Weller Quality Control?

[PotatoBox]

I'm on the market for a new soldering iron (after coming from a crap radioshack iron). I'm decisive between the Weller WES51 and the Hakko FX888D. But I've read that people have been getting units DOA and not as well built as the hakko is.

Is this true? Anyone with experience with a weller wes51 could comment?

[ebastler]

I don't think you will get a statistically valid answer from the forum users.   Similarly, it is hard to assess from posts in other forums or online shop reviews whether there has been a significant share of bad Weller stations. I would not be deterred by these posts, if you like the Weller. If you should receive a bad one, you could always have it replaced, right?

Personally, if faced with the choice between the WES51 and the FX888D, there would be only one way for me to go -- for purely non-technical reasons, since I don't want to look at the Hakko's toy appearance on my bench every day... (I have neither a Weller nor a Hakko, though.)

[2N3055]

In 30 + years, I had one problem with Weller. That was 15 years ago, Magnastat switch gave up on an old 10+ years TCP that worked 8+ hours daily..
If all my equipment were that reliable.. Now I have WD1000 for 7+ years and no  problem either.. Still use tips I got with it. I bought spares when I bought station, never used them.. 

I don't think you can go wrong with either Hakko or Weller, I would buy whatever has better availability where you live.

[ollihd]

I've been using Weller for as long as I can remember and have had one problem with a Weller WSM 1C unit (new). It was due to a little bit of dust that had built up inside the unit. This resulted the unit in sending "button presses" even thought nothing was touched. A great unit after a little cleanup.

[eugenenine]

What what I could tell the quality issues are with newer Wellers, not the older ones.  So if you have had a 20 year old one thats been fine thats normal.  Its the newer where they shipped the production out has the quality problems.
The problems also seemed to be more with the tips and not the irons.  I started wanting features such as the sleep and temp sensor in the tip which isn't the WES51/WESD51.  I would have had to step up to the higher end models for that as well.

I was looking at the WESD51 which is ~130-150 but the hakko 951 was $160 with those extras.

[Howardlong]

The irons and tips are sound, if treated reasonably the tips last so long are almost non-consumables!

However I have encountered two physical problems with two different stations in about 12 years, one a WD1 and the other a WD2. One the top facia became loose, probably a screw or something, I am just careful with it, and the other has annoyingly noisy laminations in the transformer, but not so much I've tried more than once to fix it. These are very old faults, I still use them almost daily.

[eugenenine]

How new/old are your tips?  I can't recall when they outourced though, supposedly thats the time when quality dropped.

potatoBox, have you looked at the Hakko 951 at all?  It was recommended to me by nanofrog and I was hesitant at first due to price but when he pointed me to Tequipment the price was pretty close to the WSD951 that I was considering.

[PotatoBox]

How new/old are your tips?  I can't recall when they outourced though, supposedly thats the time when quality dropped.

potatoBox, have you looked at the Hakko 951 at all?  It was recommended to me by nanofrog and I was hesitant at first due to price but when he pointed me to Tequipment the price was pretty close to the WSD951 that I was considering.

The 951 is pretty much out of my price range. Im in canada so it might be more expensive here than it is in the US.

[james_s]

I see I'm not the only one. Hakko equipment is top notch, but they really went out of their way to make it all as hideously ugly as possible, I mean I'm surprised they didn't go with fluorescent pink or something. The old 936 was a very classy design, much nicer than the garish yellow and blue. Not that I'd refuse to own a tool over the color scheme but still, what were they thinking?

[eugenenine]

color sells, look at the imac, there wasn't any other reason to buy one

Wife pointed out that Hakko used WVU's colors (I'm from WV). 

[bibz]

Second generation of rock solid usage for my weller too. Once the old man went butane only I inherited his old stations. Bought a new tip 10 years ago, hasn't skipped a beat! And count me up as another whom hakko's colours irrationally disturb.

[ebastler]

color sells, look at the imac, there wasn't any other reason to buy one

C'mon, if the Hakko design was inspired by a computer, it wouldn't be the iMac, but this one: 

[2N3055]

How new/old are your tips?  I can't recall when they outourced though, supposedly thats the time when quality dropped.

The actual story is that at one period few years ago there was a (large) batch of sub quality tips. Weller admitted that, and then they fixed the problem and on all tips after that they are OK. Truth is that tips for my Weller are LT type, and they cost very little, just few €. Heater is fixed in handle. So you can have all kinds of tip you like, and choice is huge.  For the price of 1 tip on JBC I can buy 10. Literally.

[shteii01]

If you like Hakko 936, you may want to look at Hakko FX-600 soldering iron (no station).  They way I heard it, FX-600 is repackaged 936 without the station.

[james_s]

I wouldn't want it without the station, I like having a console with the temperature adjustment.

[RobertHolcombe]

The business I work for has 5 or so WES51 units and we haven't had any issue with them, I own one personally which developed a buzz/hum from the transformer being loose, 5 minute fix.

[BMack]

From my understanding; there are a lot of fake Wellers out there, that could explain a lot of the bad reviews. I've heard of fakes coming from Amazon and obviously if they fake it, you can find one on eBay.

I have the Hakko, I hate how it looks but it's a damn fine soldering station.

[2N3055]

From my understanding; there are a lot of fake Wellers out there, that could explain a lot of the bad reviews. I've heard of fakes coming from Amazon and obviously if they fake it, you can find one on eBay.

Well I don't know about that, I buy Weller stuff locally from authorized dealer, and I know it's original Weller.... There is a ton fake stuff around too.
These tips don't have heaters, it's just a blob of copper, and small on at that... I would presume it would be faked more than complicated stuff, it's easier..

[BMack]

From my understanding; there are a lot of fake Wellers out there, that could explain a lot of the bad reviews. I've heard of fakes coming from Amazon and obviously if they fake it, you can find one on eBay.

Well I don't know about that, I buy Weller stuff locally from authorized dealer, and I know it's original Weller.... There is a ton fake stuff around too.
These tips don't have heaters, it's just a blob of copper, and small on at that... I would presume it would be faked more than complicated stuff, it's easier..

I wasn't speaking in regard to you but I'm glad you clarified your experience. 

[shteii01]

It has temperature adjustment.

I wouldn't want it without the station, I like having a console with the temperature adjustment.

[ebastler]

It has temperature adjustment.

I wouldn't want it without the station, I like having a console with the temperature adjustment.

I think "console" was James' keyword here, and the FX-600 does not have that of course.

I have owned a similar iron with temperature adjustment right on the handpiece many years ago as my first soldering iron. A bit of a fumble to adjust the temperature, and an increased chance to move the little knob by accident. Hakko's product page describes how the knob can be removed after setting the temperature. Using the iron in production with a fixed, preset temperature is probably a target market.

[Ian.M]

Round about 10 years back there were a lot of crappy Magnastat switches in Weller's spares channel.  IIRC we sent back two or three in a row that hadn't lasted a month.  Element resistance was normal and another TCP handset worked on the same base unit with no issues so it had to be defective switches.   I don't know if they were outsourced or just plain fake, but IIRC we had ordered from the CPC Farnell group so they should have been genuine.

[CraigHB]

I have both a Weller WESD51 and a Hakko FX-888D. 

The Hakko was cheaper and the quality seems better.  On my Weller station the iron's connector has become loose and has trouble making connection.  It's always been a flimsy connector and now it's failing.  Also the dial has become jumpy and it's hard to land on a particular temperature setting.  I'm not very happy with the longevity of the Weller station, but one thing positive I can say is the tips are cheaper and they seem about the same quality.  On the Hakko I actually don't like that it doesn't have a dial.  The buttons are clumsy and I keep forgetting how to operate the thing when I haven't used it for a while.  I end up using the Weller because I don't feel like revisiting the Hakko manual.

[T3sl4co1l]

FYI, I'd recommend the Weller over the Hakko, for precisely one reason only: the rotating encoder, instead of the confusing pushbuttons.

If you can find an analog FX-888 (no D), get it!  I was lucky enough to get mine when I did...

The operation and reliability of both units are comparable, and will last many years.

By far the most troublesome issue, is the same for any class of iron: proper tip care.  If you have idiots using the iron, who crank up the temperature and don't use enough solder and flux, you WILL end up with a lemon: at the very least, losing a lot of time trying to tin the tip, and having to replace it often.

The same goes for desoldering irons, by the way: keep the tip tinned and clean.  I've gotten strange looks, many times, from novice technicians: "what are you doing, adding solder when desoldering?!"  If you can't figure out why this is a silly question to ask, you shouldn't be soldering.

Tim

[james_s]

Yeah I hate those buttons, my friend has one of the new Hakkos with the confusing pushbuttons. Really, could they have come up with a less intuitive way of adjusting the temperature? What's wrong with a pot or encoder? Or a simple up/down button arrangement with a lock button or switch?