Hi,
I “inherited” a Milwaukee 1400 heatgun recently, and when I got it, I was hoping that I could use it for something, so I tried desoldering a component on a junk board. It actually worked ok, but smoke came out the tip, but the manual says that this is “normal”.
However, later, when I tried to turn it on, it was dead.
I actually dumped it into the trash at first, but being a BLFer now, I dug it out and took it apart, suspecting a fusible link had blown.
I had to take the whole thing apart, but sure enough, I did find what I think is a fusible link, and when I short across it, the gun works again.
The link looks something like this:
Googling, I’ve seen discussions about electrical vs. heat type links, and I’m guessing that this is a heat-activated type link.
The thing is that, design-wise, this link was physically inside the heatgun “tube”, right behind the heating coils. The gun is designed like:
BACK => FAN => (LINK inside back end of tube) => TUBE => FRONT
So I’m guessing that when I trying the gun, I was holding it pointing downwards (naturally), so the heat went backwards and caused the link to blow.
It’s been interesting taking it apart, but now I need to decide what to do with it :)….
I’ve seen suggestions to short the link and put a fuse near as possible on the cord, rather than replacing the link.
Anyone done something like this? Recommendations?
Thanks,
Jim