Smd Iron Tips

[TorqueRanger]

I have tired soldering with my Hakko 888D and it works ok cause I am using the included tip ...I wanted to know what kind of tip works for you when soldering smd parts ??

[GreyWoolfe]

There is a pointed smd tip, I believe it is the T18-BL that is a .2MM conical and a T18-BR02 .2 MM bent conical.  Here is the link on TEquipment.net  http://www.tequipment.net/HakkoT18-BL.html
I would also recommend a selection of chisel tips, starting at about .5 or .8 MM and go up from there.  I use .8, 1.6, 2.4 and 3.2 MM chisel tips for my FX-951.

[rob77]

solder paste + hot air. i'm barely using the iron for SMD.

[KL27x]

I have the same iron. For over ten years, the only tips I ever used were a conical and another conical. Now I have 15 different genuine Hakko tips. 9 more Fake-o tips. The only ones I ever use anymore for SMD are

1.CF
2.CF
3.CF
4.CF
5.CF
6.CF
7.knife tip
8.bent conical

[Shock]

This is my current selection of Hakko T18 tips and preferred use. As I have a several irons tip swaps aren't so much an issue this might be an overkill with just one iron. A selection of pointy tips would probably be the least useful to me. I have hot air as well.

Knife T18-K (smd and through hole drag soldering, wiping, removing bridges)
Hook T18-BR02 (smd wiping and touch ups)
Small conical T18-S4 (fine work including smd)
Hoof T18-C2, T18-C3, T18-C4 (smd drag soldering)
Chisel T18-D08, T18-D16, T18-D24, T18-D32 (fine, general purpose and preferred for through hole)
Chisel Long T18-DL32 (tinning)
Chisel Large T18-S3 (tinning and anything that needs high thermal)

[tonyh88]

Depends mostly what you want to do but I like the chisel tip ( sometime called screwdriver tip) for general purpose soldering and also for drag soldering multi pins smd chips.

With conical tip I have a harder time to drag solder but it is easier to solder very small pin individually on high density boards.

There will always be a right tip for the specific job you will need to do so you have two choices .

1)select only one tip which does a good job in most of the cases (chisel tip for me)
2)go the other route and get multiple tips for different applications as you encounter them (will make your life easier in some occasion).

[KL27x]

I consider my Hakko knife tip to be something like a more finely-shaped chisel tip with some interesting features.

Most importantly, a knife tip has a 45 degree angle. Why chisel tips are 90 degrees beats the hell out of me. Having to orient the pencil perpendicular to your movement when drag soldering is cumbersome. Having to hold the iron at a specific angle when trying to use the face or edge is cumbersome. With a knife tip you can drag the iron when drag soldering. You can get multiple sides of a quad package without turning the board. You don't have to orient the iron exactly to use the faces of the iron, as there is some leeway where you can rotate the face and subtly change the height of the iron a bit to get it straight against a row of pins (or both pads of a passive to lift it) and still be flat against the pcb, rather than reorient the entire iron in a large arc and/or move the board. And also, having a 45 degree angle gives the iron a fine point, despite having a wide face.

I'd be curious to see what a chisel with a 45-degree angle could do. Or conversely a smaller knife tip with a blunter edge like a chisel.

Chisels might be the cat's meow for thru hole. I wouldn't know. When I'm doing thru hole my iron is so loaded with solder, half the time I wouldn't be able to tell which direction a chisel is pointed, anyway. For SMD, I find a chisel tip to be pure torture. It's like having to hold your spoon in a fist like a 3-yr old to eat a bowl of cheerios.

[djQUAN]

I consider my Hakko knife tip to be something like a more finely-shaped chisel tip with some interesting features.

Most importantly, a knife tip has a 45 degree angle. Why chisel tips are 90 degrees beats the hell out of me. Having to orient the pencil perpendicular to your movement when drag soldering is cumbersome. Having to hold the iron at a specific angle when trying to use the face is cumbersome. With a knife tip you can drag the iron when drag soldering. You can get multiple sides of a quad package without turning the board. You don't have to orient the iron exactly to use the faces of the iron, as there is some leeway where you can rotate the face and change the face angle a bit to get it straight against a row of pins and still be flat against the pcb, rather than reorient the entire iron in a large arc and/or move the board. And also, having a 45 degree angle gives the iron a fine point, despite having a wide face.

I'd be curious to see what a chisel with a 45-degree angle could do. Or conversely a knife tip with a blunter edge like a chisel.

