Solder iron broke

[HolaImBob]

My soldering iron broke just after I finished making my keyboard. the temperature display just shows a number between 40 and 50. I have opened it up, nothing looks/smells burnt. but a part in the soldering iron has a small rattling sound. I think its a capacitor. could I replace it if it is broken? pictures of the part below. the part has no writing on it. I cant test it with a voltmeter as I cant find mine.

 

[Adorable Cat]

If you find the source of the rattling, you can probably fix it. If it's a capacitor you can probably get a replacement (I don't actually know, never actually shopped for that stuff) but it might be hard to replace without a soldering iron.

[HolaImBob]

4 minutes ago, Sayori said:

If you find the source of the rattling, you can probably fix it. If it's a capacitor you can probably get a replacement (I don't actually know, never actually shopped for that stuff) but it might be hard to replace without a soldering iron.

the rattling is the small grey part pictured. I have another soldering iron but it doesn't hold its heat for any longer than a minute, guess thats what $5 gets you.

[tankhunter8192]

i dont think that it;s a capazitor because the sound discription makes more sense with an inductor

[Scheer]

May just be a movement switch and is functioning normally. My soldering iron rattles as well, which is a small ball roughly held in place with a spring wire inside a similar looking tube that will short out to kick the iron back to full temp. This way it can power down to save electricity when not being used, but instantly start heating up when you pick it up.

 

What brand/model soldering iron?

[mariushm]

The pictures suck. There's some kind of end of lead under the blue fiber glass sleeve, not sure if they just didn't cut the end of one of the wires after they soldered it, or it's the broken lead from that part.

 

The part may be a capacitor or something else. There IS something written on it, your component simply has an additional layer of heatshrink material over the markings - they probably put that extra layer of insulation to make sure the case doesn't touch the exposed ends of the blue or white wires going to the heater element.

You can use a razor blade or an exacto knife or any sharp blade to carefully cut a line vertically across that component and take off the sleeve and read the markings off that part. When you're done or after you replace it, you can use some regular electrical tape or heatshrink to put this insulation yourself to your component.

 

It could be a capacitor but they shouldn't put such components in the hot iron tip, it could be a plain resistor though i doubt it, normally they're axial, they have leads on each end.

If your soldering iron is expensive enough it could be a small magnetic switch or something like that, which is used to tell the main unit to go in stand-by when you put the iron in the placeholder (because the placeholder will have a permanent magnet in it). If that part is broken, the unit may think your tip is always in the placeholder.