"Accidentally" bought an FX-100

[Hohn]

You know sometimes a lowball OBO offer gets accepted and you end up buying something you didn't expect. So I have an FX-100 en route.

As a content FX-951 user, I don't expect anything revolutionary here. But I confess that I really like the idea of trying an RF station as well as I like the idea of having a 2nd station ready to go. (I might also own three angle grinders for a similar reason).

I think ultimately the Curie tech is still the best performer if you can live with its constraints around tip choice and temperature selection. I've had favorable experiences with Hakko (quirks and all) especially as regards to tip life, so getting into an RF station for under $250 is a chance I didn't want to forfeit. And at the price I paid, I can pass along at little to no loss.

The FX100 has some obvious advantages with respect to supporting tweezers and a micro setup that is likely a better performer than the micro pencil used with the FX951. The 951 is mostly just a take-it-or-leave it on T12/T15 tips. I'm expecting it to give Metcal performance (or better) with better tip life.

I still think the FX-951 is probably a better choice for most users in terms of soldering and assembly. The T12/15 range is huge compared to the T31 range. The T31s have some serious gaps in the range: not a single tip that is tinned face only bevel. No chisels between 2.4mm and 5.2mm. So as a 2nd station filling a specific use, I think the FX100 can excel. But I think the 951 is a better choice for a primary station.

I don't do really anything you'd consider micro work, but the FX-100 should adapt better to that kind of use both with native tips and its micro pencil. And it supports tweezers.

So why not get an FM203 or 206? For me, I don't like one-box options from a reliability perspective. I hate the idea of losing everything because I lose one thing. Like the old TV/VCR combos. I like separate units for separate function and I have the luxury of space to do so.

If I like the FX-100 then maybe I'll upgrade my 951 to an FM203 or FM206 as that would  meet my needs and open up a lot of options while still giving me a backup and not having everything in a single box.

[thm_w]

Please when you get it post some photos of the circuitry inside.
The feature that has me guessing is the "boost mode", which they claim increases the temperature of the tip temporarily.

Speculating:
- DC voltage is fed into the coil, causing tip to heat up. Seems unlikely as the coil resistance is so low.
- In reality its just temporarily increasing the RF output power, and temperature is not actually increasing. But it cannot increase by much as the station rating is 85W (50W RF).

I still think the FX-951 is probably a better choice for most users in terms of soldering and assembly. The T12/15 range is huge compared to the T31 range. The T31s have some serious gaps in the range: not a single tip that is tinned face only bevel. No chisels between 2.4mm and 5.2mm. So as a 2nd station filling a specific use, I think the FX100 can excel. But I think the 951 is a better choice for a primary station.

The nice thing about FX100 are the tips are insanely cheap, $10 from thermaltronics.
http://www.thermaltronics.com/h31series_ref.php

They have a 2.5 and a 5mm chisel. Instead you can also try the knife tip, they are incredibly versatile. A knife tip could cover 90%+ of your soldering.

[Hohn]

Please when you get it post some photos of the circuitry inside.
The feature that has me guessing is the "boost mode", which they claim increases the temperature of the tip temporarily.

Speculating:
- DC voltage is fed into the coil, causing tip to heat up. Seems unlikely as the coil resistance is so low.
- In reality its just temporarily increasing the RF output power, and temperature is not actually increasing. But it cannot increase by much as the station rating is 85W (50W RF).

I still think the FX-951 is probably a better choice for most users in terms of soldering and assembly. The T12/15 range is huge compared to the T31 range. The T31s have some serious gaps in the range: not a single tip that is tinned face only bevel. No chisels between 2.4mm and 5.2mm. So as a 2nd station filling a specific use, I think the FX100 can excel. But I think the 951 is a better choice for a primary station.

The nice thing about FX100 are the tips are insanely cheap, $10 from thermaltronics.
http://www.thermaltronics.com/h31series_ref.php

They have a 2.5 and a 5mm chisel. Instead you can also try the knife tip, they are incredibly versatile. A knife tip could cover 90%+ of your soldering.

I'll see if I can grab some gut shots or shoot a short video.

I don't think the claim from Hakko is that the boost mode actually raises *temperature* so much as it increases *power*. Which I take to mean that when the temperature drops enough for the tip to become magnetic (below curie temp), the station senses that change in current and does some PID-type magic to temporarily "overreact."

Talk to me more about the Thermaltronics tips. Did Hakko copy their tip design for the FX-100? Vice Versa? I always thought of Thermaltronics as Metcal copies made by former Metcal people, but I have ZERO experience with any Thermaltronics or metcal product.

50w RF is still a lot of power for a relatively small soldering tip.

As for knife tips, I've never used one but I'd be willing to try even though I'm skeptical. I mostly do through hole or flying lead/turret/eyelet type work and a knife tip is a bit too big in some ways. Of the dozen or so tip designs I've tried, the best by far have been a blunt chisel.  This 3.2D or the smaller 2mm version have become my "one tip for everything":

[thm_w]

I'll see if I can grab some gut shots or shoot a short video.

