Weller Soldering Iron Heat Set Insert Press

I really liked the original Adafruit  Heat Set Insert Press, but I wanted to use my Weller WLIR6012A soldering iron and a spare MGN 12-H linear rail I had. There are also some great remix parts from the Adafruit design, so I incorporated what I feel are the best remixed parts. The Weller WLIR3012A iron should also fit.

• I liked the idea of using a standard 608 skateboard bearing.
• I needed more counter-weight for my set-up.
• I designed a mount for the Weller WLIR6012A / WLIR3012A soldering iron.
• Added a top-mounted cable holder to keep power cord out of the way.

Hardware required:

Base Mount

• 2 ea. M4 x 8 screws for the base to mount the base to the 2020 extrusion
• 2 ea. M4 hammer nuts for the base to mount the base to the 2020 extrusion
• 4 ea screws to mount the base mount to your base of your choice - I used a scrap piece of 5/8" birch plywood

Linear Rail

• 5 ea. M3 x 8 screws for the linear rail to mount to the 2020 extrusion
• 5 ea. M3 hammer nuts for the linear rail to mount to the 2020 extrusion
• 1 ea. MGN12-H Linear Rail - I used a 300 mm length

Linear Rail Carriage Mount

• 4 ea. M3 x 12 screws to mount the iron holder to the linear rail carriage adapter
• 4 ea. M3 x 20 screws to mount the iron holder to the carriage adapter
• 4 ea. M3 square nuts to mount the iron holder to the carriage adapter

Top Roller Assembly

• 2 ea. M4 x 12 screws to mount the top roller assembly together
• 2 ea. M4 x 16 screws to mount the cable holder to the top roller assembly
• 4 ea. M4 nuts to mount the top roller assembly together
• 1 ea. M4 x 8 screw to mount the top roller assembly to the 2020 extrusion
• 1 ea. M4 hammer nut to mount the top roller assembly to the 2020 extrusion
• 1 ea. 608 roller bearing

Soldering Iron Clamp

• 1 ea. M3 x 14 screw to clamp the soldering iron
• 1 ea. M3 nut  to clamp the soldering iron

Other Parts

• Some string to attach the iron assembly to the counter-weight
• 1 ea. Weller WLIR6012A / WLIR3012A soldering iron
• 1 ea. 2020 extrusion - I used a 500 mm extrusion
• Heat insert tips/set to fit the Weller soldering iron

Printing Information:

Print all parts as oriented; the only parts that needed support are the top roller bearing housing and the lever.

I printed most of my parts with Atomic Carbon fiber ABS. I also printed the stop on the back for the counter-weight in TPU to absorb any shock. For counter-weight, I used lead air gun pellets and had to fill the container to get self-retraction of the soldering iron assembly. I also used hot glue to attach the lid after filling the counter-weight container.

I have also included a linear rail alignment guide for use during attachment of the linear rail to the 20x20 extrusion - print two of these for use during assembly.

Thanks to Luis Manuel Ramirez for the Weller soldering iron mount that I completely modified to work for this heat insert press, and all the others for their remix designs.

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