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SDG Electronics mega soldering system thread - New: L245 USB JBC

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thm_w:
The difference between older 40W stations and new 80W are not as massive as people think.
Here is the heatup stage of a 5mm tip, where by far the most power is required:



Coupling to the thermocouple was not great but you get the idea.


In the 2p test, the most I could measure was 90W (peak 97W) for the 40W station and 98W (peak 133W) for the 80W station.
Overall efficiencies:
- MX5200 stated 64% (80W/125W). Estimated 60%. 6W idle.
- MX500 stated 57% (40W/70W).
- PS2E estimated 41% (40W/97W).

So in the 2p test, PS2E is delivering roughly 37W and mx5200 59W, 60% more. Not the full 2x.
Assuming of course that the stations actually deliver close to 40W and 80W. Not sure how I'd be able to measure that.

2p test is close to worst case scenario when soldering, in normal situations you'll use <20W of RF. With a small tip, can be even lower.

TopQuark:
So I've received my MX-5200 along with a few thermaltronics (lower price, easier to obtain) series 700 tips to play around. So far I must say I'm not impressed with the lead free performance of the setup, given the already pretty high idle temperatures the tips run at. It really struggles when trying to tin a copper clad board, with the tip sometimes getting stuck, and soldering power TH components to 2oz copper boards is a nightmare. Better luck can be had with leaded solder, but I got the metcal system upgrade to specifically transition to lead free, and so far I'm not impressed. Especially when I can't just bump up the set temp a bit without getting a whole set of higher temp tips.

thm_w:

--- Quote from: TopQuark on September 22, 2021, 06:37:43 am ---So I've received my MX-5200 along with a few thermaltronics (lower price, easier to obtain) series 700 tips to play around. So far I must say I'm not impressed with the lead free performance of the setup, given the already pretty high idle temperatures the tips run at. It really struggles when trying to tin a copper clad board, with the tip sometimes getting stuck, and soldering power TH components to 2oz copper boards is a nightmare. Better luck can be had with leaded solder, but I got the metcal system upgrade to specifically transition to lead free, and so far I'm not impressed. Especially when I can't just bump up the set temp a bit without getting a whole set of higher temp tips.

--- End quote ---

Interesting, what tip numbers specifically?
Can you measure the power drawn from the wall to check how much its actually pulling?
Can you measure the tip temperature with a thermocouple?

TopQuark:
I am noticing some funky behavior with my particular setup. The tip I am using for the copper clad board test is a M7CH250 from thermaltronics. The tip does heat up to ~378C and draws ~70 w peak (front panel power meter) doing so. However, after the initial heating phase, the tip only draws ~20w from the station no matter how high the thermal load is and the tip gets stuck. I observed similar behavior with the M7CH024 tip as well.

The station switched to simultaneous dual output seems not to suffer from the same issue, but is a bit of a pain as power cycling is required for tip change in this mode. In any case, I have some Metcal tips from Mouser coming today which will hopefully solve this issue.

labjr:
I can't stand working with lead free solder. It's horrible. I don't do any manufacturing. If they ever ban leaded solder in here, I'll try to hoard a lifetime supply of it.

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