Author Topic: Best Budget Soldering Iron?  (Read 12819 times)

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Offline GreyWoolfe

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #26 on: April 11, 2019, 07:48:55 pm »
I was lucky to get in on a special offer for my thermaltronics TMT-9000

They had a special trade-in deal.
You got the TMT-9000 station for ~AUD$450 and they gave you 20 different tips for free.
The tips are worth like $40 each so really really good deal.

Since it was a trade-in i had to surrender a soldering station to them as part of the deal.
I wish i still had a picture of it, i gave them this really tiny DSE brand station.
Like a 3x3x3 inch cube and plastic toy style iron pencil.
It still worked and said "soldering station" on it but was such a toy and a piece of junk.

That is AWESOME!!!!! :-DD
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Offline Mp3

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #27 on: May 03, 2019, 09:57:01 pm »
Hey guys..... I got in the Bakon BK950D a few days ago and have done a few soldering projects with it so far....

My initial impression is that i like it but i think i need to pick up some OEM tips for it instead of using the junky tips it comes with. The first project i did with it, didn't work when i plugged it in, and found i had a cold solder joint, so i brought it back and held the Bakon iron to the problematic joint for another second or 2 and it worked perfect after that. This was all done at 380 degrees F which is the default temperature setting on the BK950D. The controller on it is very nice and I am fairly convinced the tip it came with is of subpar quality and that it would be nicer to use with a better tip. It heated up very fast, seemed to have a precise temperature and the handle is nice and lightweight and the cable stays out of the way.

The TS100 has a more consistent tip temperature I think. Soldering seems like it might be a little easier on the TS100 for this reason.  However the BK950D seems like it would actually

Now I just need to buy myself some nicer T13 style tips and i think i will be very happy with it. It improves on a lot of complaints I had about the Hakko FX888, but so far it seems that temperature consistency on the tip is not ideal compared to either the TS100 or FX888. I will buy some brand name tips and see if that improves my experience with it.
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Online stj

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #28 on: May 04, 2019, 08:27:00 am »
you dont want T13 tips, you want a T12 handpiece.
btw, your soldering too hot - 330-350 is optimal for lead-free.
250-280 for leaded.
 

Offline GreyWoolfe

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #29 on: May 04, 2019, 12:04:28 pm »
Hey guys..... I got in the Bakon BK950D a few days ago and have done a few soldering projects with it so far....

My initial impression is that i like it but i think i need to pick up some OEM tips for it instead of using the junky tips it comes with. The first project i did with it, didn't work when i plugged it in, and found i had a cold solder joint, so i brought it back and held the Bakon iron to the problematic joint for another second or 2 and it worked perfect after that. This was all done at 380 degrees F which is the default temperature setting on the BK950D. The controller on it is very nice and I am fairly convinced the tip it came with is of subpar quality and that it would be nicer to use with a better tip. It heated up very fast, seemed to have a precise temperature and the handle is nice and lightweight and the cable stays out of the way.

The TS100 has a more consistent tip temperature I think. Soldering seems like it might be a little easier on the TS100 for this reason.  However the BK950D seems like it would actually

Now I just need to buy myself some nicer T13 style tips and i think i will be very happy with it. It improves on a lot of complaints I had about the Hakko FX888, but so far it seems that temperature consistency on the tip is not ideal compared to either the TS100 or FX888. I will buy some brand name tips and see if that improves my experience with it.

At 380F you are too light on temp.  Leaded solder melts at roughly 360-370 F.  I set my FX-951 at 600 F and I use 600 series tips in my Metcal MX-500, which is 650 F.   I have no doubt that OEM will perform better than what you have.  You can get them at TEquipment.net and there is a thread that you can get a EEVBlog discount.  I believe if you spend $100, you get free shipping.  Get a selection of tips, the tip tray for them and the tip cleaner with the brass curls and a spare, dedicated tips if you plan to do lead free to avoid cross contamination and you should make the $100 easy.  You know you want a variety of tips, I have 6 myself, for now.
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Online stj

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #30 on: May 04, 2019, 04:08:46 pm »
Hey guys..... I got in the Bakon BK950D a few days ago and have done a few soldering projects with it so far....

My initial impression is that i like it but i think i need to pick up some OEM tips for it instead of using the junky tips it comes with. The first project i did with it, didn't work when i plugged it in, and found i had a cold solder joint, so i brought it back and held the Bakon iron to the problematic joint for another second or 2 and it worked perfect after that. This was all done at 380 degrees F which is the default temperature setting on the BK950D. The controller on it is very nice and I am fairly convinced the tip it came with is of subpar quality and that it would be nicer to use with a better tip. It heated up very fast, seemed to have a precise temperature and the handle is nice and lightweight and the cable stays out of the way.

The TS100 has a more consistent tip temperature I think. Soldering seems like it might be a little easier on the TS100 for this reason.  However the BK950D seems like it would actually

Now I just need to buy myself some nicer T13 style tips and i think i will be very happy with it. It improves on a lot of complaints I had about the Hakko FX888, but so far it seems that temperature consistency on the tip is not ideal compared to either the TS100 or FX888. I will buy some brand name tips and see if that improves my experience with it.

At 380F you are too light on temp.  Leaded solder melts at roughly 360-370 F.  I set my FX-951 at 600 F and I use 600 series tips in my Metcal MX-500, which is 650 F.   I have no doubt that OEM will perform better than what you have.  You can get them at TEquipment.net and there is a thread that you can get a EEVBlog discount.  I believe if you spend $100, you get free shipping.  Get a selection of tips, the tip tray for them and the tip cleaner with the brass curls and a spare, dedicated tips if you plan to do lead free to avoid cross contamination and you should make the $100 easy.  You know you want a variety of tips, I have 6 myself, for now.

bakon displays in "c" not "F"
so he's actually a bit high - or a lot high for leaded solder.
 
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Online stj

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #31 on: May 04, 2019, 04:10:52 pm »
btw, no point burning money on original cartridges.

 
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Offline GreyWoolfe

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #32 on: May 05, 2019, 12:45:07 am »
Interesting video that voltlog did.  Initial quality does indeed seem very similar.  I would be more concerned with long term usage.  Ultimately, how well will the KSGER tip hold up over the long haul.  I might have to get a few and try them out.  Not quite a frame of reference but when I sold my Hakko 936 I had OEM tips that were 7 years old at the time and worked just fine.  I wonder if the KSGER tips can last like that.
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Online stj

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #33 on: May 05, 2019, 08:01:08 am »
my ali-express tips are atleast 2 years old now, and look like new - no pitting or anything.

even if they only lasted a year though, they would still be a better deal than what hakko charges!
 

Offline Mp3

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #34 on: May 05, 2019, 08:09:08 pm »
Wow, i really hope my Bakon displays temperature in F not C, 380C would be REALLY way too hot!!!

Thanks for your replies, everyone.... i already bought two brand name Hakko tips from ebay, but that video was very enlightening, i will probably buy some off brand ones next.

after all on my Hakko 888 i used Aoyue tips for years without problem....

I think the tip that came with the BK950D is so bad, even other youtube reviews show it working poorly as mine does, i think at this point even a knock-off tip would work better than what they send with it!

i wish i had a thermal camera so i could compare the stock tip to a hakko one...
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Online stj

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #35 on: May 06, 2019, 08:01:13 am »
the bakon has presets for 250,300,350 and 400.
use the left button to get yours to 300(leaded) or 350(lead-free)

and stay away from cheap chinese solder - specially "JINHU"
that shit claims to be 63/37 but only just starts to melt at 350.
(into a sludge - like it has no flux)
 
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Offline Mp3

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #36 on: May 09, 2019, 10:40:26 am »
Okay, so i was able to confirm my unit was running in Fahrenheit, i accidentally switched to celsius is how i found out :) No idea why the presets are so hot though, i can't imagine wanting to go above 480f (the lowest preset temperature)

I swapped the tip on my T13 handle unit with a genuine Hakko T15-D16 and the experience was great. Notably much faster heat up time until it would melt solder.  I have no way to measure temperature or do thermal imaging but i would love to be able to do this. The T15 tip is a decent amount longer than the stock T13 tip. I can take photos if wanted.

I noticed when i turned the controller down to 450 with the Hakko tip, it had a little trouble melting solder, so i cranked it back to 475 and that seemed to be the lowest it could reasonably melt solder and not otherwise be too hot. However i don't put too much stock in what the temparture display says - it's only 3 pin for the heater so no temperature control sensor in the handle, it's probably just guessing to whatever it's calibrated to, but using 475-480 degrees F with the t15-d16 handle gives a very similar soldering experience to my old Hakko iron when i would leave the analog dial set at 390 F.....

I got a nice consistent solder at 475-480 F and didn't have as much irregularity like i experienced with the stock tip.

Anyway, i still like this iron a lot, my next investment will probably be a generic set of Hakko T15 tips and i expect they'll work nicely like the real Hakko tip. But man, the tip it comes with really sucks!

Time will tell if it's a winning combination......  ;)

BTW this is all with Kester 60/40, i have a giant roll of the nice Kester i got 3 years ago and still have plenty left on the spool!
« Last Edit: May 09, 2019, 10:55:55 am by Mp3 »
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Online stj

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #37 on: May 09, 2019, 08:41:44 pm »
the T12/15 does have a temperature sensor in the tip, it's in series with the heater.
and T12/15 is only looking longer and more awkward because you need a T12 handle for it.

there is a thread where i covered the details.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/budget-soldering-iron/msg1310435/#msg1310435

 

Offline KL27x

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #38 on: May 10, 2019, 01:34:26 am »
Quote
I spend 10+ years of my life using irons that run 900M tips and i did lots successful soldering with them too.
It's not so much that 900m itself is shit, you can get the job done with it.
So maybe i should rephrase.
It's that 900M is shit once you have used a really good iron and then go back to it
Most of the irons posted here are shit compared to a genuine 888. I dunno if you ever used a genuine Hakko 888, or even 936, or just clones.  And the T18 tips are better than the 900M... both interchangeable. Most hakko T18 clones are not very good. I've used 3 of them and they are not comparable to a genuine 888 in power or ergos or durability or handpiece temperature under heavy use. They range from really bad to just mediocre. None really came close to the real thing.

IOW,  "irons that run 900M tips" are not necessarily very good. This is the most cloned station in history, and most of the clones only compete by being made by the lowest bidder and sold for peanuts.

Rossman is another guy who went from Ayou to 951 and thinks the old "hakko" style of iron is crap when he's only ever used a cheap knockoff. If you go from a genuine Hakko 888 to Bakon T12, you would see the Bakon is alright but is inferior in many ways. Plus Rossman leaves his 951 at 840F and replaces a $40.00 tip every month or two (per him) while replacing 1 component per hour, so how good is even the real 951?  :-// I probably do more soldering in a month than Rossman does in a year.

Judging the old style of tips to the newer cartridge tips fine. I would 100% agree the 2 clone T12 stations I used are way better to slightly better than the various 3 clone T18's I've used. But the real Hakko 888 (888 has 17% more power than the 936) is way better than the clone T18/900M stations.

I concur the Bakon is a really good station for $30ish, esp if you only need a few different tips. It has shorter tip to grip blah blah, hot swap, yeah, it's pretty decent. Actually the warm up time is about exactly the same as a genuine 888 with the corresponding tip (neighborhood of 17 seconds). Power and thermal drop/loss is pretty close but not as good as a Hakko 888; i.e., you have to fudge with the temp more often than with the 888 when you are encountering big ground planes or whatnot. In addition to real world use, I have preformed a test and have data that backs that up. Handle temp when under heavy load is way better than the 888, which is one of the only non subjective performance features that is an actual improvement (and likewise, the genuine 888 is way better than all of the clone 900m/T18 stations I have used; some of the clones were a problem, but to me the real 888 is more than good enough in this department; it's a rare job that the handle increases in temp). So for $30, you get a pretty capable station with a light handpiece that is backheavy and has flex in the tip. And you get a nice fold out tin stand for the ultimate in soldering ergonomics.

Also, Bakon is quite possibly the only iron that has a worse UI than the 888, lol. Making adjustments is misery, and there are no user adjustable presets. You get nice 50C increments by default, and whenever you try to make smaller adjustments you will fail and end up jumping to the next 50C preset, guaranteed. I eventually gave up and used the iron way too hot to avoid having to change it. 2 months, I hid my 888 and used this iron, and it works great... for $30 bucks. I have also used a 24V t12 clone, and it performed very similarly to the Bakon. Warm up speed was way faster, but it had the same thermal drop and need to bump up the temps as the Bakon, not quite as good as the old obsolete 888 in real world use or in thermal drop test.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 02:40:00 am by KL27x »
 
