Soldering Iron Tip Detached

[RLBH]

Finally got around to starting construction on my layout yesterday, was soldering wires and track joints without any undue difficulty and no severely singed fingertips. Came back to finish the job today and found the tip of my iron, including attachment bolt, had come loose. There's no obvious means of attachment between the bolt and the iron itself - am I missing something or has the iron gone unserviceable?

 

Hopefully this is an acceptable subforum for this question, it seemed most appropriate!

[Dave-5-5-7]

Think it might be time for a new iron. I've had irons do this in the past, mainly cheaper ones like the Parkside ones from Lidl. They're ok for light use but don't hold up like some of the ones I have. 

 

[RLBH]

On 01/05/2020 at 08:06, Dave-5-5-7 said:

Think it might be time for a new iron. I've had irons do this in the past, mainly cheaper ones like the Parkside ones from Lidl. They're ok for light use but don't hold up like some of the ones I have. 

 

Extremely disappointing if that's the case - this was used once and then fell apart when I got it out for a second use.