New soldering irons, Let's talk about it

#1

There is been a lot of talking about replacing the HAKKO "Fisher Price " blue soldering irons, some suggestions went towards the pen style solders like the Pinecil or the miniware ts100 because they are versatile, compact and cheap, the only problem with that is that we need a sutable USB C setup with them but it will allow us to use it around the space with a usb battery bank, for example.

On the other side, the USB cable it’s not as flexible as a silicon one, this solders are not very powerfull , maxing out to 60W or 80, depending on the power suppy (which is ok for small electronics) and they are more uncomfortable to use then, let’s say, the weller we have, also, portable means it can be lost, dropped or misplaced.

The difference between the old ceramic heater irons and the new one is that they are direct drive heat element, which are faster, more efficient and more stable.

So, our only specification is direct drive/cartrige type soldering station.

I’m personally gravitating towards the KSGER T12 Soldering Station, a review here

but what’s your take?

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#2

Seems like they have slightly different use cases? 1 of each and see how they go?

#3

maybe 2 stations and 1 mobile?

People has experience problems with the weller were it would just cool down and then reheat, I haven’t witnessed it but it might be on it’s last leg and we now have space for 3 soldering area

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#4

Yea lets do it

#5

I have a Miniware TS100 and love it, I flashed it with custom firmware and its always super quick to heat up and has some nice features, so having one in the space would be nice. The new version is the TS101 and its the one with USB C (where as the TS100 only has a DC jack, but I built an adapter to USB C pretty cheaply). USBC would be very handy in some scenarios like you said.

However I do think soldering stations are a nicer fit for the space. They’re at least less likely to wander out of the electronics area.

2 stations and 1 mobile would be a great setup.

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#6

Flashing a soldering iron with custom firmware is the most cyberpunk thing I’ve ever heard.

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#7

Here is the custom firmware for anyone interested - https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS - It has a list of features for different irons of this style. Seems like the Pencil 2 has good support for most USB standards and can draw more power than the TS 101 but either would be fine.

#8

LOL, we hack oscilloscopes and flash soldering irons, the future is now.

#9

I have a TS 101, it can be a bit picky about the kind of powersupply, I will check which is the best…

#10

Oh good to know! If i interpreted the chart properly it seems like they don’t support QC chargers only PD.

Maybe we should get one of these instead https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-soldering-iron/ ? They also stock silicone USB leads which sounds quite nice.

#11

The custom firmware fixes that.

That’s the one I linked in the beginning :slight_smile:

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#12

Hopefully close enough to on topic. Is there any discussion about a new desoldering gun? I popped in earlier in the week specifically to use one and saw the grey one marked as dead and the blue one not heating beyond 80-100 even at full temperature. It is super handy to have for desoldering throughholes and retro computing projects. My user case was removing a Megadrive cartridge slot that has many points to remove solder from to swap out for a new one.

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#13

No one told me that the blue one needed attention and I haven’t used it for a while.

I will service that one soon.

#14

When it’s up and running I certainly have a test case for it!
I do like the style of the grey one, I think most are used to using this style of desolder gun. Would a new purchase be considered? Then we have potentially two working, hopefully always having a back up if one fails.

#15

Where did we buy the new Ksger T12 soldering irons from? I might need to get some more for Fixing Factory (we have a very similar one with a different name on it - Werse V.3)

#16

Amazon, just make sure it’s a v1.3

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#17

Thanks got a couple

Temperatures are a little out…but adjustable at least

The earth bonding was there, but almost an ohm resistance…so will need to improve that before going into use (scraping more coating off the alu screw countersunk holes might do it)

#18

You can tune the PID, there is a open source alternative if you want, good point for the ground, I will check ours

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#19

Yes, we have a soldering tip thermometer so will do the tuning

Stay grounded!

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