not
make the irons 12V, and have thick wire unlikely to break.
They whinged about the cost of a transformer.
They had no intention of increasing the heating wire diameter and using
more turns to make it more rugged.

They sent me a free replacement which failed in 12mths.

I now no longer have any faith in Weller products, and may they stick
their
irons up their arse!

The Chinese irons have saved me a lot of money, and I don't worry they
last only
18mths; they are 13dB cheaper than the Weller, so who needs Weller? I
sure don't.

The Wellers I used were the WTCPT series which had a transformer.
Actually for awhile I just used the handpieces and made my own
transformer supply. This is in line with the idea that the best iron
to use is the one they use where you, or people you know well, work as
the tips and supplies are rather cheaper that way.

Metcal are the ultimate in irons but the price is high. I ran out of
WTCPT stuff some time ago and am using Hakkos now.

There was once a time when any mains voltage soldering iron you bought
would last 20 years
and use of being left on for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week,
or for the time you were in the workshop doing work.

Not any ****ing more.

Nah, they make the ****ing iron so it breaks real soon.

And its a real pity that western nation manufacturing companies cannot
compete
with the cheap Chinese crap. But compete they must, so what do they try
to do
to stay ahead? reduce the quality. Now how DUMB is this?
I wouldn't mind paying more for a Weller which feels better in my hands
than the Chinese Nicholson.

People will pay more for good tools and do so every day, here and in
Europe. Can only assume some there too. Don't they sell Snap-On tools
there? Stahlwille?

But the Chinese iron lasts just as well as the Weller, with a cheap mod
of series resistance.

So Weller deserve to go broke, and close down if they just subtract
quality, then insist
on charging over 4 times the price of Nicholson. The Chinese deserve a
medal for
giving us all the good alternative to the crap made by "our brothers" in
our own countries.

The "brothers" are always complaining that Chinese labour is so cheap,
and the can't
compete, but just how much damn labour is there in a largely machine
made 40 watt
soldering iron?
10 minutes? or is it a whopping 1/2 an hour?

Still they want $87 when the factory wage is about $20 per hour or even
less if they have people
on piece rates.

Few Americas in factories still make $20 an hour. A bunch make $10-15
US. Car plant is a little higher. Boeing pays better, but always lay
off.



Gee, I thought Detroit had become more or less a ghost town, or as they
euphemistically say,
a "city of transition", ie, all ****ed up.

We have had a few towns go bad like that too.

Ford is in a real mess I hear.....


I will continue to solder on and my ally in this war with connections is
the Chinese Worker.

Its a terrible shame that Mr Chinese Worker gets so badly exploited,
since the 10minutes it takes to build a soldering iron
costs only cents at the $2 per day wage rates the Chinese endure.

When I become PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD I will issue an edict that
all middle men have their activities attenuated by -20dB.

Better yet start a soldering iron factory in Oz. Even though you have
excessive union power there, people will buy them if they're as good
as a Metcal but a little cheaper.

I will ensure that WORKERS OF THE WORLD will be able to enjoy the same
conditions, rights
duties of care, etc all the world over, so it won't make any difference
where
workers are engaged for their services, real wages will be the same.

Downgrading western wages or quality won't be permitted, and China with
all the other nations will have to provide the improved conditions and
have it all paid
for by the nations now expoiting them, so that if any US company wants
its soldering irns
produced in China, they would be forced by law to ensure the Chinese
worker has the same wage as
the US worker.

Pigs will fly before such wage justice occurs, but at least I can dream
of a more just world
without the life upsetting dislocations caused by "moving operations
offshore"
and getting dirty work all done by underpaid slave labour out of sight,
and out of mind.

So when Nike want their shoes made in Indonesian factories for 20C, but
sell them for
$20 in Sydney, they must be made to pay $18.80 to the indonesian worker
directly, or build the hospitals
and schools and roads for the Indonesians so they have our way of
living.

The present Globilization going on and
present removal of worker rights and dumbing down of conditions unions
fought for
for in western nations is a mockery of justice, an insult to
altruism, and a shame on us all.

