HOT-AIR REWORK STATION - 303D - Maintenance

Hello,

I have a hot-air station 303D that appears to have the display temperature go to zero when the wand is moved at a certain angle. This makes me and technicians think that there is a disconnection of the heating element somewhere. Originally I thought it might be a bad soldering connection in the wand. I opened it up and looked at the connections but they seemed fine. I closed that wand back up and the issue went away. A few days later my production department said it was happening again. Can you give me some guidance as to what the issue could be. I saw that in the Maintenance section of the user manual it says the heating element needs replacing sometimes but it does not say how often to replace this part and what the effects of this part failing are. Thanks for any help you can provide.

The element failing can definitely produce this error, as can a loose connection inside the product’s housing - the lifespan of the element would largely depend on how it has been used (higher temps, longer periods = shorter lifespan)…

I would suggest unplugging it, opening the case and seeing if there is anything obviously loose in the cabling…and if not, go ahead and replace the heating element https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11130

Best of luck!