I also heavily use the K tip for SMD and general soldering (Before on 888 then moved to a 951) It has decent thermal mass and heating large pads is no problem.

For SMD parts, putting it along the long edge allows you to heat both pads for soldering/rework without needing two irons or hot air.

For drag soldering, the wide face allows you to flood and drag the solder then later draw the excess off the pins for a clean soldering job with nice looking fillets.

The sharp tip allows find soldering work or removing solder bridges.

These are what I can think of off the top of my head and I find the K tip very useful to have if you don't plan to get anything else.

The hakko page has suggestions on how to use the K tip properly.

[TorqueRanger]

Thanks for all the suggestions .. I have a couple stock tips and they are my favorite for through hole and general work.. I was just looking for a tip for soldering smd parts ..I was going to try the short stubby pointy tip and the bent tip just to try out .. Also heard that alot of people like the hoof tip for drag soldering.. Oh what the deal with alot of people using the bent tip cause I seen alot of people using it in metcal units..

[djQUAN]

I also have a bent pointy tip (conical end) for my 951.


But I only use it for soldering hard to reach places with small SMD or in very dense connectors like DIN, D-sub or like those military AMP connectors. For general use, it is basically useless.

[Shock]

Some bent or as I call it "hook" tip action:

[KL27x]

I was going to try the short stubby pointy tip

If you mean the T18-S4, I don't really care much for it. I bought it because it looked like it might be designed to give better thermal transfer. I thought of a few ways this might affect the performance. But I can't tell any difference between it and my T18-I, other than it has less reach and is less maneuverable. I think the BR is a great tip to have for SMD rework, repair, hobbyist low volume work.

[djQUAN]

Some bent or as I call it "hook" tip action:

For that application, I find the K tip easier and faster. It is my personal preference though.

[KL27x]

^Me too, mostly. But the BR can do a few things the K can't and vice versa.

... And a large CF can actually do most of that* ^ better/faster/easier (in my opinion, plus a whole lot more) and could essentially replace a knife for most all my uses, except for efficiently reflowing the pins on no-lead parts. Combined with a 1-1.5mm CF for efficiently doing fine point-to-point stuff without needing 3 hands, I actually use my CF's the most for SMD work, from fine rework to mass assembly.

*Except when drag soldering, you don't feed solder wire. You load the tip and rip it. And when pulling bridges on an already baked/assembled board, you would probably need to add some flux. The BR tip can snake it and physically pull smaller cold bridges during final inspection and such, which the K or CF aren't going to do.

In any large batch task, you may find a good use for any of these tips, but for a first, I'd personally go BR.

[RobertBG]

Some bent or as I call it "hook" tip action:

I never thought I'd use a bent cone/hook tip until I used one.It comes down to preference but for the money they cost I recommend giving one a try.

Another tip I use is a lot is quite similar to a chisel but its a conical tip with a angle cut off the point.I find this one allows me to have the best of both styles so to speak.It works like a chisel and has a wide flat spot for good heat transfer yet can do the things I normally would swap to a pointed tip all in one.

It's hard to say what will work best for you but those two tips have really improved my results and I was a die hard chisel point user for a while.

[bxh]

It really depends on what package you're using. If there's room (e.g. soldering a solitary resistor), my go to tip is the chisel. For multiple aligned leads like QFP I switch to knife tip for drag soldering. For the occasional QFN, the knife tip usually works with some effort if the pads are sufficiently exposed.

For rework, a hot air gun is usually a lot more effective.

[KL27x]

Another tip I use is a lot is quite similar to a chisel but its a conical tip with a angle cut off the point.

Sounds like you're describing a bevel/hoof more than a chisel. I have one that seemingly meets that description. T18-S7. It's described as a 1.2mm bevel, but it lacks the "C" designator. It has a regular bevel tip, but with the tapered base and overall shape of a conical, just like your description, so it gets a finer point on the bevel tip and a fatter base. I like this tip, too. I mostly use mine for through hole work, but I agree it's fairly versatile. I use it more often than any of my regular hoof tips.

For rework, a hot air gun is usually a lot more effective.

I used to use my hot air quite a lot. After adding some key tips to my arsenal, my hot air gun is mostly reduced to removing SMD chips/connectors and SOT parts in tight spaces, and for flowing truly no lead packages and packages with a thermal pad.

[bxh]

Hot air can be quite useless for doing things like fixing bridges directly, but sometimes it's just easier to remove the package, clean it up and put it back on. It's also a bit of a pain to frequently switch tips.