AIXUN T3A T245 - soldering tips

[thaking]

I just bought soldering station AIXUN T3A with T245 handle which comes with  3 different soldering tips: K, S and I tip, as on first picture below.

Does anyone knows, where can I buy additional type of tips which will fit T245, for example I would like to have wider tip as on second picture below.
I search on AIXUN site and all I found were K,S and I tips which I already have

[janoc]

Those are copies of JBC C245 tips. So any JBC reseller should have ample choice of these that will fit the station without issues.

https://www.jbctools.com/c245-cartridges-for-t245-handpiece-product-19.html

[thaking]

Those are copies of JBC C245 tips. So any JBC reseller should have ample choice of these that will fit the station without issues.

https://www.jbctools.com/c245-cartridges-for-t245-handpiece-product-19.html

Ohh, thank you very much.

Which one do you all recommend for general usage (soldering cables to connectors, pins etc.)?

I was looking "chisel" shape in that range:

[janoc]

Probably any of those will do but for through hole components and connectors I would stay away from the 0.5mm thick tips. That's way too thin and will wear out quickly. 2.7mm is maybe good for chiseling wood or soldering large lugs or stuff to ground planes but not general work - it is too big and unwieldy.

You will have to buy a few and see which size works for what you are doing. If you don't want to spend the money, AliExpress sellers carry a lot of knock-off C245 (also sold as T245) tips for 1/3 of the price of the genuine ones. So try the various sizes out and then go buy a genuine JBC tip of that size.

But I do wonder why did you buy a JBC clone station if all you are doing is soldering wires to connectors or through-hole work - and not understanding the JBC ecosystem? It is a very good soldering station that will certainly work for that - but genuine tips also cost 30+€ a piece ... If you don't need the 200W of power of Aixun station (and have tips that can actually use that, not all can!) and don't need the huge selections of tips, then you could have bought a station for 1/2 of the price or less, not counting the much cheaper tips.

[thaking]

Probably any of those will do but for through hole components and connectors I would stay away from the 0.5mm thick tips. That's way too thin and will wear out quickly. 2.7mm is maybe good for chiseling wood or soldering large lugs or stuff to ground planes but not general work - it is too big and unwieldy.

You will have to buy a few and see which size works for what you are doing. If you don't want to spend the money, AliExpress sellers carry a lot of knock-off C245 (also sold as T245) tips for 1/3 of the price of the genuine ones. So try the various sizes out and then go buy a genuine JBC tip of that size.

But I do wonder why did you buy a JBC clone station if all you are doing is soldering wires to connectors or through-hole work - and not understanding the JBC ecosystem? It is a very good soldering station that will certainly work for that - but genuine tips also cost 30+€ a piece ... If you don't need the 200W of power of Aixun station (and have tips that can actually use that, not all can!) and don't need the huge selections of tips, then you could have bought a station for 1/2 of the price or less, not counting the much cheaper tips.

Thanks I will check.

I am not soldering only wires and cables, but also SMD and other electronic PCBs....

[janoc]

I am not soldering only wires and cables, but also SMD and other electronic PCBs....

OK, then all is fine 

I was wondering because people usually don't buy these Aixuns (and other JBC knock-offs) just on a whim but usually because they need a high power station, with a huge range of available tips and specifically want the JBC cartridge tip compatibility, even though the they are expensive.

You could have certainly bought a much worse station than this, though! I have the Aixun myself because I wanted a cartridge heater system - changing tips on my ERSA Nano is a pain, especially while hot and the tip choice isn't that great neither. If they fix the "chinglish" in the firmware and a clean up the inconsistent controls in the UI a bit, it would be really hard to find a better soldering station for the price.

[tooki]

I have the Aixun myself because I wanted a cartridge heater system - changing tips on my ERSA Nano is a pain, especially while hot and the tip choice isn't that great neither.

You do have separate tip collars for each tip, tight? Without that, it’s a nightmare. But with a dollar for each tip, they’re easy to unscrew and swap. (There’s also a special tweezer for hot tips, but I rarely use it.)

[janoc]

I have the Aixun myself because I wanted a cartridge heater system - changing tips on my ERSA Nano is a pain, especially while hot and the tip choice isn't that great neither.

