mm said:
hex-shaped, not round
Why did Weller, 20 or 30 years ago, stop making its irons with the
six-sided section, just behind the tip. It kept the iron from rolling
off the table.
Is "behind the tip" (which should NOT be resting anywhere to "roll")
actually mean the flared hand guard? If so, they probably figured
you're not supposed to be unsafely laying a soldering iron on a table
but instead in a holder aka soldering station.
Soldering station
http://www.a1parts.com/solomon/img/sh814.jpg
Cheapo made out of a flat metal plate
http://www.freepatternsforstainedglass.com/images/how-to-make-a-soldering-iron-stand-21329996.jpg
Cheapo made out of a block of wood, household sponge, and wire hanger
http://noisybox.net/weblog/images/crack_head_iron_stand.jpg
Just a wire coat hanger
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5jmCs4GH9Zw/TG7k8MmrFkI/AAAAAAAAAFA/nk28a0XVCgo/s1600/photo-2.JPG
While a good soldering station is preferrable, not everyone has room in
their toolbox to be lugging around one. There are cheapies that are
merely a rest atop of which you put the hot element (i.e., soldering
iron rests instead of soldering iron stations), like:
http://images.hobbytron.com/E-SH-2-lg.jpg
http://img2.fastenal.com/productimages/0817708_hr4c.jpg (by guess who?)
I've even seen ashtrays used as soldering iron holders: you lay the body
across the ashtray, not rest the hot tip on it (so even a plastic
ashtray will work). The one that gets tossed around in my toolbox looks
like heavy-guage wire bent into a loop with a stem that comes up and
then bent horizontally with a dip along the level wire in which the tip
is rested.
Look at
http://images.google.com/images?q="soldering+iron". Some
have hexagonal guards, some are round. Even with the hex guards, they
provide little real protection against the soldering iron rolling
around, especially considering any torque applied by a twisted power
cord. It is dangerous to just lay a soldering iron on a table
regardless of what style hand guard it employs. I've seen users lots of
times trying to grab their soldering iron when the twisted cord makes it
roll ending up burning their table or carpet if not themselves.
