Waxing Iron - Digital Setting vs Conventional Dial?

[Plai]

Another luddite here, using cast off clothes irons for waxing. It's simple, easy and cheap. Can it be easier with newer, specific built product? Probably, but, maybe a lack of imagination on my part, can't imagine it being a night and day difference. It's your life, do you.

 

[snwbrdr]

If you're just getting into waxing... you can start with a standard dial iron... you can always upgrade later.

I started with a basic Swix dial iron... when I upgraded to a Toko digital iron, I gave my Swix to a friend that showed interest in DIY waxing.

 

[François Pugh]

Poor man pays twice.

 

[Plai]

Another luddite here, using cast off clothes irons for waxing. It's simple, easy and cheap. Can it be easier with newer, specific built product? Probably, but, maybe a lack of imagination on my part, can't imagine it being a night and day difference. It's your life, do you.

Poor man pays twice.

Given my investment in (3x) clothes irons for waxing is <$5, I can probably buy 10x for the price of an entry level dedicated tool. I'll take my chances .

 

[NE1]

Given my investment in (3x) clothes irons for waxing is <$5, I can probably buy 10x for the price of an entry level dedicated tool. I'll take my chances .

I thought he was referring to the possibility of damaging your equipment by overheating with a cheap iron, not the price of the iron(s?) per se.

 

[pete]

My position exactly. The numbers on the dial are just a starting point.

"up to 11" is my iron's setting ...

one can look at watts for irons. higher wattage presuming decent thermal control circuit would mean a heat load effect is minimalized.

 

[pchewn]

More important than digital vs dial would be:

• What is the thermal inertia of the iron? (mass times specific heat of the material).
• What is the wattage of the heating element? Is the heating element well integrated into the base material and able to spread the heat and not create a hot spot?
• How stable is the control system for maintaining a constant temperature? (Heat sensor precision/accuracy, how much overshoot before turning off, how much undershoot before turning on. Does the control system just turn on the heater and turn off, or does it modulate the output power continuously?)

Take your iron and set it for a temperature. Pour cold water on it. See what the temperature does. Compare to another iron.

 

[François Pugh]

I thought he was referring to the possibility of damaging your equipment by overheating with a cheap iron, not the price of the iron(s?) per se.

I was referring to paying for a cheap dedicated ski iron, instead of a good iron.
Get a good clothes iron and you won't have to get two more.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Another use for touchless thermometers. I got mine for managing my beer brewing mash temps, but use it for all sorts of things. For any iron, you'll want to calibrate it. Just because the dial or indicator says one temp, it may not really be that temp.

@pchewn hits the nail on the head. Test the ability of your iron to maintain temperature and to recover from use that will, of course, require the iron to keep temperatures up with the use.

 

[crgildart]

I thought he was referring to the possibility of damaging your equipment by overheating with a cheap iron, not the price of the iron(s?) per se.

If the wax is smoking, the iron is to hot, turn it down. Pretty simple to avoid base burn or worse just by following that simple rule. If the wax isn't dripping or not dripping fast enough turn it up some and watch for smoke just in case. I used a cheap clothes iron for 40 years until someone GAVE me a one of these.

Robot or human?

 

[sparty]

If the wax is smoking, the iron is to hot, turn it down. Pretty simple to avoid base burn or worse just by following that simple rule. If the wax isn't dripping or not dripping fast enough turn it up some and watch for smoke just in case. I used a cheap clothes iron for 40 years until someone GAVE me a one of these.

Yeah, but they don't make clothes irons like they did 40 years ago. If the thermostat works, a 40-year-old clothes iron is far more likely to have more metal (and better thermal mass) than a modern clothes iron, or even some cheaper wax irons.

I've been using a T77 for a few years, but I may step up to a digital iron this year.

 

[James]

I would think if you installed a PID circuit in that dinosaur iron with no holes, it would be pretty rockin.
Tognar used to sell those irons years ago, but that stock is long gone.

 

[cantunamunch]

For any iron, you'll want to calibrate it. Just because the dial or indicator says one temp, it may not really be that temp.

