General > General Technical Chat
Does this soldering station look safe to you?
(1/5) > >>
forumate:
Hello,

In my previous post I asked for low cost soldering station for a beginner recommendations and I ended up looking for T12 tips compatible stations.
Was also recommended Ksger brand, which I found its official store on AliExpress.

But I was also wanred about some of these Chinese stations regarding their safety, as someone mentioned heatsink/mains trace danger.

Ksger actually put the image of the station internals. Can you tell by this image if the station is safe?

This is the product: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000608296529.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.8148356.4.1c4c372epWR4NZ

This is the image of the internals (You can see it in the product page above as well):

Ian.M:
Nope, you can't tell if the heatsink has been milled for safety clearance.  The critical area is the top left corner of the lower heatsink, where you can see its directly over a track coming from the primary side reservoir capacitor. See https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/modifying-the-ksger-t12-to-make-it-safe/ for details.
forumate:

--- Quote from: Ian.M on May 04, 2022, 09:29:05 pm ---Nope, you can't tell if the heatsink has been milled for safety clearance.  The critical area is the top left corner of the lower heatsink, where you can see its directly over a track coming from the primary side reservoir capacitor. See https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/modifying-the-ksger-t12-to-make-it-safe/ for details.

--- End quote ---

Oh haha, so the mentioned dangerous Chinese stations are actually Ksger! I thought it was Yihua actually!
I should avoid it then?

*Edit: Doesn't the top heatsink also sit on a trace? Of the component behind it (mosfet looking component)
Ian.M:
No need to avoid it - its safe enough if modified as described in that thread, and performs better than some of its competitors.  The easiest way to do the mod is to put three layers of Kapton tape on the board between the problem track and the heatsink without cutting the fin, and also put three layers of Kapton tape round the side to bottom edge of the heatsink where it comes near the hot' lead of the blue EMI suppression cap next to it,  and add a case ground. 

The top heatsink isn't an issue because its nowhere near the secondary side.  The bottom heatsink bridges the milled isolation gap between primary and secondary so is potentially a safety issue.
ataradov:
I would not say it is "dangerous". Could it be better designed? Sure. Is it actually dangerous? No, not at all. This is one of the most commonly used stations and thee are no reports of them doing anything bad as far as I can tell.

People used to solder (and still do) with unregulated mains connected soldering irons and it was not a huge issue. Just use common sense.

You can by super picky, but you would have to discard a lot of products.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod