Metcal PS2E-01 with STS-RM3E hand piece | recent find in local classifieds

[Mephitus]

I just now obtained this from someone in my local classifieds here in Salt Lake city Utah for ONLY $15!!! I am working on a teardown right after posting this as per the eevblog mantra and will be posting it shortly afterwards. The soldering tip seems to be stuck good in the handpiece at the moment. I cant tell as of yet if a previous owner put epoxy in the damned thing or if its just cemented in with old rosin flux. It replaces this piece of trash harbor freight thing that pretends to be a soldering iron.

[Mephitus]

Here is the full teardown gallery with high def pictures: http://imgur.com/gallery/SOac4/

IC's found on board:
L4960H - 2.5A switching voltage regulator
pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheet/stmicroelectronics/1356.pdf

LM393P - Dual Differential Comparator
www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm193.pdf

TND 903 - Diode array
http://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/94807/ETC/TND903/45/1/TND903.html

MC74HCO4AN - Quad 2-Input NAND Gate
http://pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheet/motorola/MC54HC00AJ.pdf

VN0106N2 - DMOS Power FET
http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/624523/NJSEMI/VN0106N2.html

Teardown review (havent even turned it on yet)
To begin with, this thing is designed and built like a TANK. The thinnest parts of the casing is 3mm thick with the back heatsink fins being 3mmx10mm the full length of the casing which stands 225mm tall and 115mm wide square. Inside looks just as industrial as the outside as you can see in the pics. I wanted to get the whole board out, but the grounding wire crimp had been riveted to the casing and I didnt want to bust out my drill/rivet gun right now. The only plastic to be found on here is the top plate that has the on/off switch and the indicator LED's. The large chunk of aluminum heat spreader inside seems well set to distribute out the heat evenly and is grounded by a strip of copper tape.

I will make a post on how it performs once I can fix the issue with the hand piece. The tip cartridge is jammed in there pretty good.

[Mephitus]

Finally got the soldering tip out of the hand piece. Some damned fool thought it was a good idea to put epoxy in it to hold the soldering cartridge in place.  Had to destroy the one that was stuck in there to get it out. Here's whats left. I will have to buy a new one before I can try it out. Oh well. Still a galaxy sized improvement from what I had been using. Besides, this soldering station is designed so that you can extract the live soldering tip and replace it with another (that comes to temp within 7 seconds) to fit whatever job is needed. Heres the full catalog of options: http://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Metcal%20PDFs/Soldering,%20Desoldering%20&%20Rework%20Syst%20(2002%20Catalog).pdf

[mamalala]

Besides, this soldering station is designed so that you can extract the live soldering tip and replace it with another (that comes to temp within 7 seconds) to fit whatever job is needed.

You need to power-cycle the supply unit, however. Once the tip is removed, it with latch into a fault mode (that's what the yellow LED will then indicate), and only power-cycling clears that.

Also, the 7 seconds is true only for a few tips at a certain temperature. Larger tips, or higher temp cartridges, will require a few more seconds. Althoght it's still very fast.

Greetings,

Chris

[GreyWoolfe]

I can never find deals like that.   

[Mephitus]

You need to power-cycle the supply unit, however. Once the tip is removed, it with latch into a fault mode (that's what the yellow LED will then indicate), and only power-cycling clears that.

Also, the 7 seconds is true only for a few tips at a certain temperature. Larger tips, or higher temp cartridges, will require a few more seconds. Althoght it's still very fast.

Greetings,

Chris

Ahh, cool. I did not know that. I am having difficulty finding appropriate documentation on this unit. Would you happen to have some? I was actually just about to email Metcal on it.

I can never find deals like that.   

Don't feel bad. I have been searching for months and only snagged this one because I responded within a few hours of when the guy had posted it. I recently passed up a Tenma 72-3055 oscilloscope for $50 because I found that one of my coworkers was willing to trade labor for one he has (unknown make/model at this time). I hopefully should be able to pick it up in the next week or so. In other words, patience and persistance can account for a lot when looking for deals.

[Mephitus]

Related question: There is still some residue epoxy left that I cant seem to scrape out.  Does anyone know of a solvent or technique to remove this properly?

I have tried acetone, alcohol, and freezing it out (upside down can of air), with very little progress. Luckily the cartridge jack didnt get any on it. It seems that the plastic they use on the hand piece doesnt react at all to acetone. The cord is high quality rubber, but the hand piece is a very solid feeling plastic. I think I will mod it with some Sugru to make it a little more comfortable in the hand.

[hayatepilot]

Epoxy, once hardened, can almost only be removed mechanicaly; scraping, sanding etc.

You can try paint stripper for epoxy paints, but this would probably also dissolve the handle itself...

I would stick to the mechanical method.

Greetings

[Fat]

SLC?  Looks like I have some competition when looking for used equipment.  Nice to see someone else from the area on the board.

Fat

[Mephitus]

SLC?  Looks like I have some competition when looking for used equipment.  Nice to see someone else from the area on the board.

Fat

Salutations to you Utah fellow. I am over in Sugarhouse actually.

But, competition? meh. I am all about encouraging peoples passions. My philosophy is that it's better to get good and proper tools to the professionals and hobbiests that will put them to good use rather than someone just looking to resell. In fact, if you want, I can message you if I find any other local deals. I have seen a few 20mhz analog scopes under $80 recently. Currently I'm trying to keep my eyes open for a proper DMM . Really need one to repair several things. If I cant find one in the next week or so, I will have to break down and grab one of those cheapo VC99's. (I'm poor, not a cheap bastard.)

[BurningTantalum]

The tip in the handle looks odd. Was it actually a Metcal tip, or had some goon tried to bodge in something else?

The inside of the F-connector also doesn't look right.
I assume that the actual 'connector' inside the bottom of the handle is still OK.
The lead should have a DC resistance of around 3 ohms, measured at the connector, due to a series resistor inside the brass part in the handle. There are pics on this site of the thing dismantled.
BT

[Mephitus]

It was a real metcal tip. It just looks like the connector at the end had worn out and needed to be trashed anyway. So they probly epoxied it to hold it in place. As far as I can tell, the inside connector looks fine. This handpiece (STSS-RM3E) doesn't come apart like the MX-RM3E model does, its all molded plastic. If I have to replace it though, its not the end of the world.

[zapta]

You need to power-cycle the supply unit, however. Once the tip is removed, it with latch into a fault mode (that's what the yellow LED will then indicate), and only power-cycling clears that.

Metcal also has that black ESD safe rubber thing that allows to remove the tip while hot.

[electr_peter]

Metcal is the proper soldering iron, no question about build quality. I use a very similar unit for some time with no complaints at all.

You may be out of luck with a hand piece. If you decide to buy a replacement handle, I would suggest to buy shorter hand piece instead. Plastic hand piece in the picture looks excessively long.

[Mephitus]

Metcal is the proper soldering iron, no question about build quality. I use a very similar unit for some time with no complaints at all.

You may be out of luck with a hand piece. If you decide to buy a replacement handle, I would suggest to buy shorter hand piece instead. Plastic hand piece in the picture looks excessively long.

The hand piece isnt much longer than a standard BIC pen and I have larger hands, so it is pretty comfortable to me. Your milage may vary but it feels extremely light to me. In fact, my only complaint about it could be easily remedied with some sugru to make it a bit more ergonomic. I did a quick google check around and plenty of places still sell OEM or compatible ones around $80-120. I would rather cut this one apart and bodge a new jack  in than spend that much. But I will have to see if that will even be a concern once I get some new tips ordered.

Believe it or not, but I was able to find the technical service manual for the model up from this (MX-500P) that is so thorough that it not only has the functional diagram, but the PCB payout, board bodge fixes, and full BOM. You could reproduce the entire thing from scratch if you wanted to! Its the kind of document porn that Dave loves.
Here is a link to the manual, circa 1992 - Click me!

[BurningTantalum]

Hello Mephitus,
I had assumed that an RM3E was an RM3E, but having looked again at your Imgur pics I can see that this is not the case. Having said that- the handle must come apart somehow, because it was assembled in the first place. It does look more like my RM2 handle (which is missing the strain relief) and I had to repair that when I acquired it, although I cannot recall how. Attached is a pic of the 'other' type of RM3E, and the only pic I have of my RM2 dismantled.
Regards, BT

[KJDS]

That's a great find, I do like Metcal irons.

[Mephitus]

Hello Mephitus,
I had assumed that an RM3E was an RM3E, but having looked again at your Imgur pics I can see that this is not the case. Having said that- the handle must come apart somehow, because it was assembled in the first place. It does look more like my RM2 handle (which is missing the strain relief) and I had to repair that when I acquired it, although I cannot recall how. Attached is a pic of the 'other' type of RM3E, and the only pic I have of my RM2 dismantled.
Regards, BT

With a little more force I was able to pull the handle apart. The connection from the cable relief to the handle was almost imperceptable and had what seems like lock-tight on it. As far as components/build, it does look exactly like the first pic you had attached. (would have posted a pic, but its exactly the same) Good thing I took it apart, I was able to get some more epoxy from the internal connector. Its clean as a whistle now. I can order some more tips my next payday. Which should be good as I think I can get that oscilloscope from my friend this saturday too. Kinda wish I was local to Austrailia so Dave could do a quick teardown on this, I think he would enjoy it. Though with that last attachment I put on, anyone could reproduce their own unit from scratch. Which would be a cool project I think.

[Smokey]

Epoxy? Are you sure?  That has got to be some exotic epoxy to stand up to 300-500C or however hot that tip was rated.   

[BurningTantalum]

Smokey- the tip heats right at the business end, and the shank is a clearance fit for a long way down the handle so that the connector end of the tip stays cool.

Mephitus- Just make sure that the inner AND the outer of the cord are continuous before spending any more time on it. I have had a shoal of them that have had broken inners close to the handle (you can see a broken inner in my RM2 pic) and also broken outer screens (of which there are two concentric ones separated by PTFE tape.) They are easy to fix but a bit fiddly for the first go.
BT

[Mephitus]

Epoxy? Are you sure?  That has got to be some exotic epoxy to stand up to 300-500C or however hot that tip was rated.

Actually, I have used an epoxy that is designed for high-heat applications. "SteealStik" made by JB-Weld. I have used it for things like repairing a muffler on a BMW or other repairs when heat or tensile strength was a concern. Its pretty good stuff (IMHO) that I recomend. It just has a bad smell for a while until it fully bakes down/cures. (MSDS attached) Heres their site: http://www.jbweld.com/products/steelstik-epoxy-putty-stick

[Smokey]

Smokey- the tip heats right at the business end, and the shank is a clearance fit for a long way down the handle so that the connector end of the tip stays cool.

Very true.  Wow.  I'm an idiot.  I'm not sure why I missed that one.  I'm blaming the fact that I was on vacation and I hadn't used a Metcal iron in ...... 4 days.....

[mamalala]

Believe it or not, but I was able to find the technical service manual for the model up from this (MX-500P) that is so thorough that it not only has the functional diagram, but the PCB payout, board bodge fixes, and full BOM. You could reproduce the entire thing from scratch if you wanted to! Its the kind of document porn that Dave loves.
Here is a link to the manual, circa 1992 - Click me!

Yea, i have that tech PDF as well. However, it's not from Metcal, but "just" from someone who reverse-engineeres a unit.

Making one from scratch? Sure, did that:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/diy-metcal-13-56-mhz-rf-supply/

Regarding tip cartridges: Check eBay. You US folks are luck, tons of new and used cartridges there for small prices. Make sure to get the 1xx temperature series. Personally, i'm a huge fan of the STSS-126, which is my default tip.

Greetings,

Chris