EEVblog #167 - Atten 858D Hot Air Rework Review

[LEECH666]

I bought this station too but now I am a bit worried about the safety meassures. Can anyone think of an elegant way to retrofit a path to earth? I suppose you'll need some pretty heat resistand wire for for that.

Cheers from Germany,
Florian

[saturation]

This is a great thread with great questions and input, you folks have helped make this Atten station a better item, and at least warned newbies about what perils they may face.  

Any item manufactured and shipped from overseas that bypass safety inspection in your country or are purchased second hand without a traceable pedigree, should be treated with caution and as a hazard until proven otherwise.

Besides the electronics, there is also the risk that the building materials are coated with trace toxic substances we would not tolerate in the west, such as lead, so its caveat emptor.  You may want to wipe down items throughly before use.

Still, I buy a lot of iffy Chinese electronic products from eBay, and do remediation myself.  If you quantify the cost of DIY for products available, its almost 100% cheaper to buy the iffy Chinese product and modify it for additional functions or safety.  Be mindful that mains powered items pose more hazards than one that is battery powered, so you really have to be on your game.

I presume eevblog readers are versed in the EE craft, and can do what is needed to make these items from scratch if needed, but modding it is far easier.

Just know too that many DIY items that are mains powered, such as the popular bench power supply, can be made fairly iffy by a hobbyist in a country with established product safety laws.  It may or may not pass CE regulations, but most of these items are not meant to be resold so the builder/user/maker is responsible for his own safety.  I would put products purchased overseas with more lax safety regulations in the same category.

You guys strike me as rather odd folk, mind you. But while simultaneously stressing multimeter safety throughout the board to an industrial electrician levels, you praise a widget which most probably wouldn't pass even the basic electrical safety requirements for a consumer grade device.

[Mechatrommer]

I bought this station too but now I am a bit worried about the safety meassures. Can anyone think of an elegant way to retrofit a path to earth? I suppose you'll need some pretty heat resistand wire for for that.
Cheers from Germany,
Florian

google more on earth wiring and what its purpose. its just as simple as connecting wires to device casing. most wires are heat resistant, you really not to worry about that, esp earth wiring does not require that.

[LEECH666]

As I understand from Daves video, the heater is inside the handle. And people here said the heater is mains powered. I don't know of any standard wires that could withstand 450°C. So if i was to attach a standard of the shelf PE-Wire (Green/Yellow, most likely PVC) the insulation would melt. Or am I missing something here?

The casing of the station itself is connected to PE, or so I read (didn't test it myself). I am worried about the mains voltage in the metal tube in the handle.

Cheers,
Florian

[Mechatrommer]

dont connect it to the heater then. connect it to the tube (outer most part) closest to the plastic handle. if you worry about the melting insulation, replace it with similar that is used in the heater wiring, that white fabric braid i think, dont know where to get it.

[saturation]

Has anyone disassembled the heater unit?  Can the part be replaced or substituted with any other heater?

One food for thought is the current old style bulky Chinese Hakko clones current sold for $100 are fairly prolific and the heaters are easier to obtain.  It costs about $20 to replace and is interchangeable with other clones. 

If the Atten heater dies, then even if its $60, you lose the whole unit.

[sacherjj]

Has anyone disassembled the heater unit?  Can the part be replaced or substituted with any other heater?

One food for thought is the current old style bulky Chinese Hakko clones current sold for $100 are fairly prolific and the heaters are easier to obtain.  It costs about $20 to replace and is interchangeable with other clones. 

If the Atten heater dies, then even if its $60, you loose the whole unit.

I know there are 110V Atten heaters on ebay, probably for people doing a 220v to 110v conversion.  If I remember correctly, they were around the $20 mark.

[willd1971]

Just to add to the mix.  I'm expecting a delivery to the UK of 898BD+ rework stations direct from Yihua later this month.  They have the same impeller function in the hot air handle and they have a soldering iron with branded Hakko heating element.  Since it's my first dealing with Yihua I think I'll be taking a very close look inside and outside the unit to make sure they live up to the requirements of the CE label stuck on the back before I offer any for sale...  Doubly interesting since the 898bd+ is a considerably more expensive unit than the 852 and 858 units discussed in this thread.

Anyone else have experience of 898bd / 899bd or variants of?

William
http://www.labtronix.co.uk

[saturation]

Thanks sacherjj.  I didn't see them when I searched before but I used terms "858 element" and found some; between $10-25.  There are different types for the same model number, but I can figure out which one mine will be once I disassemble the heater assembly.



