Soldering station thoughts and guidelines

[Dannyx]

The handle on yours resembles a Hakko, in terms of colours at least....the difference is in the tip since that also houses the element on T12s...am I right ? I think I'll go for it...

[vinceroger69]

yes i brought the same same handle for my bakon 950d
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/9501...6bde4c4dKpamzi
for the price of the station you cant really go wrong you do get the odd error but removing the tip and replacing it usually sorts that out.
i have just watched this video your station choice even has different settings for each tip type used too get best performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08pc9JsFR-E

[Dannyx]

I ordered the soldering station and while I'm waiting for it to arrive, I was thinking about how well it performs on really small stuff, like the microscopic stuff Louis does for instance. I'm clearly not up to that level yet, but the only way to be is to start from somewhere...I lack the tools more than the knowledge The Hakko MicroPencil Louis uses is probably in the hundreds of dollars, PLUS the base unit and the tips which are all separate, so such an investment would have been completely pointless for a single individual. If our shop were to invest in such things, they yes, it would be worth it, at least in the long run, but it's not going to happen so we have to make due with what we have...performance suffers because of the lack of tools and the overall "close enough" mentality that this joint operates on - HATE this ! *end of rant*

Since it only comes default with the standard conical tip, I also ordered some other T12 tips from these chaps - a smaller conical one, a fat conical one for larger stuff and two of my favourite "bent" ones, one of which appears to be very sharp and small, at least in the picture. I wonder if it accepts original Hakko tips...the tip alone would end up costing more than the whole device, but just for proof of concept

[stj]

for small work,
JL02 - curved goodness
ILS - like a needle!
KU - like a small knife

what i'm looking to get next is a JS02 bent tip

[Dannyx]

This is where I got them from along with the iron itself and what I ordered were: JL02, J02, IL, B2 types. I should've probably gone with an ILS as well, but I wanted a fatter one in there too, plus not having seen these in person, it's hard to tell by looking at the pictures which ones you should get. The only point of reference I have is my colleague's station over in the warranties department which uses T12 tips, but by which I was not impressed during my very brief encounter with it - I found the flat-head tip he uses combined with the vacuum hose attached to the handpiece to be unwieldy and hard to use...maybe it's just me...

[Dannyx]

In the 900m type, what's the difference between T-IS and T-S tips ? Google shows both of them are curved and the one I have is a T-S, still curved. The IS variant appears sharper and thinner ?

[stj]

http://www.hakko.com/english/tip_sel...ries_900m.html

[captainKKK]

How about this?

https://hackaday.com/2018/09/22/diy-...s-version-2-0/

[Dannyx]

For those still following along at home, just today I had a go with the new KSGER T12 soldering iron and a JLS2 tip I bought off Ali and it was...OK...takes a bit to get used to. The temperature reading sometimes jumps around a lot and the display is dim as hell. The tip itself suffers from the same issue of not heating up enough at the very end, but I suppose that's unavoidable. I had it set to 350C which I believe is a bit too hot, but that was the only way I was able to get it close to how I like it. After all, it's all about the feel and not so much the numbers. Other than that it did its job, for now at least...

[stj]

i always solder at 350,

isnt your display ajustable? i'm sure i'v seen a review where there was a brightness setting in the menu.

[Dannyx]

Originally Posted by stj

isnt your display ajustable? i'm sure i'v seen a review where there was a brightness setting in the menu.

I've also seen a workaround to this where the chap removes the smoked plexiglass front HERE. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that and there'd just be a setting, but I don't exactly recall seeing one in the menus....I'll have a look again anyway.

[llonen]

Latest addition to the workshop.

[ca2014mp2]

I like this one.. Quick861DW Hot Air Rework Station

[ca2014mp2]

Originally Posted by captainKKK

How about this?

https://hackaday.com/2018/09/22/diy-...s-version-2-0/

I've used this,, this actually works for lite duty

[Dannyx]

Originally Posted by ca2014mp2

I like this one.. Quick861DW Hot Air Rework Station

It's the Quick 861DW Louis uses, no doubt you like it Costs a pretty penny though...

[llonen]

All of my solder workstations for professional use are Pace with a single Weller WSD81 and hand-piece, I use a Pace Thermojet hot air tool for small smd items and for now a Hakko FR-802 SMD Rework Station for larger thermal mass stuff.

[Dannyx]

Wondering if I could find really fine T12 tips like the Hakko Micro Pencil.

Don't know if I mentioned this before but we found a Pace "combo" station in a junk pile at work. It runs on 110v, so that's most likely why it got shoved to the side. Thankfully we managed to find a large enough step-down transformer and amazingly it still works - it takes a standard IEC-13 lead, so it's not hard at all to accidentally plug this into 230v and pop it, which is why I was expecting it to be broken, but it's actually in decent shape too - couple of scuffs and dirt and clogged nozzles, but we managed to get it going again. Don't know too many details about it like the model and other stuff because my old geezer co-worker I talk about all the time basically decided to keep it all to himself, as if he bought it or something >_>. I know it's got a couple of accessories like a very fine-tipped (angled !) hot air blower, a solder sucker, a regular iron and also a tweezers-type iron, so this COULD be a very handy tool, but it just sits on a shelf somewhere collecting dust....really waiting for this guy to quit SOMEDAY ! Seriously

[stj]

finest T12 is the ILS.

a more interesting question is wether the micro-pencil tips are electrically compatable with T12

[Dannyx]

Originally Posted by stj

finest T12 is the ILS.

Or JL02 for the angled version - I have that one myself.

Originally Posted by stj

a more interesting question is wether the micro-pencil tips are electrically compatable with T12

They're not physically compatible to begin with, as they're T30 rods, as opposed to the more common T12 rods. Not sure if they make cheap knock-off handles that would plug into a KSGER or whatever it's called. Hakko seems to keep this a bit of a trade secret and I couldn't find any hacks or adaptations for Micro Pencil....

[stj]

well do they use the same hakko base unit?