I don't think the claim from Hakko is that the boost mode actually raises *temperature* so much as it increases *power*. Which I take to mean that when the temperature drops enough for the tip to become magnetic (below curie temp), the station senses that change in current and does some PID-type magic to temporarily "overreact."

Talk to me more about the Thermaltronics tips. Did Hakko copy their tip design for the FX-100? Vice Versa? I always thought of Thermaltronics as Metcal copies made by former Metcal people, but I have ZERO experience with any Thermaltronics or metcal product.

50w RF is still a lot of power for a relatively small soldering tip.

As for knife tips, I've never used one but I'd be willing to try even though I'm skeptical. I mostly do through hole or flying lead/turret/eyelet type work and a knife tip is a bit too big in some ways. Of the dozen or so tip designs I've tried, the best by far have been a blunt chisel.  This 3.2D or the smaller 2mm version have become my "one tip for everything":

https://hakkousa.com/media/catalog/product/cache/d35d0d5797e8525b3f2b29925dffd660/t/1/t15-d32_alt.jpg

They specifically say temperature:

When there is a drop in heat capacity while soldering, the actual temperature of the tip can be raised slightly by selecting BOOST mode, improving workability.

Thermaltronics copied the Hakko tip design, presumably because they can produce it cheaper and have the experience making these type of tips. I'm sure Hakko was inspired for their tip design from the Metcal tip, but made it shorter and flipped the gender of the connection. Otherwise its very similar.
Yes Thermaltronics copy the Metcal stuff also (tips, handles, stations). Quality is good.

If you only do through hole I'm not sure how good knife tip is, as I'm mostly working on SMD. I have the blunt tip and rarely use it, so that makes sense if it works well for larger through hole.

[Hohn]

Interesting that they use the word "temperature" in the ad copy there, as elsewhere I've seen the word "power" used instead.

How would they actually raise temperature above the curie point? I guess I don't understand induction heating as well as I thought because how would additional heat be applied when the alloy is no longer magnetic? Do you have insight into how they might pull that off?

I've seen a Hakko video highlighting the "boost" function on a tip temperature checker and sure enough it shows the tip spiking to 760F against it's nominal 750F value.

While I'm morbidly curious about all things, I'll satisfy myself with actual performance sampling when the unit arrives.

[thm_w]

In the video you mention they imply that the microprocessor control is managing the temperature, which we know is not true.
And then when the Boost is enabled, the tip temperature only goes up by 5C (00:40). A small change.

This could all be a marketing confusion or lost in translation. Probably only a handful of japanese engineers actually understand the function of the station (I checked the japanese manual, it also said the same thing, temperature increase).  Another ad video misread it as "50 F increase in power" lol.

[Hohn]

FX-100 has arrived. Short review based on ~ 30 min of play time with a single very fine JL02 bent conical at 450C:

Gut shot pics here: https://imgur.com/gallery/gHf5Sqv
No, I'm not pulling the boards out a disconnecting all that wiring just for photos.







I'm not AvE so any teardown I do will be inferior, but I can tell you that the entire housing is a cast zinc alloy (like a Zamak variant) of excellent quality. It is designed such that the housing serves as a large passive heatsink, so no need for a fan. Even the faceplate, which you might suspect of being plastic is actually the same die cast alloy. (the ejector pin marks on the castings are proof of die casting vs say investment casting).

I love that there is no fan, nor any need for one. I can tell you that the unit has some very mild transformer hum that my FX-951 doesn't have. You have to listen for it (it's subtle) but it's definitely there.


The handpiece is quite a bit slimmer and lighter than even the excellent FX-951. As approximate comparison for precision and control, I will make the following comparison of handpieces:
FX-100: Scalpel
FX-951: Small pocket knife
FX-888: Large chef's knife

The FX-951 has an excellently comfortable handpiece, but the FX100's handpiece is just better. (I know these handpieces have model numbers, but that's just confusing as to which goes with which, so I'll refer to them by station). The FX100's piece is not just slimmer, not just shorter tip reach, but the piece itself is lighter and has a notably lighter cord. Which means it feels nearly weightless in hand. The 951 feels light in hand. The 100 feels nearly absent in hand. I'm sure either of them is all-day comfortable.

The T31 tip cartridges for the 100 are just TINY. Like super short as well as thin. This is certainly a big part of the near-weightless feel in hand.

I dabbled a bit with a very small JL02 bent conical (needle like) at 450C/840C temp. Even with the tiny heat capacity of such a small and long tip, it had no problems melting a puddle of solder on a penny. It did take a little while though, because this is perhaps the worst heat capacity tip you can get for the station. It's long and very thin, the opposite of a high-heat tip:


As additional evidence of this being a very low-heat tip, I'll point out that the station's display of load never showed it approaching full power. In short, the tip is just not capable of passing enough heat to load the station. You'd never use a super long and thin tip like this for any substantial mass anyway, but it was indeed capable of melting solder to a penny. And it even melted solder to a potentiometer back like this:


For a tiny tip to be able to punch above its weight so well, you know that there has to be some good thermal performance.

