Recent Posts

1

Other Equipment & Products / Re: CFW for KSGER/Quicko STM32 Soldering Stations

« Last post by wasyoungonce on Today at 08:08:55 am »

Just be aware they are not all cross compatibles.    I my base units are Quicko 958s and converted two to Open source controllers.  The open source snd 958 are compatible but not with some early Ksger handles. 

I just ordered a Quicko alloy fx9601 M8, 5pin.  It’s listed as ok for 958 station.

It’s completely different assembly’s yo the Ksger so hoping it has decent cartridge contacts.  My plastic Quicko Fx9501’s have that internal PCB with spring fingers.  They are excellent irons.    But I wanted a slightly shorter assembly and just to try one of the alloy handles. 

I’m guessing the quick version is better.  It’s holder assy look much better than the Ksger handle.

FWIW I’ll post when I get it.  I got the kit version as I have plenty of 5 core silicon wire from old projects.

2

Beginners / Re: Beginner to BGA

« Last post by taoybb on Today at 08:07:24 am »

Unless you have a huge BGA, or a PCB with a huge amount of copper, all you should need to solder a BGA is a hot air rework tool.  It requires some skills, but its no harder than anything else.

The downside is, if you make a mistake, you then need to reball the BGA chip before you try again, which also requires some skill and a stencil + solder paste or solar balls.

BGA isnt hard, just higher consequences of screwing it up and needing to spend time reballing it.
Or you can just accept the cost of a wasted IC and get a new one.

Screwing up a QFP/QFN usually just means you bridged some pads and need to grab the solder wick, which only takes a few seconds to fix. Perhaps worst case with QFN/DFN you just have to lift the part up re-tin the pads and put it back down.

Thanks you for your reply, I got high success rate to reflow QFN and wonder how will it be with BGA. As mentioned, my PCB is small 100*80mm but a lot of copper in it (8 layers) may be station is good to have?

I do have a cheap hot plate but my board is required to got a lot of underneath capacitor for main chip, hot plate might not good for this task.. I guess.

3

Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff / Re: Hydrochloric Acid small volume (<=1L) NZ (Christchurch) ?

« Last post by magic on Today at 08:03:20 am »

sodium persulphate?

4

Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff / Re: Hydrochloric Acid small volume (<=1L) NZ (Christchurch) ?

« Last post by sleemanj on Today at 07:59:36 am »

FECl3 is pretty much unavailable in small quantities (and not even in larger quantities) either, the only site I found in NZ that looked like it might sell to the public was in 2.5kg packs, at over $60 NZD + shipping.

Maybe the "vinegar, salt and peroxide" is the best that could be recommended to somebody just wanting to etch an occasional PCB these days.

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Other Equipment & Products / Re: CFW for KSGER/Quicko STM32 Soldering Stations

« Last post by marck120 on Today at 07:57:56 am »

Well I purchased an KSGEFX9501 handle and its wiring is different to the Quicko FX9501 in that it is a 5 pin but:
Has no thermistor,
Shake sw is wired to P-
Is only 4 wires yet 5 pin plug.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005658134802.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_allItems_or_groupList.0.0.3a5c4f82rEvz36&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21AUD%21AU%20%2445.39%21AU%20%2433.59%21%21%2130.43%2122.52%21%402103080f17269766508702094eaecc%2112000033917316491%21sh%21AU%211851760988%21X

Now it states for for V2.1S, V3.1S and V2.3 ....so they are telling me it might not work.   And of course it won't.....i measured it out haven't plugged in in.   Apart from that its dreadful in that the finger contacts are extremely poor and not contacting properly on any  solder cartridge ring

Absolute waste of money.....even if i do wire it with 5 core.....yes i can correct the wiring but the contacts are so poor its not worth pursuing

Look, I've been doing research for a short while, I'm reading up, I know that KSGER and Quicko are clones of the T12 system used by Hakko, for this reason I thought that the original hakko FX-9501 handle was compatible with all KSGER and Quicko stations, but I see that this is not the case, in fact there are various models of KSGER and Quicko and each handle is compatible only on some models, I thought that the T12 handles were all universal, from what I've seen instead some JBC clone soldering stations are compatible with the original JBC handles, personally I was thinking of buying a Quicko and I'm trying to understand which Quicko model has the best handles and which are the easiest to find on sale, for example I was also evaluating the Preciva 948DB+ but I discarded it because its YIHUA 506A handle is not very widespread, I only found one handle on Amazon.com. in short I wouldn't want to buy a soldering station where it is difficult to find the handles. Sorry if I've been long-winded, if I'm doing something wrong please correct me.

6

Test Equipment / AWA Low Distortion Oscillator G232 - Teardown

« Last post by sean0118 on Today at 07:56:15 am »

Just some teardown photos 





Transformer? Oscillator?


Frequency counter:


Level control:


Oscillator:


Power amp:


Output attenuator:


Power supply:


Front panel connections:

7

General Technical Chat / Re: Drone that can go underwater

« Last post by EPAIII on Today at 07:53:18 am »

Some folks who wear uniforms may find it interesting.

Gee.  All the complexity of a submarine and a quad copter in one compact package. 

Actually a pretty neat accomplishment, but not obvious what application makes this beneficial.

8

Test Equipment / Re: Smart SMD tester MS8911.

« Last post by iet on Today at 07:52:07 am »

In this case, ST1 indicates low resistance, which corresponds to the short state.
For the correct interpretation of the short state, it is desirable that the tweezers could indicate 10 mOhms, or even better 1 mOhms. Then it will fully display the real situation.
Here is good information.
https://www.fluke.com/en/learn/blog/digital-multimeters/how-to-test-diodes#:~:text=A%20bad%20(opened)%20diode%20does,0.4%20V)%20in%20both%20directions.

9

Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff / Re: Hydrochloric Acid small volume (<=1L) NZ (Christchurch) ?

« Last post by RoGeorge on Today at 07:43:17 am »

Maybe you can find Ferric Chloride instead.  Normal etching with FeCl₃ takes longer, but the sponge method is much better, and fast:  https://www.instructables.com/Sponge-Ferric-Chloride-Method-Etch-Circuit-Bo/

10

Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff / Re: Can anyone find some information on this type of stepper motor?

« Last post by Nominal Animal on Today at 07:42:22 am »

I installed an insulating socket on pin 4 to prevent contact shorting.

No, I meant an actual problem with the motor wiring, not in your measurements; perhaps a tin whisker on the board, or the old flux having become conductive.  I would consider using IPA or acetone and an old toothbrush to clean the board if possible, then inspecting with a magnifying lens to check.
(I might even desolder the wires to measure them directly and clean both sides of the board.)

If you look at the board, you can see the pins 1-6 lettered A O C B M D, which corresponds to unipolar wiring (often labeled A common B C common D); but the readings from pin 4/B indicates it is shorted to pin 5/M or pin 2/O –– pins 2/O and 5/M being normally shorted together in unipolar stepper motors.

Other than that pin 4/B, it looks very similar to the unipolar steppers I mentioneded in #8.  The resistances and inductances are often listed by manufacturers with ±10% tolerances, so don't expect to see a perfect match.