You do have separate tip collars for each tip, tight? Without that, it’s a nightmare. But with a dollar for each tip, they’re easy to unscrew and swap. (There’s also a special tweezer for hot tips, but I rarely use it.)

Yes, I do. But even with the collar it is a pain when the tip is hot. Very easy to burn oneself.

[thaking]

Does anyone tested those aliexpress tips - are "ok" for price or after 2-3 weeks they get quickly  damaged 

[tooki]

I have the Aixun myself because I wanted a cartridge heater system - changing tips on my ERSA Nano is a pain, especially while hot and the tip choice isn't that great neither.

You do have separate tip collars for each tip, tight? Without that, it’s a nightmare. But with a dollar for each tip, they’re easy to unscrew and swap. (There’s also a special tweezer for hot tips, but I rarely use it.)

Yes, I do. But even with the collar it is a pain when the tip is hot. Very easy to burn oneself.

I’ve managed to go 7 years without burning myself one during a tip change, so I don’t think it’s that easy! But it’s not as simple to change tips as on JBC, that’s for sure.

[janoc]

Does anyone tested those aliexpress tips - are "ok" for price or after 2-3 weeks they get quickly  damaged 

Well, I had one of those tips go to red hot at the part where the shaft enters the thicker section above the tip itself for a moment when the station overshot the 320 degrees preset (as also the original JBC does).  The tip still works afterwards even though that section is discolored now but it was quite worrying to see.

Not sure whether or not that is a normal behavior but the original JBC tips don't do that. So I wouldn't expect the knock-off cartridges to last as long as the genuine ones - the heaters will likely fail. But then the tips also cost 3x less, so I guess that's fair.

[janoc]

I’ve managed to go 7 years without burning myself one during a tip change, so I don’t think it’s that easy! But it’s not as simple to change tips as on JBC, that’s for sure.

It is possible to swap tips hot if one is careful but the collar itself gets quite hot and the metal expands, which often makes it difficult to unscrew it from the iron while hot. And one can't use pliers - at least not without chewing up the plastic. I don't have the special tweezer for these. So it means wrestling with the thing with the fingers right above the hot metal - no fun.

The JBC system is a complete breeze in comparison, a tip swap can be done even one handed, which is completely impossible with the ERSA.

[tooki]

Huh? The plastic doesn’t get particularly hot on mine, nor does metal expansion cause it to get tight. At my current employer we have JBC, which is without doubt easier to hot swap. At the place I did an internship at last year (and which will become my employer soon), they have Ersa, and I didn’t have any trouble hot swapping on those, either. Sounds to me like something is weird with yours, because all of the ones I’ve used don’t involve “wrestling”, just unproblematic unscrewing, upon which the tip slides right off.

FYI, the special tweezers only hold the tip itself, they don’t help with unscrewing the collar.

[janoc]

Maybe it is just me being clumsy - I have also found the cable of the ERSA Nano pencil to be rather too stiff for my taste while everyone else seems to find it fine 

[thaking]

Does anyone recommend any aliexpress shop for those tips, I beleive they are not all the same quality or?

[janoc]

Does anyone recommend any aliexpress shop for those tips, I beleive they are not all the same quality or?

They are likely the same knock-offs, so I wouldn't expect wildly different "quality". Buy from a store that actually sells tools and soldering irons, not just random junk from beads and clothing to powertools, then you have a chance they actually know what they are selling.

And check the reviews of the item - I mean beyond the 5 star "Took long, arrived OK, didn't test it yet!" stuff. If the item is really bad, someone will complain about it there.

[tooki]

Maybe it is just me being clumsy - I have also found the cable of the ERSA Nano pencil to be rather too stiff for my taste while everyone else seems to find it fine 

I don’t find it bothersome, but it’s not the softest in existence. I think Weller does a bit better in that regard.

[janoc]

Maybe it is just me being clumsy - I have also found the cable of the ERSA Nano pencil to be rather too stiff for my taste while everyone else seems to find it fine 

I don’t find it bothersome, but it’s not the softest in existence. I think Weller does a bit better in that regard.

Also the Aixun comes with a nice soft cable. On the ERSA it was always twisting and tugging on the pencil whenever I needed to rotate the tip to reach something (I use the chisel or the "bent" tips most often).