Monokote help provided!

[Terry Terrenoire]

Ted: you can get a replacement shoe for the Monokote iron, and make it
good as new.
My experience with the 21st Century iron has been just the opposite. I've
had mine since they came out 10 years or so ago, and have just had to
replace the shoe once. I build 8-10 planes a year, so maybe it just likes
to be used and not hidden in a closet!!!! :)

Terry T.

On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 07:31:12 -0600 "Ted Sander" <tedsander at comcast.net>
writes:
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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