Weller WX2 tips

[LEENO]

Hi,
I have weller wx2 with 65w and 120w irons pencils. I do mobilephones repairs.

I use the 120w for the ground without problems.

With the 65w i cant solder the ground and sometimes is hard to solder some non ground point too. I do bridges on ic pads but sometimes is hard, i search for faster way.

Please give me suggestions for check the iron solder pencil and tips to use for precision wire soldering on ic pads.

For try to solder easly i always clean the point to solder, i place leaded soldering wire on the points to solder and apply rma flux.  For prevent tips oxidation i leave soldering wire on the tips when not in use.

 I connected wx2 to external ground (on the work bench metal frame) because of noise on my electric surce and 8v out on Alternate from the ground in electric source.

[mahi]

The problem is not with the WX2 soldering station but the WXP 65 soldering iron (65 W). It's working fine for regular SMD and small through-hole stuff but it's seriously struggling with beefier pads and components. I got frustrated with its predecessor (WP 65) very rapidly. The WXP 120 soldering iron (120 W) obviously has plenty of power and works fine for almost everything you throw at it, but the tip-to-handle distance is much larger making it less suitable for fine work.

The previous generation of Weller soldering irons featured the WP 80 (80 W) which in my opinion is the sweet spot between the 65 and 120 W irons. Short tip-to-handle distance and enough power for anything but very large ground planes, high-thermal mass connectors and shields. It's a shame it didn't get a successor in the newer WX generation (well, there is the obscure WXP 80 but it does not have the nice short tip-to-handle distance of the older WP 80).

The W(X)P 65, 80 and 120 are all what you may call traditional irons where the heating element is part of the handle. Brands like Metcal and JBC offer soldering irons with active tips (heating element in the removable tip).  Naturally the tips are much more expensive but this system provides much better thermal response and makes soldering of high-thermal mass components much more enjoyable. Weller does have an active tip iron that is compatible with your station, the WXMP pencil, but I'm not sure how it stacks up against Metcal and JBC.

[Kjelt]

The problem is not with the WX2 soldering station but the WXP 65 soldering iron (65 W). It's working fine for regular SMD and small through-hole stuff but it's seriously struggling with beefier pads and components.

That is why it is marketed as an inbetween TH and SMD iron, the WXMP for fine smd components and for beefier TH components you can use the WXP120.

The WXP 120 soldering iron (120 W) obviously has plenty of power and works fine for almost everything you throw at it, but the tip-to-handle distance is much larger making it less suitable for fine work.

Only 5cm for the WXP60 and 7cm on the WXP120 that is not that big a deal, the WXP120 is a lot bigger, weighs more and is not as easy to handle but with almost double the power that is logical.
Also there is the tip choice you have small and larger tips for all irons, which makes a huge difference in performance.
I only use chisel tips they have a way better contact surface and heat transfer than conical tips.

I like all my irons for their own purpose, the wxmp is the least used, I almost only use the 65 for smd components and the 120 for groundplanes and TH work.
My previous old school Weller had 40W in a way bigger casing than the 120W and that lasted me for 20 years so I guess it is what you are used to.

[LEENO]

The problem is not with the WX2 soldering station but the WXP 65 soldering iron (65 W). It's working fine for regular SMD and small through-hole stuff but it's seriously struggling with beefier pads and components.

That is why it is marketed as an inbetween TH and SMD iron, the WXMP for fine smd components and for beefier TH components you can use the WXP120.

The WXP 120 soldering iron (120 W) obviously has plenty of power and works fine for almost everything you throw at it, but the tip-to-handle distance is much larger making it less suitable for fine work.

Only 5cm for the WXP60 and 7cm on the WXP120 that is not that big a deal, the WXP120 is a lot bigger, weighs more and is not as easy to handle but with almost double the power that is logical.
Also there is the tip choice you have small and larger tips for all irons, which makes a huge difference in performance.
I only use chisel tips they have a way better contact surface and heat transfer than conical tips.

I like all my irons for their own purpose, the wxmp is the least used, I almost only use the 65 for smd components and the 120 for groundplanes and TH work.
My previous old school Weller had 40W in a way bigger casing than the 120W and that lasted me for 20 years so I guess it is what you are used to.

Wich tip toy use for wxp65? And wich flux and soldering wire?

[agehall]

I'm quite happy with my WXMP and a WXP120. I'm not sure where I would use an inbetween iron tbh.

As for tips, I have a bunch of different ones for the WXMP. My current favourite is the bent chissel tip which allows you to get in to the middle of a board and solder components without touching things around the target.

[LEENO]

For smd soldering WXMP is better than WXP65?

[Omicron]

For smd soldering WXMP is better than WXP65?

Much better. The WXMP has a temperature sensor right in the tip, similar to JBC irons. This makes all the difference. I use mine for nearly everything, both SMD and through hole. Only for very beefy connector tabs do I ever need to pull out the WXP120. I never use my WXP65. I use a hoof tip for SMD work and the biggest chisel tip for through hole stuff.