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Offline Mp3

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #39 on: May 10, 2019, 05:17:51 am »
I had an analog 888 since 2012 and after i broke a handle right by the base connector plug for the 3rd time, i decided to go looking for a different unit, though the 888 did always work great for me except for those handle issues 8)

I should consider upgrading to a nicer Hakko, this iron is fun to use even though it might not be the most precise, i still actually prefer my TS100 to any other iron i've had or used when it comes to tip temperature consistency!
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Offline KL27x

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #40 on: May 10, 2019, 07:27:14 am »
I expect some of the clone handles to break in half next to where the parts screw together. I've broken one of the clones. The smell and the appearance of the threading gave the impression it was made of recycled cheese plastic from the getgo. And it sounds like a stupid detail, but the hard foam overgrip on the original Hakko is the bomb. It is comfortable despite sweat or flux; doesn't get slippery or tacky and just gives a comfortable and secure-feeling grip that is easy to manipulate. It's also bomb-proof. The foam is a couple shades darker than what it started, but there are no signs of wear, damage or separation. The clones I have used had a rubber overgrip which makes you feel your own sweat and finger oil, instantly and incessantly, even when your hands are pretty clean. I would take time and effort to wipe those down, regularly. TBH, the only time I remember ever cleaning my 888 handpiece was the day I got the 888D and noticed how dark the overgrip had become. I used a paper towel barely dampened with alcohol, only over the overgrip and avoiding the rest of the plastic... and it didn't look or feel any different, after or since.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've used the same 888 handpiece for over a decade now, originally with the 888 and now with the 888D. I am surprised that it would break 3 times in such a short period of time.* And I hate to wonder if you bought replacements on eBay from Hong Kong or China for $20.00 instead of the $65 that the distributors sell it for.

*3 times in 7 years! I have stated a couple of times before that you can expect a cheap clone station to last 2-4 years before the handpiece breaks in half from heat degradation. That is completely disappointing to have that happen to a more expensive station.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 08:37:40 am by KL27x »
 

Offline Shock

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #41 on: May 10, 2019, 08:57:52 am »
I should consider upgrading to a nicer Hakko, this iron is fun to use even though it might not be the most precise, i still actually prefer my TS100 to any other iron i've had or used when it comes to tip temperature consistency!

Don't get a Hakko FX-951, the Pace ADS200 beats it in almost every way for the same price. Tips just as high quality but cheaper, higher performance and power with more mass and you don't have to calibrate or buy $5 pieces of plastic to remove your tips easily.
Soldering/Rework: Pace ADS200, Pace MBT350
Multimeters: Fluke 189, 87V, 117, 112   >>> WANTED STUFF <<<
Oszilloskopen: Lecroy 9314, Phillips PM3065, Tektronix 2215a, 314
 

Offline KL27x

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #42 on: May 10, 2019, 09:25:54 am »
I also like how the ADS tips have a keyway, so they go in the same way every time. I don't know if they're any stiffer, but the subtle feeling of mush and play in the clone 951 two part handpiece and the slight bendiness of the cartridge, itself, was a letdown. That, plus the nerf dart handpiece and lack of mass in the business end just doesn't feel super refined to me.
 

Offline Shock

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Re: Best Budget Soldering Iron?
« Reply #43 on: May 10, 2019, 12:09:34 pm »
I also like how the ADS tips have a keyway, so they go in the same way every time. I don't know if they're any stiffer, but the subtle feeling of mush and play in the clone 951 two part handpiece and the slight bendiness of the cartridge, itself, was a letdown. That, plus the nerf dart handpiece and lack of mass in the business end just doesn't feel super refined to me.

Yeah the keyway has been used also in the TD-100 for quite a while so it's proven reliable. I have the new TD-100a on my Pace MBT350 station which is the aluminum version. The keyway prevents over insertion so there is minimal stress on the tip socket inside the barrel. The MT-100 tweezers are also keyed so one of the easiest tweezers on the market to do tip changes, 10 seconds for a complete swap over.

These are 1124-1001-P1 which is 0.2mm (.008"). I mean is that sexy or what? My chin nearly hit the floor when I tried these out.



Soldering/Rework: Pace ADS200, Pace MBT350
Multimeters: Fluke 189, 87V, 117, 112   >>> WANTED STUFF <<<
Oszilloskopen: Lecroy 9314, Phillips PM3065, Tektronix 2215a, 314
 
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