OK SA-1000 Soldering Station

[ibgm]

Hi- I bought this station at a yard sale a few years ago for short money, recently the nylon knurled nut that holds down the shaft that holds the iron tip cracked, does anyone know where I can get another one? The iron itself is the SAI-690. I really like the system, but I can't find any sources for spare parts. Hate to throw it out.

[stj]

pictures please.
a lot of irons are clones of other irons - so pictures are handy

SAI-690 is a METCAL part number!!!

[stj]

is it this?
looks a bit like a xytronics iron.

[clearchris]

Probably print one of buy new iron (just the part that you hold), you can get these clone irons cheap on ali.

[ibgm]

Yes STJ- That's looks exactly like it. It does say SAI-690 and has the OK industries logo on the sticker. The black plastic nut that holds down the shaft is what is cracked. I wish I could find one.

[R_J]

If you can't find the part, make a ring out of metal (thin copper or tin) that will fit around the ring to hold it together.

[ibgm]

I'll try and Mcgyver something. Maybe the high temp JB Weld. Nothing to lose at this point. Just hate to throw it away. Thanks for listening everybody!

[ibgm]

Stalked EBAY for a couple months, found a brand new replacement "OK" iron from a great e-bayer for $18 delivered!! My station lives again!!

[momaka]

Originally Posted by ibgm

found a brand new replacement "OK" iron from a great e-bayer for $18 delivered!! My station lives again!!

Nice! Good to hear you have your station back.

As for the old iron handle, I do have a few suggestions, if you want to fix the old one as a "backup".
For starters, see if the plastic on the cracked nut reacts to PVC glue (the type used for gluing sewer / wastewater pipes) or ABS glue. If you apply a small dab to the surface, wait approximately a minute and then smudge it around and see the plastic becoming melted / dissolved into the glue, then break the nut and re-glue with PVC/ABS glue back together. Depending on the plastic (typically ABS, PVC, PS, and sometimes PC), it may bond back together just as strong as it was originally.
But if the above doesn't work, you can try applying rubber cement / contact cement glue around the whole ring, and then wrap with a layer or two of some hard material (or several layers of paper and contact cement might do too.) Contact cement glue is flexible (looks like orange/brown bubble gum when dry) and can't hold two objects together in a rigid manner over a small surface area. But when backed up with another material for strength and rigidity, it can. And the good thing about contact cement is that it has overall good resistance to temperature.
There are probably other ways to "McGyver" this too, of course.

[ibgm]

Thanks, I'll try anything, always good to have a back-up! It is a great station that gets hot enough to melt the high temp RoHS solder!

[stj]

the RoHS solder isnt that much higher in temp,
the problem is china is using a lot of solder that is almost pure tin - maybe even recycled.
it doesnt like to reflow no matter what temp you use.

[ibgm]

I have dealt with these high tin boards, I flood them with regular solder and let it sit for a bit. I've fixed some older motherboards on computer test stations where I work. If you're not careful, you can rip up the runs on the circuit board. I hate those boards. Unfortunately, we have test stations where I work, that were designed in the 90's that won't run on new computers. So we have to maintain these old systems.