Many of us have invested in this popular tool but I became frustrated with mine as the large circular insert that does the work would never come up to or hold enough heat. This is mainly due to marginal heat conduction between the soldering iron's neck and the insert, where contact is limited to the tips of the two small screws. I see folks use these all the time so maybe I got a lemon. Anyway, I had set it aside and moved to soaking/bending/clamping months ago.
Meanwhile, the Clara May English Ketch I'm building uses thick 1.5mm x 5mm Samba planks and they are pretty tough to bend and hold shape. Got curious and pulled out my old soldering iron to compare it to the MS bender. My old iron uses threaded 8-32 inserts to secure the tip, versus external screws (which seems to now be the standard). Hmm...the neck on the MS insert sure looked awfully close in size and sure enough, I was able to easily cut 8-32 threads. Once attached, the insert heated quickly and bending wet test pieces was a breeze. I later shortened and cleaned up the threads (as pictured) in order for the bottom face to make direct contact with the collar of the iron, which most certainly improved conduction even more. Sure I'm only using the insert from the original tool but I can now use it for, wait for it, soldering.
Nice to (again) have another bending option!
Meanwhile, the Clara May English Ketch I'm building uses thick 1.5mm x 5mm Samba planks and they are pretty tough to bend and hold shape. Got curious and pulled out my old soldering iron to compare it to the MS bender. My old iron uses threaded 8-32 inserts to secure the tip, versus external screws (which seems to now be the standard). Hmm...the neck on the MS insert sure looked awfully close in size and sure enough, I was able to easily cut 8-32 threads. Once attached, the insert heated quickly and bending wet test pieces was a breeze. I later shortened and cleaned up the threads (as pictured) in order for the bottom face to make direct contact with the collar of the iron, which most certainly improved conduction even more. Sure I'm only using the insert from the original tool but I can now use it for, wait for it, soldering.
Nice to (again) have another bending option!
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