Now I'm really confused. If someone could please explain, how is it a 100 watt iron, if the changeable tips are either 80, 70 or 60 watt?
Reply The 100 watts help the iron to maintain heat better while you're soldering. When you are soldering on stained glass, a full 100 watts would be too hot...melt lead, cause glass to crack, etc. Therefore, Weller got ingenious and produced an iron that would help to maintain heat, but the temperature you solder with would be controlled by the tips.
When you solder, the flux and cold solder cause the iron to cool down some as you solder. Using a higher wattage iron helps to prevent the need to put the iron down and wait for it to heat up to full temperature again. Some "fast" solderers actually have 2 irons plugged in so they can go from one iron to the other rather than having to wait.
This web site explains the action of the tips:
Etsy
Nov 25, 2009
Iron TipsNEW by: Patrick
If you are interested in exactly what the tip temperature is, an infrared temperature gauge with an operating range suitable for a soldering iron. The melting point for lead is 327.46°C or 621.43 °F . For a Weller W100 the standard 3/8" tip keeps the temperature at 700 degrees F. which is the melting temp. of solder.
I personally use a W80 usually with a MTG21 0.250 x 6mm chisel tip, nickel plated for most of my foil work. I use a 5/16" for larger lead came work. For tight corners inside a jewel box I use a .250" filed to a pyramid point. I used a rheostat controller all the time. Hope this helps.
