JBC CD 2BB Solder Station Mini review with pictures

[kaz911]

Hi,

here is my first mini review. I had been looking for a solder station to replace my "$5" grocery bought iron. On my short-list was Hakko FX-888, Weller Iron of some sort and Pace (I have worked A LOT with Weller about 20 years ago). But reading the forums I got the impression that the Weller's quality was not super. So I tried to find a 230v Hakko - but found out the price for the FX-888 is $220-$250 compared to a US price of $80-$100.

Then I found out that JBC seemed to have very high regards here on EEVBlog - so I ended up with a CD-2BB solder station bought on eBay for $390 + shipping including the C210 and the C245 handsets plus 5 tips/cartridges for each handset. The seller was then very slow at shipping so he added an extra 2 C245 tips as "retribution" :-)

The CD-2BB is more or less the same as the JBC DIT (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/product-reviews-photos-and-discussion/jbc-dit-soldering-station-review/) - just in a "non expandable version" and with a little bit less power I think and NO USB port.

Anyway the CD-2BB is here and I am impressed. It has same display as the DIT model mentioned above. The iron heats up to 350 deg. Celsius  from cold in 4-6 seconds. When you place the handset in the built in stand - the handset powers down to 180 deg - and completely switches off after 30 minutes. The switch off time can be adjusted.  When you "take" the handset from the stand it warms up from sleep 180 deg to 350 degrees in about 2-3 seconds. Faster than I can grab my solder anyway.

The C210 handset is a "low power" very fine tool for SMD and small part soldering. The C245 is a bit beefier and can handle quite a lot. The handsets are very quick to exchange. JBC have a wide range of tips/cartridges ranging from micro small to huge tips that can solder an entire IC or PLC in one "touch"

The tip/cartridge system works great. You can change cartridge/tip while the iron is "on". Place the tip end under the "top" of the extraction tool - and pull gently - to release the tip. Push handset down over a new tip and you are ready to use the new tip in less than 15-30 seconds - hot or cold. Very smart.

Anyway - check out the pictures below. And if you have any questions - let me know and I will try to answer them.

The CD-2BB retails for about $450 with C245 handset and 2 tips/cartridges. A C210 handset  is about $50. Each tip/cartridge is between $20-$50. All can be found cheaper on that "internet thing"

In short - I am impressed..

[Kibi]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing.
I did consider this station, but I thought that the expandability of the DI was more beneficial. Other than that it's exactly the same

[saturation]

JBC is a great brand, its in league competing with Metcal.  $400 for a soldering iron is on the high side of price, given a basic IPC workstation is about $100.  IIRC correctly, JBC is made in Spain?  Hakko seems to be taxed heavily when it gets sold in the EU, compared to Weller [ with a base in Germany] or other EU members, compared to the US or Asia.

[kaz911]

JBC is a great brand, its in league competing with Metcal.  $400 for a soldering iron is on the high side of price, given a basic IPC workstation is about $100.  IIRC correctly, JBC is made in Spain?  Hakko seems to be taxed heavily when it gets sold in the EU, compared to Weller [ with a base in Germany] or other EU members, compared to the US or Asia.

Yes - $400 is a lot for an Iron - and I would have bought the FX-888 if the price had been $150. But since I got a total of 12 tips and 2 handsets I think the price was okay. I also looked at "old stock" Hakko 936's - but price usually ended up on about $250 before I had the 4 tips I wanted.

The cheapest competitor in the range was the Weller WD1000 series but in European version still starts about $600. The other alternative was Chinese Solder/Rework stations - and I looked at them and was tempted. But all the comments on JBC stations on EEVBlog are positive - and then I found the JBC CD-2BB on eBay and went for it :-) But it will hopefully last me a lifetime - and then it has been cheap.

During my education - I think I soldered an average of 5-10 boards pr. day of different types. I worked at a "kit" creation company like Welleman - but we designed/constructed/assembled and made both standard "Welleman type kits" and PC ISA  based kits for people to assemble or buy "ready made" - and that gave me a good respect for having a good quality soldering station.

And yes - JBC is made in Spain.

[Bored@Work]

Hakko seems to be taxed heavily when it gets sold in the EU,

But that is unlikely to be a government/EU imposed tax or duty. It is more like a business decision by Hakko to try to charge more in the EU.