You guys are great, thanks a ton.

Has anyone disassembled the heater unit?  Can the part be replaced or substituted with any other heater?

One food for thought is the current old style bulky Chinese Hakko clones current sold for $100 are fairly prolific and the heaters are easier to obtain.  It costs about $20 to replace and is interchangeable with other clones. 

If the Atten heater dies, then even if its $60, you loose the whole unit.

I know there are 110V Atten heaters on ebay, probably for people doing a 220v to 110v conversion.  If I remember correctly, they were around the $20 mark.

[nukie]

Hello all,

I have a 858A, basically same as yours but without the digital read out. I have been using it for more than 2 years now, still on the original 220v heater(overdriven quite a bit australia being 240v). The internals are very well built, soldering is also quite clean, it wasn't popular back then there was only one or two brands, now there are a mountain. The popular type was handle with airtube and pump. Like I said my unit has a good build, I guess they make so many of them the workmanship becomes sloppy, this is a problem in China. Starts out good and nice then the workmanship drops, should I say work'kid'ship?!

If you go take a walk in the megamall for mobilephone market in Shen Zhen, China you will see every booth where they do repairs, there will be at least one 858 or 8xx hotair rework station. Same case with other places around Asian countries. That my friend, it is trial and tested. It's quite tough and failure point being the blower motor and heater.

If you don't know which heater you should get then you can get the whole handle piece. Most people who sells these units on ebay will know where to get spare parts, even if they don't list it. Spare parts are plenty, because Chinese people will often repair rather than chuck old one, get a new one.

[saturation]

Thanks nukie, great advice and experience.  There is no longevity data on eevblog on this unit, so yours is the first, and it reads very well.  I ordered one too and will use my hot airgun for other things.

Hello all,

I have a 858A, basically same as yours but without the digital read out. I have been using it for more than 2 years now, still on the original 220v heater(overdriven quite a bit australia being 240v). The internals are very well built, soldering is also quite clean, it wasn't popular back then there was only one or two brands, now there are a mountain. The popular type was handle with airtube and pump. Like I said my unit has a good build, I guess they make so many of them the workmanship becomes sloppy, this is a problem in China. Starts out good and nice then the workmanship drops, should I say work'kid'ship?!

If you go take a walk in the megamall for mobilephone market in Shen Zhen, China you will see every booth where they do repairs, there will be at least one 858 or 8xx hotair rework station. Same case with other places around Asian countries. That my friend, it is trial and tested. It's quite tough and failure point being the blower motor and heater.

If you don't know which heater you should get then you can get the whole handle piece. Most people who sells these units on ebay will know where to get spare parts, even if they don't list it. Spare parts are plenty, because Chinese people will often repair rather than chuck old one, get a new one.

[Didder]

The unit is certainly pretty good value for money but I think, to be fair to potential buyers, I should state the following....

Upon dismantling the handpiece I was singularly unimpressed with the construction. I know it's cheap but there is no excuse for the deficiencies detailed below

1. The fan is a bastardised COTS product butchered to fit the case and in Dave's unit butchered is the operative word.
2. The fan does not rest in moulded supports within the handpiece, it just floats in the rear void directly on top of the small PCB.
3. The fan has a metalised label that is in close proximity to the above mentioned small PCB solder side...not a great idea ! Insulation should have been placed over the PCB.
4. On my unit the neoprene fan output air director was poorly installed semi obscuring the fans exit port and not permitting correct seating of the neoprene air director within it's 'mounts'.
5. The fan air intake ports are located in a small area on one side of the handpiece and so may be obscured whilst in use. A greater number of air intake ports could have been designed into the handle moulding to reduce the chances of obstruction.
6. All heater related cables are pinched between the neoprene air director and the side of the case. No cut-out is provided for them.
7. The handpiece cable strain relief is held in place with a cable tie rather than being a moulded type. Not a biggy but still crap.

For the money it is still not a bad performer but it is also no work of engineering art and has some pretty poor design faults that could have been easily sorted at little or no cost. It's rather like a cheap hair dryer.... bloody awful quality but still dries yer hair 

 Caveat Emptor.

Hello I am new to this site. I got the atten 858d+ of ebay and all the things that you have said are wrong with ours, mine is the same. How would I go about fixing these problems so it wont be as dangerous thanks

[joegtp]

Just ordered one from Amazon for $40 not sure if it's 110 or 220 or if it new.  But, I couldn't pass it up for $40 and free shipping.  With Prime, I should be getting it Wednesday 

http://www.amazon.com/ATTEN-AT858D-Soldering-Station-Suitable/dp/B0055B6NGE/

[saturation]

amazing!  That's the best price ever.  Good for you, I just got mine for $23 more.

