For just under twenty bucks, Mary has a new clothes iron and I harvested the heating element from the longsuffering Sunbeam iron:
Per the notations:
- AC Line enters on middle terminal to thermostat
- Thermostat controlled Line on left terminal to heater
- AC Neutral to heater terminal on right
The heater measures 12.6 Ω cold, so 9.5 A → 1.1 kW.
The iron had an insulating sleeve on the thermostat shaft capped with a plastic dial, which makes perfect sense for something in contact with the hot side of the AC power cord.
The IC date codes suggest it’s been around since 2002, so it’s about two decades old. In that time, one of the two electrolytic capacitors succumbed to the plague:
I think the relay and electronics implemented the iron’s timed shutoff function, but it does seem rather complex for that.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
2 responses to “Sunbeam Clothes Iron Salvage”
Soldering hot plate? Or run it on 12V as a seed germinater, yogurt maker, scented candle warmer?
Or is it one of these “Will come in handy one day for something”? – I got many of these
It’s the latter, of course, so it now resides atop the electric griddle I’ve used a couple of times in the last couple decades. :sigh: