I have an old electric soldering iron (100 watt) that needs a new tip. The tip is held on by a small slotted machine screw that is VERY stuck in place. The screw is headless roughly 1/8" in diameter with the slot itself below the surface of a collar that acts as a carrier for the copper tip. The tip itself has a pyramid shape at the end of a 3/8" round shaft. From its appearance, it looks like if I can get the screw out, the collar and tip will come off of the iron as a unit.
I don't want to drill the old screw out to remove it since I might destroy the soldering iron in the process.
I've heard that it is possible to use heat as a way of encouraging metal parts to become unstuck from each other. Is that true? Do you think it would work in my case? What is the technique?
Thanks.
Gary