I do almost all my soldering under a microscope and the WXMP is perfect for that. JBC also have a micro pencil but it seems it only has 12W as opposed to 55W for the WXMP. I doubt it would be as good for more traditional through hole parts or larger SMD ones. The WXMP is really very versatile for a soldering pencil that small. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else.

One caveat though: the design of the tips really invites you to swap them out while the iron is on. Don't! Turn the station off first or you will kill the tips very quickly.

[LEENO]

For smd soldering WXMP is better than WXP65?

Much better. The WXMP has a temperature sensor right in the tip, similar to JBC irons. This makes all the difference. I use mine for nearly everything, both SMD and through hole. Only for very beefy connector tabs do I ever need to pull out the WXP120. I never use my WXP65. I use a hoof tip for SMD work and the biggest chisel tip for through hole stuff.

I do almost all my soldering under a microscope and the WXMP is perfect for that. JBC also have a micro pencil but it seems it only has 12W as opposed to 55W for the WXMP. I doubt it would be as good for more traditional through hole parts or larger SMD ones. The WXMP is really very versatile for a soldering pencil that small. I wouldn't trade mine for anything else.

One caveat though: the design of the tips really invites you to swap them out while the iron is on. Don't! Turn the station off first or you will kill the tips very quickly.

Thanks to your suggestion, i will buy wxmp. I should like a video with wxmp at work


Inviato dal mio SM-G930F utilizzando Tapatalk

[Kjelt]

Wich tip toy use for wxp65? And wich flux and soldering wire?

Sorry was away for awhile, I use the XNT B mostly, sometimes the XNT A.
Although I have the XNT C I never use it, I switch to the WXP120 in such cases.

WXMP is a fine choice for smd, I do not use it as much as the WXP65 but that is a personal choice, for extreme small smd work however I do use the WXMP.

When reading Omicron post, he is 100% right, see picture, the wxmp has active tip technology where the sensor is closer to the tip and the response is faster.
For small smd pads that is the choice. For somewhat largers smd components as coils it might be a different scenario.

So I might retry the WXMP more often in the future, what I do not like about it personally is that it is flimsy in the holder, meaning it drops out of the holder very often, not nice when it is 300C.^*1
Also the WXMP turns off more often even when I am still using it, so might be my monday morning iron with a flaky sensor but heard more people complaining about it.
I have to shake it hard to let it go on again, you can easily circumvent it to switch the settings to never goto sleep. Perhaps the newer irons are better.

If you want to do components which require more beef I advise to additionally get the WXP120 instead of the WXP65, together with the WXMP you have a good duo.

Flux I use is no clean from Felder because I could order a 1 litre bottle, I have three different bottles: needle, brush and hardpen.
I want to order the flux that Rossmann uses see his videos and website, I don't use flux much though.
Solder wire I use personally is Multicore lead solder 0,7mm for TH components also 0,45mm for TH and larger SMD, 0,23 for normal and tiny smd components.

^*1This is probably my own mistake, the support was all out and supported the end of the solder iron. Watching a youtube movie 5 minutes ago I noticed the support was just as with the other irons closer to the rubber. I just tweaked with it and noticed that the first silver part of the iron after the rubber held is magnetic and the support has a small magnet inside. So this is probably the correct way for the holder, so I withdraw my statement and retry the coming weeks if this works better (probably will).

[eeviking]

There is a brand new WXP 90 with short handle and replaceable heating element and tip like on the WXMP.
Have anyone tried that?

[Kjelt]

Thanks did not see that one yet, it is so new my normal suppliers don't have it yet.
Worse weller.de has no mention of it, only the heating element 

That heating element is the same for the WT90, looking at this movie you indeed replace the heatingelement and the tip or only the tip so not exactly the same as wxmp, and the price is pretty steep if the heating element alone is already €75 ex VAT , interesting for business but hobbieists probably will take the extra two minutes to just exchange the tip 

https://youtu.be/OTxlODW1Q9Q

[Omicron]

Also the WXMP turns off more often even when I am still using it, so might be my monday morning iron with a flaky sensor but heard more people complaining about it.
I have to shake it hard to let it go on again, you can easily circumvent it to switch the settings to never goto sleep. Perhaps the newer irons are better.

It heats up so fast that it doesn't really bother me that it enters a lower temp mode when you put it down. However you are right that the motion sensor in it can be a bit insensitive at times. I've gotten used to shaking it before use There was a firmware update for the station that seemed to improve things a bit, they added a setting to make it more sensitive, but it still requires a shake now and then. Despite that though I love this little iron and very rarely use anything else (even though I have a WXP120 and a WXP65). For through hole stuff you do need the largest chisel tip as that gives you 15 extra watts as compared to the other tips (55W, the other ones are limited to 40W). I also love the WXMT tweezers which use the same type of heating technology.

The WXP90 uses the same heating technology as the WXP65, which makes me skeptical about it.

[cutajarwayne92]

Hi,

Have you ever came across the warning in the picture below? The soldering station is powered by a Weller WX2 Power Unit, Dual Channel.

Whenever this warning pops up, changing the tip with a brand new one will resolve the warning, but this sometimes happened with new tips, used for very few hours.

Thanks for reading.

[Kjelt]

I never saw this in the two years i have the stations and irons.
Perhaps a loose contact?