I am not a specialist in import taxes and duties, so I might have picked the wrong information. But a quick check shows that soldering equipment is covered by the TARIC number 85151100 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/taric/measures.jsp?Taric=85151100&Lang=en And the EU duties for these are 2.7%, with a few exceptions for some countries, regions, or for some purposes (air worthiness), where the duties are 0%, i.e. nothing.

On top of that comes the purchase tax (VAT), if you aren't a business or otherwise exempt. But VAT also applies to the goods manufactured in the EU.

2.7% import duties hardly explains Hakko's prices. Unless Hakko is caught in some other punitive import duty.

[saturation]

BAW, you're right, I presume.  Out of curiosity I checked Amazon and eBay UK and DE, and nearly all sell the Hakko 888 station for about £90, and if purchcased from the US sellers,  £50 for shipping!  Even local UK dealers sell the FX888 for the same price, not including VAT and shipping.

kaz911, with the JBC you're getting your money's worth.  In the US, the JBC model you have cost as much if not more, from its popular distributor here, Howard Electronics.

[kaz911]

BAW, you're right, I presume.  Out of curiosity I checked Amazon and eBay UK and DE, and nearly all sell the Hakko 888 station for about £90, and if purchcased from the US sellers,  £50 for shipping!  Even local UK dealers sell the FX888 for the same price, not including VAT and shipping.

kaz911, with the JBC you're getting your money's worth.  In the US, the JBC model you have cost as much if not more, from its popular distributor here, Howard Electronics.

In the UAE the Hakko FX888 is AED 840 plus shipping. That is $228 plus about $20 shipping.

In the UK the base is UKP 88 ex. and UKP105 incl. vat. That is US$165 excl shipping.  (from DanCap - the distributor - http://www.dancap.co.uk/index.html)

I cant find any 220-240v Hakko-888 listed on eBay in either UK or Germany (remember to tick "UK only" or "germany only")

I can find a few 230 volt Hakko's on ebay from Hong Kong sellers for $180+ +shipping. The rest are 110v models. Those you can find for down to $80. (Which is 50 UK punds)

So the lowest price on eBay 110v version ($80) is still very cheap compared to UK price of UKP 88 ($138/165 ex/inc VAT)

So that is the Hakko Tax (the extra money Hakko wants from EMEA clients.. :-) compared to US clients.

Janel Inc in the US sells the CD-2BB for $396 with one C245 plus 2 tips. http://www.janelonline.com/product_p/cd-2bb.htm - :-) and have reasonable prices on JBC gear.

/Kasper

[vintagefreak]

Hi to all soldering gurus !
i am a  beginner and need a good set of soldering tools to repair and maintain my analog music gear
and vintage samplers.

I am located in France and cannot find any french web stores that sell Hakko stations.

Anyone could help with some good links to purchase 240V Hakko FX-888 station anywhere in Europe ?

thanks in advance

[IanB]

As mentioned above, dancap.co.uk are UK distributors. I imagine they will ship to France if you talk to them. You won't be able to pay in Euros I suppose, but if you search I am sure you can find a Hakko distributor somewhere in the Eurozone.

[robrenz]

I have the same JBC unit and am also highly impressed. I like the continuous real time tip temp readout. I tried the chisel curved tip style http://www.janelonline.com/product_p/c245-963.htm Once you get use to it, It is very versatile. You can lay the  large flat side on larger components to get great heat transfer or turn it around and use the tip for finer stuff. It also is great for larger industrial solder cup style connectors because you can orient the tip to get between pins and get the large flat contacting the whole pin. It is my favorite tip and there are other sizes in this same style.  I also got the 22mm and 32mm wide tips for a special project and they work awesome the temp is maintained even on those big tips.

Edit: was wrong tip size link

[neslekkim]

These stations without USB have an connector inside it for software uppgrades, where you need an cable calles UC1000 that gives USB connection (you need to take the station apart for upgrades though).
Do anyone know the specs for this cable?, and/or the pinout on the connector?

The cable from jbc costs around €70, and if this is just some uart-usb converter, then that price is kinda expensive, and it should be possible to use something else (Or maybe that cable is accessible from other cheaper sources, I found it only on jbctools.com)