Sentimental Issues
Back in my Uni days, I bought what I thought was a pretty sweet soldering station - the Micron W/2172. If I remember right it cost about 4 weeks worth of part time wages, and I think it was worth it - it's lasted about 20 years so far.But, there are issues. I can't find a supply of new tips for it, and the last good tip is a conical one. So it was put away in the cupboard and I upgraded to a Hakko 396 station.
Then I got to thinking... both stations used a 24V supply to heat their irons, so how hard would it be to graft a 907 handle into the Micron station? It would also be handy - I could load the Micron station with a big chisel tip for when you need a lot of thermal mass, standardise on one set of spares for both stations, and avoid having to swap tips on my Hakko all the time. WIN!
Will It Work?
There is a lot of information out there about the Hakko 907 handle, and this topic on the EEVBlog forum was exceptionally helpful. The important point to take away is that the 907 handle uses a thermistor to measure it's temperature.
If the Micron does the same, it should be a simple mod.
Take it Apart!
So, I whipped to cover off and started to take a look.
