Inside the Cheapest Soldering Iron on ebay

[Homer J Simpson]

About $1.50 US ?

[Brumby]

I bought one that looked identical to that from a Chinese merchant direct from their website.  The internals looked the same, but were a little better put together, including an attempt at some strain relief.  Maybe that's why it was nearly double the price!

It, too, was unearthed, but had a point that I could attach an earthing wire - so after digging out an old 3 core plug and lead I'd salvaged from another dead appliance, the unit was upgraded and tested.

It was rated at 40W 220V and when I measured it, the supply was around 240V and it was consuming 47W.  That worked out about right.  The only reason I bought it was for working on car wiring (especially in confined spaces) after my old 40W iron died.  I've bought a few things from this merchant and while I've not had high expectations, I've haven't had many complaints.

For the price, it was worth a shot.  Besides, pulling out something from my junk box and actually using it for this upgrade has helped justify my bower bird collection.   

[strangersound]

Dave had the exact same one in the latest mailbag. The handle was blue, but it was exactly the same. Talk about junk...I might as well just solder a mains cable to a screwdriver.

[rrinker]

Dave had the exact same one in the latest mailbag. The handle was blue, but it was exactly the same. Talk about junk...I might as well just solder a mains cable to a screwdriver.

 And in a pinch it could double as a mug boiler (see that other hideous piece of Chinese junk that Big Clive did a video on).

[Asavage9794]

It looked sketchy just from the outside lol. The gauge and the quality of the wire gave it away.