Choosing a soldering station

[timelessbeing]

When soldering heavy gauge wire and other large things the iron can't handle, and extra heat doesn't pose risk, that's when I pull out the gun.

 

[saturation]

Yes, that's a good applicaton for it, I also use a cheapo Harbor Freight iron for wire splicing and such, as it cost less than a single Hakko tip! It lasts for years since I don't use it as often, and even as the tip and iron start to turn really awful looking it still works. I leave the fine PCB work to the Hakko station, and keeping the heat down and tip tin and clean has prolonged the life of the tips many many fold; so a few simple rules really can stretch your dollars.

https://www.harborfreight.com/30-watt-120-volt-soldering-iron-47887.html

Why waste precision tips and wear and tear on a station?

When soldering heavy gauge wire and other large things the iron can't handle, and extra heat doesn't pose risk, that's when I pull out the gun.

 

[Mr RB]

Nice, can you share this solder blob technique?

What looks like lubricant in Hakko wool is rosin and it does make it easier to solder and clean. It could be different in other wools used like Weller or clones. The Hakko wool is only $4 and I've only replaced it once in 10 years.
...

Here's a quick shot of 2 solder blobs from the workshop. The smaller is a lead-free one, it is not as old as my main blob which is about 6 years old now. Smaller is about 1.5 pounds, larger is at least 4 pounds and 7 inches long.

This is the only tip cleaning I use, the hot solder iron tip is rubbed on the blob and fresh solder added to the tip and again rubbed on the blob.

The "aeration" is because there is a lot of air throughout the blob it doesn't suck the heat from the tip, so the tip is cleaned while quite hot. The blob melts locally in contact with the tip, to an extent, so the tip is being rubbed on something softer than itself but also quite metallic so it polishes the tip metal very glossy, and comes away from the blob tinned and lubed. Rubbing metal on metal polishes the metal shiny, and you can press pretty hard on the blob.

There's also some flux in the blob from when excess solder is wiped off the tip, so it does everything (with addition of fresh solder to the tip) you get old solder removal, polishing, re-tinning etc.

The brass sponge does not compare, you have to re-tin the tip after wiping and it smokes upshowing you picked up contaminant oil from the sponge which has to be burnt off. Maybe the sponges come good after enough use?

The blob rules.

 

[saturation]

Nice, I've never used one but in theory it should work better if not equal. How did you get so much solder to make the blob, from waste around the plant or did you purposefully use up rolls of solder to make it?

The brass sponge often doesn't need retinning because its not that abrasive, maybe if you jam it forcefully and repeatedly. But for the blob its like inserting it into a solder sponge, it will just picks up more than what's on it and loses the rest to gravity, into the blob hopefully!

The brass sponge does not compare, you have to re-tin the tip after wiping and it smokes upshowing you picked up contaminant oil from the sponge which has to be burnt off. Maybe the sponges come good after enough use?

The blob rules.

 

[timelessbeing]

How the heck did you make that huge blob? It's hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like solder wool.

Like sat says, If you just lightly flick your iron across the brass it cleans it and leaves it tinned. The smoke is from a gentle rosin flux that helps remove oxidation.

 

[Mr RB]

The blobs are made from waste solder, basically every bit of solder in my workshop is either on a PCB or ends up on the blob. No fresh solder was harmed during the making of the blob. I use a couple (a few?) 250g rolls of solder a year, so it probably took the waste from 20+ rolls to make a 2kg blob.

I suppose it's a bit of a recycling thing too, no solder goes out in my trash although occasionally dead components do.

Maybe I didn't give the brass thing enough of a go, I didn't like the way it was springy so tiny splatters of solder flung off all over the place, and I don't think my brass had flux on it, it was some type of oil that felt slippery and left the tip needing to be re-tinned each time. It's still sitting in the workshop somewhere. Maybe with enough use the oil would burn off and the springyness would pack down?

 

[saturation]

Nice, that gives me an idea, I think it will take a while for me to collect that big a bunch of waste solder, but better than throwing it out. As for the brass sponge, methinks if the solder blob is superior why move back? I only use the sponge because I can buy it easily. BTW, the real Hakko brass sponge is different from the clones. I'm very leery about buying Hakko branded stuff online, its inundated with counterfeit, but you can tell only when you have the real thing side by side.Its not widely advertised that Hakko has a web store, they don't advertise so as not to steal sales from their distributors, UPS ground pricing is 'free' as its already imbedded in the list price of the products they sell.

The blobs are made from waste solder, basically every bit of solder in my workshop is either on a PCB or ends up on the blob. No fresh solder was harmed during the making of the blob. I use a couple (a few?) 250g rolls of solder a year, so it probably took the waste from 20+ rolls to make a 2kg blob.

I suppose it's a bit of a recycling thing too, no solder goes out in my trash although occasionally dead components do.

Maybe I didn't give the brass thing enough of a go, I didn't like the way it was springy so tiny splatters of solder flung off all over the place, and I don't think my brass had flux on it, it was some type of oil that felt slippery and left the tip needing to be re-tinned each time. It's still sitting in the workshop somewhere. Maybe with enough use the oil would burn off and the springyness would pack down?

 

[timelessbeing]

So then what do you do? Melt the waste solder and drip it down onto the blob? How does it become aerated?

My wool is inside the enclosed cavity of my iron holder, so the projectiles don't travel too far

 

[Mr RB]

So then what do you do? Melt the waste solder and drip it down onto the blob? How does it become aerated?
...

Nothing so deliberate! It's just natural. Whenever the tip looks a little "off" I dab a touch of fresh solder to it, this fluxes and wets it, then immediately just wipe that excess off onto the blob.

That's the whole process the majority of the time. Occasionally if the tip does not look perfect after 1 wipe I press it quite hard on the blob and after a couple of seconds rub it back and forth with a bit of rotation too. That burnishes the tip and forcibly removes any corrosion etc on the tip's metal. Then a touch of fresh solder on the tip and it's perfect again.

Basically any time the tip is not full glossy shiny silver looking it gets wiped on the blob.

 

[timelessbeing]

I know it's been a while since I posted about this, but I recently came across a tip thermometer for $14 on goodluckbuy.com. It was so cheap, I decided to try it for S+G.

It says Hakko all over it and "Made in Japan". Judging from cheap looking PCB, I doubt it, but the sensors look genuine. I turned it on and the room temperature appeared on the display. I tried my Hakko FX-888 soldering iron, and according to the device, my iron was decently calibrated-- within about 5 degC @350. Not bad for having used my multimeter. The 888 cal pot is very sensitive. Also, the calibration deviates a bit over the entire range. When set to 250, (lowest temp that melted solder) the iron was a few deg lower. Set to 450, the iron overshot by about 10 deg. No biggy. Anyway, I still love my iron, and now I have more faith in the temp control so I can be more precise for plastic welding or whatever.

Maybe I'll find more uses for this thermometer...
https://www.goodluckbuy.com/hakko-191-tip-thermometer-solder-iron-tip-digital-tester.html

Also here's an indicator LED mod for the FX-888

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog-specific/eevblog-242-hakko-fx-888-soldering-iron-hack/

Cheers.

 

[tvtech]

I have a weller and it has served me well for over 20 years, and at the time of purchase it was close to $200 i left the shop wondering if i had bought the right item for the price i had paid.

I have NEVER been sorry for the investment of a good tool.

As for adjustable temperature control my view is, i would not even consider it with a good quality iron as if the iron is always at a constant temp then you quickly learn to adjust your soldering time to suit.

Mine spends hours upon hours running on the bench for years upon years, and the only fault it has ever had was a wire broke in the lead to the iron from excessive use.

The most important thing to consider when buying a good iron is the availability of spare parts and replacement tips as the tips do wear out.

With Weller the range is huge on the tips and i use a 0.6mm tip as it allows for me to do SMD work as well.
To also solder a 6mm cable i can if needed.

The weller dont have all the bells and whistles that some offer, but if you want a reliable work horse than you will be hard pressed to find better. IMO.

I think it around 30 seconds from power on to able to solder with the iron.

Pete.

I tossed my Weller around 1992. Brand new out the box. It failed after minimal work. Lasted around at most 100 Hours.

Spares were very,very expensive. Got rid of the POS and bought a locally manufactured Magnum station. Same principle as the Weller...except uses better heat sensing technology. No mechanical switches that wear out...

Weller had a great name many years back.....then it was bought out by Cooper Tools who stuffed it all up. Cooper Tools are a useless company....they stuffed up Crescent too.

I stay away from all Cooper products now. http://www.cooperhandtools.com/

 

[saturation]

Thanks Timeless. I have a lot of details from when I originally posted on the same topic at eevblog, including more pics of other clone Hakko tip thermometers. Because its so cheap, I'd recommend it too because its convenient.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/gener...tation-if-not-or-if-so-why/msg55753/#msg55753

For details.

The summary is you want to know ~ 350C because of these graphs. You needn't be anal about it, being off 10C likely won't matter:

The rate of wear on the tip begins to accelerate past 350C, and its worse with lead free solder:




The cross over point between efficiency and heat is at that level, here where green and blue lines meet




So in summary, by knowing the 350C mark is on your soldering tip, you can prolong the life of your tips by a very large margin. In addition, as described in the eevblog discussion, the probability of damage to soldered components, is far reduced the lower the applied heat is used.

I know it's been a while since I posted about this, but I recently came across a tip thermometer for $14 on goodluckbuy.com. It was so cheap, I decided to try it for S+G.
Cheers.

 

[saturation]

Because of Weller's management is so far removed from their products, you tend to get wider variations in quality. However, their gear can't be stereotyped, some are worse than others. For USA folks, their analog WES51 is made in Mexico, and is a good performer, equivalent to the Hakko 936 or the FX888. The digital station variant isn't so bad either, the WESD51.

Do you know Cooper, its parent company, was later merged with a Denaher company and they are now the Apex tool group, in 2010? Even more changes.

A lot of their higher end stations are made in Germany, and some models aren't available in the USA. Some have been very bad, too Rube Goldberg, the above 2 are still decent.

Thus, I much prefer Hakko for 2 reasons:

1) its a small but independent company, you are not very very far from senior management when you buy from them or complain or ask for improvements. Management has been consistent for decades compared to Weller. 2) Like many small businesses striving to survive against the giants like Weller or Oki, their service is top notch, and their product quality is consistent year after year, that's why they are heavily counterfeited instead of Weller.

A recent buyer on eevblog asked a simple request after he bought from Hakko USA, a pic is enclosed. That they go the extra way is exemplary. I buy often direct from Hakko USA because the prices are similar to most all their distributors, and you get "T-Rex" service .

I tossed my Weller around 1992. Brand new out the box. It failed after minimal work. Lasted around at most 100 Hours.

Spares were very,very expensive. Got rid of the POS and bought a locally manufactured Magnum station. Same principle as the Weller...except uses better heat sensing technology. No mechanical switches that wear out...

Weller had a great name many years back.....then it was bought out by Cooper Tools who stuffed it all up. Cooper Tools are a useless company....they stuffed up Crescent too.

I stay away from all Cooper products now. **broken link removed**

 

[timelessbeing]

In retrospect, the station calibration was a non-issue. But until I had some kind of confirmation, I would have had that nagging doubt in the back of my head. You know, "what if they forgot to do it at the factory?", or "what if someone accidentally bumped the knob?" etc. Now that I know, it won't concern me for probably a few years. Perhaps I can still use the thermometer to judge tip degradation.

 

[timelessbeing]

My only problem with this station so far, is the tip. Solder seems to ball up at the top of the tinned area, instead of at end where you need it.

 

[saturation]

Which station is this, timelessbeing, the Hakko? Balling up suggests its not entirely tinned, usually from oxidation buildup where the solder doesn't adhere. Try wiping the tip with rosin, then re-tin it, and see what happens.

 

[Mr RB]

It may need burnishing (rubbing on something metal to make it polished).

It can also be a sign of running too high a temperature, that will increase oxidation at the tip end.

 

[timelessbeing]

Yes, I was referring to my Hakko FX-888

Perhaps "balling" was the wrong word. The tip is in very good condition, and it's tinned all over. When you add a bit solder to the tip, like when you're going to solder something, the solder climbs up, away from the tip. This is because the last few millimeters of the tip is only iron. The copper core (much better conductor of heat) starts up higher, so the solder is attracted to it.

At 350degC it's not that bad, but if you're soldering some bigger connectors and you have to turn up the temp, then it gets worse.

It's explained much better (with cross section pictures) on page 18 of this document:
**broken link removed**

 

[Mr RB]

Changing tip shape might help a lot. These days I mainly use a "screwdriver" tip which is flat, which allows better heating of the tip and if I still need a fine point I turn the iron 90 degrees and use the tip edge. Or if needing a better heat transfer (larger wire etc) I use it flat.

Everybody will probably have different preferences, I used to prefer an angle cut round tip for similar reasons but the very sharp point tends to degrade too quickly.

 

[timelessbeing]

I use the chisel tip that the 888 comes with. It's a good shape. Sometimes I wish I had a bigger one but they're costly to get in Canada.