Monokote help provided!

[Ted Sander]

 Hey Michael - just in time.  I was thinking of polluting the list with a
"Test" to see if I could post messages (haven't been able to for months!).
Now I can send a legit response!

The 21st Century iron is very good - excellent temp response, great shape on
the shoe for working in all the tight spots.  I frequently don't even need
to think about firing up my little Monokote trim iron.  The bad - I've found
that it just doesn't last.  I've had 3 burn up on me in the last 5 yrs, and
I'm not a very prolific builder (couple of three planes a year).  At some
point, the thermostat sticks on, the iron overheats, and then fails
completely - no heat again.  I still buy them - but it is the one electrical
item in my house that I NEVER leave plugged in when I'm not around, even for
potty breaks, etc..just can't be trusted!

Now, my old Monokote iron continues to work like a champ after almost 30
yrs.  Too bad it's so scratched that it's only use is in place of 80 grit!

Ted

 

-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of michael Medlin
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 7:20 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Monokote help provided!

 

 

 

I'm looking to buy a new iron to cover my Focus 2 and was looking at the
coverite 21st century with the heat setting knob in the handle. It claims to
hold heat within 3 degrees . Does anyone have any experience with this iron
as far as quality and life expectancy? Thanks, Michael

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: EHaury at aol.com 

To: discussion at nsrca.org 

Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:43 AM

Subject: Re: Monokote help provided!

 

Some of the best MK work I've done has been with Terry's method. 

 

Unfortunately there's a variable that crept in, that being the equipment. My
old faithful heatgun gave up the ghost! Three new guns and they're all junk.
One howls like a banshee and all three deliver heat somewhere besides where
they're aimed and each at different temps. I hate buying things that then
need be rebuild / engineered for them to work properly! 

 

Irons aren't much better. As someone in this thread mentioned, most have
uneven heat distribution over the sole. Some have a broad temp range for a
given setting. The low cost types with the bi-metal control are usually the
widest. I've had one with a solid state temp control fail high and flame a
sock within seconds. All in all a wide variation in performance of the usual
MK application equipment.

 

I suspect that those with good equipment have good experiences with MK and
vice versa. If you're lucky enough to be the former, be wary if you replace
equipment. 

 

Earl

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