Quoted for truth. But also calibrate the IR thermometer for reflective and coloured surfaces

The error in reflective measurement shown in this example (hot steel mug) applies even more strongly to shiny iron bases:

Infrared Thermometers: Uses, Limitations, Calibration & Cleaning | ETI Temperature Blog

Infrared thermometers are fantastic tools for quickly measuring surface temperatures. However they have their limitations, and knowing how to properly use an infrared thermometer is vital.

temperature.co.uk

 

[RaceWax.com]

This is what I use to calibrate irons: https://www.thermoworks.com/Surface-Thermapen

Aside from the fact that it works great, it's calibration certificate is traceable to our national standards lab, the National Institute of Standards & Technology (where I worked as a research chemist & quality manager for 30 years). Standardization & maintenance is no small feat & costs money, so I found this to be a good value at that price point.

 

[Zrxman01]

Thanks for the link on the thermapen. I will get one and see how it goes. As others have noted my IR thermometer gets false readings on shiny surfaces.

 

[sparty]

So I got my Toko order last week and broke out my new T14 two nights ago.

The base plate specs suggest that the T14 base plate isn't any bigger than that on the T77, but it sure waxes like it is. I don't know if it's a difference in element setup or what, but on a moderately wide ski (130/100/121), the T14 can do the whole width of the ski in one pass. With the T77, I found that the edges don't heat sufficiently on similarly sized skis and I need to make multiple passes.

On a really wide ski (142/120/135), the iron appears wide enough, but I can't get the whole base to heat up at once. I'm guessing that's a base-flatness issue, though, and not an iron issue, and I'm not going to try to fight a 120mm-waisted ski into a flat base.

The temperature is more consistent; with the T77, I fairly often end up needing to tweak the dial during waxing and then put down the iron and let it stop smoking. Over 2.5 pairs of skis, the iron maintained a consistent temperature and never got overheated or cooled enough to be a problem. (2.5 pair = two adult pair and a 70cm pair)

It's not a night-and-day difference, but it's definitely a noticeable improvement. With a new baby in the house, saving the three or four minutes that I usually spend dinking around with the temperature dial per pair of skis will add up, and not having the iron suddenly start smoking is much-appreciated.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I take three passes with little or no back and forth during a single pass. You don't need to go from room temp to 120° C or 140° C in one pass. Drip the wax, then melt most of the wax on the first pass, more on the second and more on the third. My first pass covers 90 - 95 % of the skis base with wax, the next to insure it is all over the base and warming the base in stages.

Remember that you iron isn't just for melting but for spreading the wax. I apply less pressure to the leading edge on each pass so that the iron rides up on top and as it melts is spread by the trailing edge.

 

[sparty]

I take three passes with little or no back and forth during a single pass. You don't need to go from room temp to 120° C or 140° C in one pass. Drip the wax, then melt most of the wax on the first pass, more on the second and more on the third. My first pass covers 90 - 95 % of the skis base with wax, the next to insure it is all over the base and warming the base in stages.

Remember that you iron isn't just for melting but for spreading the wax. I apply less pressure to the leading edge on each pass so that the iron rides up on top and as it melts is spread by the trailing edge.

To be clear, I'm not trying to just do one pass per ski, but it makes life much easier if I can do the whole width of the ski in each pass. The T14 seems to work significantly better than the Swix T77 did in that regard, although I'd still like another 10-20mm of base plate so I didn't have to be quite so precise following the edge on a wider ski.

My practice is generally to drip wax on, spread it out with a back-and-forth pass (relatively high-speed, mostly just trying to get the wax spread out). Additional passes are tip-to-tail only and slower until the wax seems sufficiently saturated (three passes is probably best case for me, but it doesn't help that my tuning space is usually in the 55-degree-Fahrenheit range).

 

[Doug Briggs]

@sparty , understood.

On really wide skis, I'll go up one side of the ski, then the other essentially creating a ridge down the middle, then I go back and flatten the ridge to get uniform coverage. The main point I was making was not to expect to get the ski up to temp in one pass, which I mistook as your intent.

You are right that cooler temps can make even distribution more challenging. Can you warm the skis in another place before waxing in your waxroom? That might help.

 

[oldschoolskier]

I’ve used cast iron irons that you heat with a torch, thermal mass. Now I use a cheap Walmart iron, the speed at which I spread is based on feel Nd how long the trail of liquid wax is behind the iron (approx 2”) just enough heat to help in base saturation and even if the was smokes underneath, the heat transfer does not cause base damage.

Years of experience.