Iron Recommendation?

[jonbakerok]

Well, I'm finally ready to start covering. Ordered my chemicals from Stewart's today.

Can anyone recommend an iron that holds its temperature well?

[cap01]

cant really recommend an iron as the small amount of fabric work that ive done so far, i used one of the wifes old irons . but interested to hear you are using the stewarts system . from all ive seen , it the neatest thing since sliced bread . no mek , has got my attention . please keep posting how you progress , im sure lots of people are interested as i am .
good luck

[Agfoxflyer]

Jon, I must have bought 6 or 7 irons and tested them. Most had been recomended on a Kitfox list. I found that when the heating element kicks in the temp rises about 25 deg and slowly fall back. I finally used a "Rowenta". Had never heard of that brand but got it at Walmart. I just used a good calibration thermometer with heat sink and marked on the dial the average temp and everything worked fine. The little hobby iron I also got for tight places held temps better than the full size irons.

[SkyPirate]

I've used a modeller's iron ,..it's a small surface but it did the job

[t j]

It was ten years ago so the models may have changed. I started with a Black and Decker 365. that worked fine. You use the tip of the iron a lot to smooth fabric attached to tubes, wing leading edge etc. That wore the coating off my iron about 3/4 ths of the way through the project.

I then got a Sunbeam 3951 which was shown in the Poly-Fiber manual. it worked well too. Each of those irons were less than $20 back then.

A tip: when calibrating and when using the iron always turn the dial or slide the same direction to get to a heat setting. That is, always turn it up to the setting you want , not down. There is a little slack in those controls so turning the control up, to say your 300 degree mark will result in a different temperature than turning it down to that same mark from a higher setting. Did that make sense?

I have heard that an infrared thermometer works well to calibrate and check the iron during use. I haven't tried one but if it works it is a "Must have". The candy thermometer method and heat sink compound is a slow process.

[jonbakerok]

Do you know which model number your Rowenta was?

I asked my wife about it and she said Rowenta is a real expensive professional quality iron. She didn't think Walmart sold them but she can get them wholesale (she has a quilting business). If we could figure out which iron yours was, maybe I could get my wife to stock them in her ebay "store" and then any one who needs a good iron could order one without having to buy half a dozen irons to find one that works.

By the way, the cheapest Rowenta we could find in the catalog that doesn't have an auto-shutoff feature was $75 WHOLESALE. I'd hate to buy $600 worth of irons to find one that works!

[SkyPirate]

modellers iron $18 radio shack,..like I mentioned ..it's small but it works well and it's light,..so stretching across the fuselage and wing isn't like trying to holding a bowling ball over an egg after 5 minutes of ironing,.and it doesn't have a "fall over safety switch"

when you start ironing ..no matter which iron you get,..don't be afraid to lightly drag the iron down each section between the ribs to tighten things a little at first .. once you get going watch your rib stitches to make sure your not shrinking too much on one side or the other of a rib making your stitch lines curve,..same with the fuselage,..you can actually distort the fuselage tubes down the tail if you put too much heat,..try not to concentrate on one side too much ..do a little on each side top bottom ,..this will ensure your fabric shrinks evenly.

i want to see photo's~!!

Chase

[Av8r3400]

Whoa there, SkyPirate... Shouldn't you rib-stitch AFTER shrinking the fabric?!

[SkyPirate]

my bust mis appropriated word phrase ..."rib stitch" equals "rib line" ..it is glued to the rib and can curve a rib if too much heat is on one side or the other,..my backyard mechanics translater must have crashed

as ussual ..my brain is going faster then my typing finger ..again

[Agfoxflyer]

Jon, my wife corrected me. Did get it at JoAnn Fabrics. It was $59.95 (7 years ago) and the model was Rowenta DE-010.