Nottawhackjob, not a silly a bit. A valid set of questions/comments indeed.
Well it is posted in the DYI & Modding forum. Where some of our members perform at the wizard level as far as mods, electronic knowledge, and skill sets go.
I would think adding a wire and scraping some covering is within the DYI realm.
I did state that it would be an unlikely event that an internal short would occur. And yes one would have to have a very specific set of circumstances to create a dangerous situation.
Say something inside the power supply did short to the chassis – however unlikely. Bare feet in a puddle of water is not needed. Just touching the power supply and another properly grounded piece of equipment – say a bench top O-Scope, a power supply, a grounded work surface, or even a metal light fixture would create a path to ground using me as a jumper. In other lands where 240v is the line voltage could make this even more exciting…
Now the anodized coating would add another layer of safety to the mix.
But why not add a simple mod to improve matters?
As far a UL rating. It is my belief that virtually all of the sub $100 PID controlled irons are not UL listed and that they too do not have a chassis ground. Youtube is full of vids showing how to make a chassis ground on these PID stations.
Besides the many many variants of these PID irons, lots of the electronics sold on ebay lack UL ratings and may have some inherent danger if used improperly.
For example the many lasers that exceed the US maximum power rating.
And many of the “as seen on TV” lights (and other stuff) are so poorly designed or constructed as to be a hazard. I’d worry more about a system that overcharges a LiPo than one of these irons.
These cheep PIDs or the ~$90 versions use T12 type tips that are used by the fancier and way more expensive soldering stations. These place the heating element very near the tip itself and with the PID control keep a more constant temperature compared to a typical barrel mounted heating element.
Spending $20 - $90 is within the budget for someone wanting a good iron. Where several hundred $$ for a name brand that does basically the same thing perhaps is not.
All the Best,
Jeff
PS, The more I think about it, the less I would worry about using the iron in it’s out of the box format. It would need a rather specific set of conditions to make it a hazard. I would check to see if PC board was mounted upside down to insure a longer life span for the components.