Electronics > Beginners
Should I be worried about tip lifetime when buying my first soldering station?
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KL27x:
I've never used a Xytronic, but I've heard nothing but good about them.



--- Quote --- But anyway the i-Tool is 9 seconds to reach 350C so a higher performing iron.
--- End quote ---
The time to warm up depends on the mass of the tip. Lighter tips will heat up faster, but heavier tips will increase performance in many ways. The Hakko 951 tips have in some cases about half the copper of the similar style 888 tip, for instance. So it should not be a surprise that they heat up faster. The tips for that 3200 look pretty hefty. Also some irons might "cheat" on the warm up time. They may have a cold boot algorithm. But in operation, it won't perform like that by default, unless you use an "overdrive setting" that allows more overshoot and reduced tip life.

Heck, I have a 6W battery powered iron that gets 900F in 10-12 seconds... but it can't solder anything bigger than a normal thru hole lead on a protoboard pad.


--- Quote ---And honestly, is 9 seconds or 15 seconds even remotely important?
--- End quote ---
To me, nope. It takes longer to get things setup to make the joint after flipping on the power. And once my iron is on, it probably gonna stay that way for at least a couple of hours if not all day.
AlanS:
I agree with NANDBlog,Brumby and stj.

If you need one get what you can afford. It depends what you want it for and how much joy you will get from your hobby. As an EE you should move forward quickly. So go high rather than low.

As an aside, in my early days learning to solder on solder grids (remember those?) we were taught to use the sponge sparingly as it was bad for tips that then required constant re-tinning. Use the brass wire more and don't wipe the tip before you turn the iron off.

We'll be interested to see what you end up doing. BTW the other advice on different irons and tip types appears to be well considered - and is the best you can do without having one to play with in store - and who has that nowadays?
Shock:

--- Quote from: grizewald on May 08, 2019, 09:06:38 pm ---I'm really not sure what you're trying to say here. Do you dislike my choice? Did I mention any comparisons about how long different soldering stations take to get up to temperature? (And honestly, is 9 seconds or 15 seconds even remotely important?) What do you have against things designed and made in Taiwan?

--- End quote ---

No not concerned with your choice, was saying it's not comparable to the performance of stations the OP was looking at around that price. A reader might assume that the Xytronic station is a bargain because of half the price elsewhere. There is a big difference between China, Taiwan and Hong Kong still but the reason why some retailers would flip them at twice the price is to sell to people who don't know any better between local and overseas brands. You mentioned the tips were cheaper as well, that is because they are simply cheaper to make, again was just putting it into perspective.

As a high power station only uses the upper limit of it's power in a demanding situation the thermal performance will make a difference. If we could just solder at any temperature we liked it wouldn't matter so much, just turn it up the heat more and it heats the joint faster.

All we really have to go on is the heat up speed to give us an idea of that performance. So it could be anywhere up to four times less efficient than the Pace or JBC, which could be control, losses or just not using the full power it's rated for.


--- Quote ---I was merely offering an alternative to the suggestions already made in this thread. I have used plenty of Weller and Pace kit professionally and they are, of course, excellent tools. Whether the prices charged for them are realistic for a hobbyist's bench is another matter. From the point of view of hobbyist use, the Xytronic meets all my needs and I thought it would be good to offer an alternative to the very expensive options being suggested to the OP.

--- End quote ---

Yeah that's cool and always happy to be refuted. The OP was actually looking at some fairly expensive stations and the Pace ends up being cheaper, but I understand your point.
Shock:

--- Quote from: KL27x on May 08, 2019, 10:04:39 pm ---The time to warm up depends on the mass of the tip. Lighter tips will heat up faster, but heavier tips will increase performance in many ways.
--- End quote ---

For sure, well you need control, power and speed and add mass if that is not enough :). The Ersa i-Tool is meant to be a 150W iron which if you factor that number alone you would expect it to be the best micro handpiece ever, but we both know it's not that simple.


--- Quote ---Heck, I have a 6W battery powered iron that gets 900F in 10-12 seconds... but it can't solder anything bigger than a normal thru hole lead on a protoboard pad.
--- End quote ---

I used a 12V micro pencil from the 80s that was super quick. Had the same problem, as soon as it ran into a demanding joint it would struggle.


--- Quote ---To me, nope. It takes longer to get things setup to make the joint after flipping on the power. And once my iron is on, it probably gonna stay that way for at least a couple of hours if not all day.
--- End quote ---

It does make a little bit of a difference if using a setback/standby feature because when you pick up the iron you want it hot before you clean and hit the joint.
KL27x:

--- Quote ---add mass if that is not enough :).
--- End quote ---
Remove mass for no reason other than to increase profits. Less copper. More impressive warm up time that simple folk tend to equate to performance/power.

Marketing folk: smaller mass means the iron can change the temp rapidly to adjust to your needs.
Me: The temp drops more rapidly when you touch it to a joint. So the iron can correct this greater drop more rapidly. Got it.
Marketing folk: you can fit this smaller tip into tighter spaces.
Me: Yeah, ok. Wake me up when you know what soldering is.

Cartridge tips have two major improvements. They output more heat into the tip without heating up the handpiece as much. And you can have custom tips with larger/smaller heaters for the tip size/shape. These are huge improvements to the people that are affected/limited by the more traditional iron. To those unaffected/limited, which would be the vast majority, all you are getting is a 10 seconds faster warm up time and hot swapping tips. And fancy UI. But dumb people believe marketing wank and most people dumb.

You want to use the same tip for soldering an 0201's and to a battery terminal or ground plane? You already can. You're just using the wrong tip for your 0201's.  >:D


--- Quote ---It does make a little bit of a difference if using a setback/standby feature because when you pick up the iron you want it hot before you clean and hit the joint.
--- End quote ---
  I'll grant this. Personally, my 888 stays at regular soldering temp all day, quite often. (And quite often all night when I forget to turn it off). Tips are not even maintenance items, to me. They basically don't wear out. If I had to solder heavier stuff with lead free, this might not work so well.
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