Just ordered one from Amazon for $40 not sure if it's 110 or 220 or if it new.  But, I couldn't pass it up for $40 and free shipping.  With Prime, I should be getting it Wednesday 

http://www.amazon.com/ATTEN-AT858D-Soldering-Station-Suitable/dp/B0055B6NGE/

[LEECH666]

VERY ON TOPIC! PLEASE READ!

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3461.0

In case you didn't see this. I am very concerned.

Florian

[saturation]

Yes, this is a concern but treat the 858D like an electronics kit and you will need to mod it to get it working safely.  Follow that thread, as I will post more stuff I find on my unit which was made for 120V.

Since this unit is sold through a USA based dealer, there is product liability law that bind them to the buyer, so the seller will have to be on his game.

VERY ON TOPIC! PLEASE READ!

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3461.0

In case you didn't see this. I am very concerned.

Florian

[Kozmyk]

I just got my Atten 858D+ this morning.
The mains lead supplied has a Chinese/Australian type plug and it came with a "Travel Adaptor" to fit UK sockets.
This adaptor is not safe Do Not Use!! the Earth pin does not make contact inside the adaptor.

The case was not grounded.
I added an Earth wire from the transformer base to the PCB ground.

The heater body Was grounded however, unlike some that people have received.
Apart from a small crack in the plastic case surround (superglue/kicker to the rescue) everything else seems to be in order.

It works! Hurray!
Not a perfect buy but at £39.89 GBP delivered I'm prepared to overlook it's failings.

[LEECH666]

I threw away the entire power cord (euro plug) and adaptor and used a good cord instead. They felt so cheap that I decided to not trust them at all.

[samgab]

In the video, Dave mentioned that this model isn't on Atten's website.
It's there (or is now at least) but it's not that easy to find, it's on a second page of rework stations.
Here's the link: http://bit.ly/tGkzUH

[george graves]

I received a 220v version by mistake.  Whoops.   I'd like to sell it if anyone is interested.  I'm in the Seattle, WA area - willing to ship.

[don.r]

In the video, Dave mentioned that this model isn't on Atten's website.
It's there (or is now at least) but it's not that easy to find, it's on a second page of rework stations.
Here's the link: http://bit.ly/tGkzUH

Looks like the heating element will be made available as a separate part as they have instructions on that page for replacing it. That is most likely the first part to fail.

I received a 220v version by mistake.  Whoops.   I'd like to sell it if anyone is interested.  I'm in the Seattle, WA area - willing to ship.

Too bad I just bought one a couple of months ago as I have 220 at the bench and live just across the border from you. Oh well, good luck with the sale.

[LEECH666]

My Atten 858D just died. After 7 Months of very very sparse on and off usage. Display doesnt light up anymore.
And the fan in the handle isn't blowing anymore. Might just be a blown fuse ... but no idea what caused this ...



//EDIT

Checked the Fuse, it's still intact.

//EDIT 2

What the F... is going on. Plugged it back in and now it works again. Maybe the IEC connector wasn't plugged in all the way ... *confused*

//EDIT 3

There is a spare fuse in the fuse compartment of the IEC connector. Nice litte touch imo.

[metalphreak]

My Kada unit came with a spare heating element for both the hot air and the soldering iron. Haven't had to use either since I've had it (not that it gets daily use or anything).

I modified mine to have an IEC socket (with switch) on the back because the transformer in it makes a humming noise even when the unit is switched off.

I tend to take apart everything I buy from China to see all is well. So far I haven't been disappointed by anything seriously dangerous.

[wwwyzzerdd]

hi im new here, i bought an atten 858d+, but i made the mistake of getting the 220 version, and it is too late for me to return it. I will do whatever it takes to get this thing to work on 110, if i can simply replace the transformer, then the only thing i would need is the specs of the transformer included in the 110 version, right?

when i started looking for one to buy, all i could find were 220v units, and i thought it would be simple enough to just use a US 220v outlet for a dryer or a upstep converter

ill appreciate any help i can get

[don.r]

You will need to replace the heating element as well as it draws from the AC source directly. Its a 400W unit so you need a good-sized step up. Most of that is in the heater I would suspect. Its your choice whether to go step up or replace parts.