Fake Hakko... Meh... couple of questions...

[shugs81]

Hi peeps!

Just bought what I thought was a genuine hakko fx888 from ebay for £65.

at first it worked really well... for about an hour... then i was trying to solder an ic and it just wouldn't heat up evenly and started jumping out of the stand after i wedged it in...

after a quick look i discovered it wasn't a genuine hakko... but seemed like it was still reasonably well made...

I was just wondering if i bought a genuine hakko iron for it if it was likely to do the wonky heating or if it would just run as normal just heat slower?

bit of a noob to these models but have had them reccomended for ages... also what is the EDM thing it protects from?

I'm mainly going to be using it for old console repairs and fitting chips so was wanting something long lasting and able to get smaller tips for smd soldering in small places...

i'm going to possibly return it or see if i can gem my money back for it at least...

any ideas or reccomendations for a different iron or anyone uk based?

Thanks!

[Seekonk]

The fake handles are about 36W instead of 50W.  Gaps in iron to ceramic mean that temp has to run a lot higher for same tip temp. I've bought a couple replacement heads to refit dead irons for $3. Usable, but not the same as the real thing.  I think for old electronics you would want as high a wattage as possible.

[shugs81]

cheers for that...

any recommendations?

[nanofrog]

I was just wondering if i bought a genuine hakko iron for it if it was likely to do the wonky heating or if it would just run as normal just heat slower?

i'm going to possibly return it or see if i can gem my money back for it at least...

any ideas or recommendations for a different iron or anyone uk based?

Thanks!

Forget buying a genuine iron for it, and get your money back instead (suspect eBay would see things your way, as it's not genuine).

As per UK sources, there's dancap.co.uk, but they're more expensive than Batterfly.com (135GBP via bank transfer or check IIRC vs. 98EUR & they do online sales). FWIW, Batterfly is located in Italy, but they're an authorized distributor just like Dancap.

If you buy from Batterfly, don't forget you'll need an adapter for the EU plug (or wire in a UK plug).

[amyk]

The 936 clones are cheap and work pretty well: