Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

Also used elsewhere... I had one like that way back. I's actually quite effective but not very good for detailed work.

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

I sucessfully replaced such a USB port on N900. The USB port I ordered from China. There are still 16 left of them
https://ihrkoenntmichalleamarschleck.../USB_ports.jpg

In case you are interested I'll mail them to you for free. Please PM me your address.

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

Did you not read my post? I admit it's a bit long but I explained it there.
The short answer is yes. This one is nearly 40 years old.

As juiceme says, you can still get them all over the place, albeit the arrangement is a bit different. The leads are vertical for some mysterious reason rather than horizontal. For example, like this:

https://cdn.alza.sk/ImgW.ashx?fd=f3&cd=CMP432

Juiceme is also correct that they are not great for fine work. Not only because the tip is too thick for details, but also because it is heated by pushing a big alternating current (in the region of 100A or even more, at a very low voltage) through the tip, which creates a strong, oscillating magnetic field. Good for demagnetizing stuff but can induce current in surrounding surfaces. You can literally feel the effect when soldering large copper plates. The induced current creates an opposite magnetic field that pushes the tip away :)

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

The pistol type soldering device is mostly used for automotive?
They used to be common with the little lightbulb too, it feels like a bit of 50s-70s home repair tech from when everything was hand built on drilled out non-PCB non-clad circuit board, all through hole components with wire jumpers. Very Fender Champ tube guitar amp fixey.

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

Since I don't know which country you lived in as a teenager it wasn't 100% clear to me.
But thanks for clarifying!
Don't throw it away, it looks great. I still have a GDR bass amplifier in the basement :D

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

Well, I did say Soviet Bloc ;)

Hint: that country no longer exists. It broke in two in 1993. Both parts joined the EU in 2004. One of them switched to the Euro in 2009, the other has not yet. The rest is left as an exercise :)

No worries, I have no intention to throw it away. I still use it. It's almost indestructible. A lot of things in that era were built to last. Not fall to pieces a day after the warranty expires like today.

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

I know I know! (both ot them) :D
What do I win?


p.s. and now you are out of EU again :eek:

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

So we all know the direction of soviet inspired socialism lead...
But still I feel like if it were not for stupid monopolized consumer markets leaving us with about as meany choices as the other side of the old iron curtain separating east and west we could have tools not designed to die and be replaced for a stupid profit but good tools at a reasonable rate.
That said I have owned a bunch of communist zone 70s-80s military stuff and way too much of it was total crap too, to match the cool Kalishnikov/Soyuz grade stuff. I guess everyone cuts corners sometimes.

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

You said that's where you came from a long time ago, but nowhere did you specify how old you were and whether you as a teenager were still there or in the UK already. In other words, the original post that made me ask the question does not clearly state where you lived when you got that iron, and that's why I asked:

No harm done, but I don't like to be called out for being inattentive when I wasn't.

Now, let's leave it at this as Trzyzet has more important things to say here and I do not want to distract any further.

Re: Maybe it's time to do something with broken USB sockets?
 

Great domain name :D