My chinese 2 in 1 hot air rework station not heating out of the box. please help

[T4P]

Wires are better inserted on mine but it varies from set to set

[SLJ]

Received my X-Tronic 6040 today.  Worked fine out of the box.  After running it for a while I opened up the hot air gun.  Photos are below.  The wires aren't cut too far back on the board and the solder job looks OK.  It only took two days to get it directly from X-Troinc with free shipping and they will exchange it for the first 30 days. After that they will repair it for the first year.  I actually think it should work pretty good for the price.  When I get a chance I will check the temp to see how close it is on the iron tip and hot air.





I do like the warning on the top:

Quote: "Cautions
Must to keep the handle on the holder before turn on the machine!"

[xygor]

Received my X-Tronic 6040 today.  ...

What does that unlabeled flush knob in the center do?

I think that the up/down sets the solder iron temp when it is on and the air when it is on (correct?), but to which do they apply when both are on?

[SLJ]

What does that unlabeled flush knob in the center do?
I think that the up/down sets the solder iron temp when it is on and the air when it is on (correct?), but to which do they apply when both are on?

The thing in the center is a metallic QC sticker that says it Passed.

If both the hot air and the iron are on at the same time the select button steps through the three hot air digits and then the three iron temp digits.

If you turn down the hot air temp and lift the gun to use it before it cools to the lower temp it gives out quite a loud warning beep to tell you it's still hotter than the setting.

*** Here's a warning. ***  Always set the hot air gun back in the holster (the heater will turn off) and let it reach the cool down point before you turn it off.  Once it reaches 100 you get three dashes and the fan stops. Then turn it off.  If you just cut the power and air does not move through it when it's hot your asking for trouble.

[saturation]

Yes, in that rats nest of wires pictured be sure there is no cross talk between wires particularly mains voltage and the low power DC sense wires.   As you can see in my photo, the insulation had melted away a bit high up from were the wires are soldered, and who knows what contaminants are on the assembly even on their conformal coating, whether these are conductive or not, or if the crude PCB traces aren't shorted somewhere.

Wires are better inserted on mine but it varies from set to set

[xygor]

The thing in the center is a metallic QC sticker that says it Passed. ...

Hey, thanks.  I'd never seen that before there.  It looked like one of those flush hard-to-accidentally-turn knobs, not being a 3d photo and all.

If both the hot air and the iron are on at the same time the select button steps through the three hot air digits and then the three iron temp digits.

I saw a youtube demo where only one was on at a time.  So I got to thinking that you couldn't turn both on.  I am glad to see I as wrong and it does something sensible.

[RamboJj]

I personally have the X-tronic 6040 model like others and I really like. I've been using it pretty heavily for a while and it's been great.


When I first got mine though it wouldn't fire up the iron. It just didn't respond, so I took it apart and couldn't find any thing obvious so I called the company and they told me to hold on to the unit until the replacement arrived and to keep the iron a few other things that were in the box. Pretty cool of them IMO.


The first unit wouldn't even turn the screen on when the iron was flipped on.


The second unit that I have now had since about 3-4 days after I reported the first one failed has been running like a beast since. I have run the thing for a good hour at a time and no issues to date. I've checked the wires a few times on the inside of the rework hot air gun and no issues with receding wire sheaths/insulation but I am pretty good about placing it back on the holder when I am not using it. And the iron gets turned off when I'm not using it either, even if it's just for a minute or so. It doesn't take very long for it to heat back up at all.


overall I'm pretty impressed with the unit even though I had the initial hiccup with the first unit received.

[AlphZeta]

I like X-tronic rework station and got a 4040 (did a quick review here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/x-tronic-4040-hot-air-rework-station-review/) over a year ago. It had been running quite reliably since.

But personally, I prefer the pneumatic pump version (4040) rather than the squirrel cage version (6040). I think the tried-and-true pneumatic pump mechanism might be safer.

The only thing I noticed on my 4040 is that once a while, if the solder tip is a little loose, the temperature reading would jump wildly and sometimes would even display "Err" on the LED segments. The good news is that when in "Err" mode, everything is shutdown automatically so whoever was designing the kit was considering all the scenarios.

[T4P]

How safe can it be? And worse, the pneumatic pumps are heavy as bollocks

[RamboJj]

I like X-tronic rework station and got a 4040 (did a quick review here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/x-tronic-4040-hot-air-rework-station-review/) over a year ago. It had been running quite reliably since.

But personally, I prefer the pneumatic pump version (4040) rather than the squirrel cage version (6040). I think the tried-and-true pneumatic pump mechanism might be safer.

The only thing I noticed on my 4040 is that once a while, if the solder tip is a little loose, the temperature reading would jump wildly and sometimes would even display "Err" on the LED segments. The good news is that when in "Err" mode, everything is shutdown automatically so whoever was designing the kit was considering all the scenarios.

You raise an interesting point on the pneumatic pump vs "squirrel cage" situation. If you have the freedom of workspace to have the system right where you want it then I can see the pneumatic system having it's benefits but for me the length of cord on the 6040 air rework tool was a good bit longer according to the reviews I read and where I had decided was the optimal location for my base unit to sit it just worked for my needs. That and I have concerns about the pneumatic pump tubing getting kinked and causing me problems. There wasn't a big difference in the price but that with the other things I was reading I thought I was getting the better choice for my situation.

I have 2 irons and currently one of them is down with a bad end and I haven't fixed it yet as I have to order a new heating element as I already used up my spare. I tried to swap tips before it had cooled down enough and broke one and the current one that is down is because of well, IDK. it all seems fine but it's not. I think it's just a failure... I might be able to get them to send me a new on but IDK, I'll have to call them up and see what they say. I'm not past my 1 year yet so I will have to see what's up, if prior experience matches up they should hook me up with a new couple of heater elements.