Side by side comparison to my 951 with the latter set also to 450C (way hotter than I work) and the lowest heat capacity tip I have for the 951, the 951 wins in the melt-solder-to-penny race. But my 951 tip is a shorter bent chisel (JD14) and is significantly higher heat than this JL02tip is. It *should* have been a blowout in favor of the 951, but instead it was closer than it should have been.

Out of the box with the JL02 tip, the FX100 feels almost like a microsoldering setup. It's just a micro setup that can handle nasty multilayer ground planes if you give it a big hot tip.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the MUCH BETTER user interface on the FX100. Three simple buttons, no annoying chirps all the time. Sleep mode AND auto shutoff (concurrently!), none of that stupid security key business. Yes, it's got super pro features like tracking the cycles per tip, automatically detecting what tip you have in, etc. But that stuff never gets in the way. The LCD with active indication of tip loading is far preferable to the little flickering dot LED of the 951 that shows heating cycles.

I'll sum up the FX100 advantage over the 951 as:
-small gain in thermal performance
-substantial gain in pleasure to use/ergonomics
-enormous gain in user-friendliness of interface and display.

I suppose that the hottest tip for the 951 as its highest setting might have more heat output and better performance than the 100 is capable of. But in terms of power-to-weight, it's no contest-- the FX100 gives you hot rod performance like that in a lighter and slimmer and more enjoyable package. It just feels like a pro lab instrument where the plastic housing and bright yellow graphics of the 951 feels a bit more consumer-oriented.

I still feel like the 951 might be a better choice overall because it's more versatile. Lots of tip shapes including tinned-face-only bevels that don't (yet) exist in the T31 tip range.

Deciding which one to keep is going to be a real challenge.

[thm_w]

Yeah I noticed the biggest difference with the smaller tips.
Their design looks similar to Metcal, just don't see the endless 1210 SMD caps, maybe on the bottom side. They use the same current transformer deal for load sensing on the output.

Wonder how they sense the tip type though..

[Hohn]

Today I received a 350C BC28 tip for the FX100. This gave me the opportunity to run head to head the FX100 against the FX951, which was equipped with a BC3 tip, the closest I can get to the BC28.

Set to identical 350c temperatures, the 951 runs circles around the FX100 in terms of sheer thermal performance. I puzzled over why this might be.

I think these tips, while similar, are just too different to attribute the difference to the stations. The obvious disadvantage to the FX100 here is the length of the T31 BC28 vs the T15/T12 BC3:



17mm vs 10mm is just a massive different when you consider the heat gradient from actual tip temp to whatever the sensitive element is, be it thermistor, thermocouple, or inductive element.


Having confirmed the hypothesis on everything from a 25w pencil to a 65w FX-601 to a 50w FX100 to a 70w FX951 to a 300w FX-801, I will argue forever that tip geometry >>>>> heating technology.

I have in my possession five soldering tools and have tested this will all of them. Tip geometry and having a short tip that gives quick response to the control system is the the most important thing of all. This is why the FX951 at 70w can run with the FX801 at 300w. You simply cannot load the 801 heavily enough to force anything like 300w out of it unless you run torch-hot tip temperatures. at 350c or less, there's only the tiniest difference.

[Hohn]

Having become convinced of the superior thermal response of a short tip, I'll highlight two rockstars in the Hakko lineup worth consideration:



The very short 5mm tip length makes these tips incredibly responsive. With either of these I can solder at 20c or more cooler than normal-- they solder at 300C like other tips might at 320C or higher.

[thm_w]

I think hoof type tips would not really be expected to put out much power, afaik its primarily for SMD IC drag soldering, so I can see why they made a long version.

If you want to compare the tip geometries, plug the station into a power meter, then you can directly see what power the tip is consuming.

[Hohn]

I agree that a hoof tip isn't expected to put out much power. Or would it be better to say that it's not capable of demanding much power?

Since the 951 was victorious with it's shorter BC3 vs the BC28 on the FX100, I thought I'd try a long tip in the FX951 against the BC28 in the FX100.

I have a BCF2 (face tin only) bevel for my 951 this is similar in length to the BC28 in the FX100.


Given similarly low heat tips, the FX100 beats the FX951. Replacing the 951 tip with a BC15 and again the FX100 wins.

So what's my takeaway here?


The difference between stations is small compared to the difference between tips. A small and long tip can't pull more than a few watts of power, making the difference between a 50w station and a 70w station irrelevant.

I have some more tips coming for the FX100, including a 2.4mm chisel that I have an exact duplicate for the FX951 so I will have a true apples/apples comparison soon enough.


While I find it interesting to see what current can be demanded by a station, I'm aware that power demanded and power delivered aren't the same thing.

[thm_w]

While I find it interesting to see what current can be demanded by a station, I'm aware that power demanded and power delivered aren't the same thing.

Its not the same thing but its close enough. If you take the power of a normal tip idling in free air, then start soldering a joint, and the station total power goes up by 20W, there is going to be roughly 20W going into that tip.

Of course:
- For a RF station, tare out idle, multiply the change in power by the calculated RF efficiency of the station. Metcal is ~70% (5W idle, 80W RF, 120W total), hakko would be somewhere near that.