I don't give a **** if ppl think I am a Socialist.

Say it, S-O-C-I-A-L-I-S-T; there now, your brain didn't fall out of your
head now
did it?

Why is it that the birthrate is so low in Oz and many countries now?
Why are ppl marrying so late in life?
Why is there so much sham in western nation living quality of life?

Its because we don't give a **** about each other.

Western people aren't breeding because they prefer less population,
as do I. Others don't care.And are swamping us out. I'm an advocate
of eugenics, which is a worse word than socialism these days.


Yu Jeniks. I never knew the bloke myself.

Anyway, if the planet doesn't like us, it will kick us off....

And I ain't going to run some planes into buildings to press my points
about social justice, but I have a dream.

And they just tell me, shaddup, youse dreamin' again....

Ain't nothin I can do.

I just farnarkle with tubes, that's it.
Sometimes I ride a bicycle and the world seems different.....
I'd feel real uncomfortable if I owned a Rolls, it'd own me.

Patrick Turner

[Patrick Turner]

Ian Iveson wrote:

Why is it that the birthrate is so low in Oz and many countries
now?
Why are ppl marrying so late in life?
Why is there so much sham in western nation living quality of life?

Its because we don't give a **** about each other.

Why might that be, do you wonder?

I suggest you find some classic work in anthropology. Or perhaps
Engels' "The Family, Private Property and the State". You can't call
yourself a Socialist if you don't make an effort to understand this
stuff.


Methinks I have to read a heck of a lot more than Engels to fully
understand socialism.
I only know a little of tubes, and almost nothing to qualify me on
social sciences,
which BTW is a field where all the experts argue and have revolutions if
thay can.
But I see social injustice right before my very nose when I read the
newspapers
and see the newsreels, and know the difference in worker conditions
across national borders.

A Chinese worker gets $2 per day, the Oz worker gets $140 per day.

This seems quite unjust to me, and forgive me if I
would condemn in advance those who agree with the wage difference
injustice,
and then say the Chinese worker should get 20c, and the Oz worker
$1,400.




Western people aren't breeding because they prefer less population,
as do I. Others don't care.And are swamping us out. I'm an advocate
of eugenics, which is a worse word than socialism these days.


People in industrial societies stopped breeding because of pensions.
Although children are just as economically necessary as they used to
be on aggregate, they are no longer valued as individuals within their
own families.

Taxpayer funded old age is a trend all around the world, even in what
have been extremely
family oriented countries such as China.

But people don't stop breeding because they don't get pensions.
If anything the reverse is true, and the lower orders rely on unwed mums
pensions.

But anyone with brains and a flair for having a career puts off breeding
until the last minute,
or postpones it indefinately.

The options for a varied existance is much expanded, especially for
women, who are
much more liberated than they were when Germaine Sneer began raving
about
wymin's rights, ( and omitting anything much about the duty of care
everyone
needs to keep in mind while thinking about darn rights ).

So about 35% of all females born now won't marry, and won't breed.

I think they see the world as going to ****e, it looks so ****ed up.
So the ommission of breeding effort is a kind of mass depression.
Education means you become aware of how silly life on earth really is.





So we import cheap labour instead.

In places where children are expected to look after the older members
of families, it is in the interests of the individuals to have more
children.

China managed it's population and is now paying for its intervention
in all sorts of ways...all predicted but done anyway. Not enough young
women, too many old people, etc.

Anyway, it's got nothing to do with caring for anyone but each for
himself, as always. It's dead simple, and there is no need for hocus
pocus.

Children here are now just too expensive...just as slaves became...so
we stop having them.

cheers, Ian

Everything has become more expensive, but ppl want more and more and
more,
and the reason they don't breed is rampant materialism.
Shopping till ya drop, that's the way to go, run up the huge credit card
bill.
then a huge mobile phone bill prattling on about the BS
to like minded empty heads. Oops, no money left for breeding costs.
Its selfishness that stops breeding.

Its a very good thing we don't breed any more than we do.

Just as well every gal isn't expected to be barefoot and pregnant for
20 years of her adult life having 7 kids like they did in 1910
while us blokes had to work 60 hrs a week in the mine or factory to pay
for the whole thing,
and then to bury a few along the way, then die early ourselves.

China has a fine idea to stop excessive breeding, but it means there are
12% more
males since they abort many females. This will force the men to compete
more.
But they maybe won't bother, once they discover the delights of being
educated, rich, and
free of all the silly old restraints and ideas their grandparents insist
upon.

Only 1 person in 15 is needed to provide food for the other 14 because
the work of basic
maintenance of life is amplified by the use of fuels and technology.

All the old ideas in developing countries are being challenged, and even
in China
they have had to give up the idea that democracy comes from a barrel of
a gun,
and that capitalism is evil.

Democracy comes from paying the biggest bribes, then this slowly changes
to mass awareness and
increased freedoms and educational standards, so the power of the bribe
subsides, and capitalism
is good, because greed is good.

All this sometimes backfires of course, depressions occur, but the less
blood on the streets and the more work being done
means people are better off as a whole, but their unhappiness and
anxieties remain.
The unease of life is ever present, and people cannot be honest when you
ask them "how are yer mate?".
They mainly have hardly any idea why existance exists, so how would they
really know how they are?

But at the supermarket the girl asks me "how are ya", and I have to say,
"well, much better now that I've seen you."

Trouble is I'm 40 years out of date, and wouldn't be allowed to do
what's on my mind,
and if i could, the patch up job would take a week.....

Patrick Turner.

[Sander deWaal]

Patrick Turner said:


The Weller 40 watt 240V mains power soldering iron is a little beauty,
but
I've never had one last longer than 18mths, and its made by Cooper Tools
located in Oz at
Albury Wodonga afaik, since when I dealt with the maker after making
enquiries,
someone directed me to a factory at the above place. They were eager to
receive a couple of stuffed
irons so they could see maybe what made them fail.

FWIW: my first Weller station, a tip-controlled WTCP-S, survived 15
years of almost 8 hrs. of daily use , and is still used by my little
cousin who shows an interest in audio.

My second Weller, a WECP-S, I bought new in 1990 or so, still works
flawlessly. Tip life is usually over 5 years, at nearly daily use.
The choice of my third station, needed because of the use with
lead-free solder, was therefore simple: a Weller WS81.

My Pace desoldering station is about 20 years old now and still works
fine, the Ersa desoldering station I once bought lasted only 3 years.
Then the nozzle broke when I tried to remove it. Shucks.

--

- Maggies are an addiction for life. -

[Ruud Broens]

"Sander deWaal" wrote in message
...
: Patrick Turner said:
:
:
: The Weller 40 watt 240V mains power soldering iron is a little beauty,
: but
: I've never had one last longer than 18mths, and its made by Cooper Tools
: located in Oz at
: Albury Wodonga afaik, since when I dealt with the maker after making
: enquiries,
: someone directed me to a factory at the above place. They were eager to
: receive a couple of stuffed
: irons so they could see maybe what made them fail.
:
: FWIW: my first Weller station, a tip-controlled WTCP-S, survived 15
: years of almost 8 hrs. of daily use , and is still used by my little
: cousin who shows an interest in audio.
:
: My second Weller, a WECP-S, I bought new in 1990 or so, still works
: flawlessly. Tip life is usually over 5 years, at nearly daily use.
: The choice of my third station, needed because of the use with
: lead-free solder, was therefore simple: a Weller WS81.
:
: My Pace desoldering station is about 20 years old now and still works
: fine, the Ersa desoldering station I once bought lasted only 3 years.
: Then the nozzle broke when I tried to remove it. Shucks.
:
: --
:
: - Maggies are an addiction for life. -


I'm beginning to think, Cooper Wellers coming from the Zeppelinstrasse
are better than their cousins :-)
My WTCP says 83-10 , so that's over 2 decades of service.
Rudy

all wellers are wellers, but some..