Lament for the death of my soldering iron (apologies to Jim Morrison)

[amptramp]

My Ningbo Zhongdi 48 watt soldering station is now intermittent.  Sometimes it doesn't warm up, sometimes it is warm but not hot after a couple of minutes but maybe at some point it will go back to normal.  This is a Princess Auto / Harbor Freight special and I should really stop trying to get bargain tools there.  (I have a 3/8" and a 1/2" Princess Auto torque wrench and like the soldering iron, they worked once and never again.)

[moid]

also an update - no, I don't think there is any steenking clips missing. I spent this afternoon hacking a bit of crappy pine into a fall-out gap filler, now it holds the iron, well, like a weller. good thing too, cause if the bloody thing had fallen out, my natural reaction would have been to grab it.

I'm not too keen on the tips for shape or heat transfer. I don't like conicals, never have. the screwdriver tips are shaped like screwdrivers - square across the tip instead of the double-flat [or chisel] conicals I've been wellering with this last 40 years. also, heat. too much? not enough?

hot enough for ya?

The Hakko soldering grip I've got actually grips the solder iron really firm. I'm very pleased with that, never had a stand that actually felt like it wasn't going to fall over and drop the iron before. I might look at chisel tips then; I've only ever used conical tips. Might turn the heat up on the Hakko a bit - it takes longer to melt the solder than my old iron, but I wasn't sure if that was the small size of the tip... at least that's what she said anyway

[iainpunk]

I've got one of these: http://www.bgmicro.com/soldering-station-hardwired-with-temperature-control.aspx

I realize you're in the UK, but something similar should be available.  I think this is the same soldering station Velleman sells (mod. VTSS5U).  Looking at thrir on-line store, I found this: https://www.vellemanstore.com/en/velleman-vtdesol3u-desoldering-vacuum-pump-with-heated-tip
It's a desoldering iron and pump in one unit.  I have/had one and really liked it, esp when you have a lot of stuff to unsolder.

Just out of curiosity, couldn't one make a temperature/power controller out of a common light dimmer?  I've got one mounted in a utility box with a double outlet.  I use it to adjust lighting for photography.

yeah, a dimmer is fun and all , but it doesn't really work that well, yes, it lowers the temp, but it also massively increases heat up time, that's the reason i went even more DIY on the experiment and used a solid state relay with a 10Hz PWM generator, i have limited the PW to max 50% and a big external knob changes the PW from 0% to 50%, but when i push a little button on the irons handle, it goes in to turbo mode (full power) so i can heat up the iron in a jiffy. i usually run the iron on about 40% which is 20W on my 50W iron, and that's more than enough for prototype boards, but when soldering the grounds to the backs of pots, i have the turbo mode on all the time. if you go the dimmer route, i recommend a high power "mains directly" soldering iron and a turbo switch

[duck_arse]

further update - this tip, from a packet marked 900M-T-2LD is, without doubt, the worst tip I've ever tried to solder with. heats everything in sight, but not such that the solder flows or wicks right. gah.