Aoyue desoldering tips

[BradC]

G'day all,

I've had an Aoyee 701A soldering/desoldering tool for a few years now. One of the things that annoyed me terribly was the desoldering tips were plated to not accept solder. I recently put one in the lathe and turned it into an adapter that let me fit genuine Hakko 701 tips, and that works a treat. However ... I recently ordered some stuff from SRA in the states, and I tacked another couple of Aoyue tips on the order so I could have some more bits to play with, and the new tips are properly plated! They accept solder and function quite well actually. Colour me surprised.

Having said that, the Hakko tips are certainly superior, but at 6 times the price you'd expect that.

While I was giving it a birthday, I dismantled the pump and put it back together with a light smear of silicone sealant on all gasket surfaces. This has doubled the ultimate vacuum and greatly enhanced the ability of the unit to pull solder out of stubborn holes. As you would expect, the fit and finish of all the pump sealing surfaces leaves a _lot_ to be desired and the rubber gaskets are barely a joke. It worked before, but it would not even generate enough vacuum to activate the blockage indicator. Now it'll start to collapse the hose. A cheap and very easy improvement.

I also picked up a set of Aoyue SMD tweezers despite reading several negative reviews about them on this forum, and again the tips are properly plated and tin up a treat.. Perhaps Aoyue have changed their plating setup or just what and how they plate, but all this latest stuff works really well.

[rauloliv]

I have one of those stations left to rest.

I also used it with both hakko and aoyue tips. Aoyue one bought from the oficial distribuitor, because there are also remakes of it.... They work fine but wont last very much in my hands.

What made me put this thing to rest is the fragile handpiece, i broke two.
The weak spot is the part that joints the heater pipe to the plastic handle. Because the pipe is long the side-to-side movements makes a lot of stress to that joint.

[BradC]

I'm having a hard time imagining what you could be doing with the tip to impart that much mechanical stress? I barely wiggle the pin/lead as the solder comes out, there is certainly no major force input to the tool.

[BradC]

How to use a genuine Hakko tip on an Aoyue desoldering station.

[Southerner]

Brad,  how did you make that adapter?  You said you turned it down in your lathe.  Can you give more detail?

Thank you.

[BradC]

Brad,  how did you make that adapter?  You said you turned it down in your lathe.  Can you give more detail?

Thank you.

Sure. I measured up the inside of the Hakko tip, chucked up a bit of copper bar and made a plug to go into the tip. I then pulled a tube out of one of the Aoyue tips and drilled a hold into the tip so the tube was a friction fit. I made a drawing when I first did it but that was a few years ago and I can't locate it. The hardest part was getting the angle *spot* on. In theory it's 45 degrees, but I ended up turning repeated tapers on a blunt bar and checking them with machinists blue for fit before I made the adapter proper.

The biggest issue I get with the adapter is it oxidizes terribly, so it's always black and often little flakes of copper oxide drop out when I change tips. One of these days I'll turn up a new one and try some electroless nickel plating to see if I can get a surface that manky solder won't adhere to, but doesn't oxidise like the copper does. In practice it's not an issue and you only see it when I change tips, but it's one of those "not perfect" bits.

[Southerner]

Brad,  I do not see a hole in the Hakko tip for the vacuum to pull the solder through.  Is there one?  If not,  how is the molten solder removed from the board?

Is there extra room in the barrel of the Aoyue 701A for another tip?  There must be or you would not have been able to make an adapter and put a second tip on it.  Or are the tips outside of the barrel connector?

Thank you.

[BradC]

Brad,  I do not see a hole in the Hakko tip for the vacuum to pull the solder through.  Is there one?  If not,  how is the molten solder removed from the board?

Is there extra room in the barrel of the Aoyue 701A for another tip?  There must be or you would not have been able to make an adapter and put a second tip on it.  Or are the tips outside of the barrel connector?

Thank you.

A new Hakko tip comes full of solder. Just get it hot and hit the vacuum to reveal the hole.

The Hakko tip with the adapter is the same size as the Aoyue tip. The copper adapter goes inside the Hakko tip and the whole lot plugs into the barrel.

[Southerner]

A new Hakko tip comes full of solder. Just get it hot and hit the vacuum to reveal the hole.

The Hakko tip with the adapter is the same size as the Aoyue tip. The copper adapter goes inside the Hakko tip and the whole lot plugs into the barrel.

Brad, which Hakko tips do you use?  I have not used my 701A+ much but the solder chamber already bit the dust.  I ordered a Hakko chamber but the thing still does not work very well.  I expected better performance but I did not change from the Aoyou tip that it came with.

[BradC]

Brad, which Hakko tips do you use?  I have not used my 701A+ much but the solder chamber already bit the dust.  I ordered a Hakko chamber but the thing still does not work very well.  I expected better performance but I did not change from the Aoyou tip that it came with.

I'm using the A100x series designed for the 474. My go-tos are the the A1002 and A1006.

[rhb]

I recently bought an Aoyue 2703A and spent a bunch of time removing 74xxx logic chips from an old board. 

Things I learned:

It must be cleaned *frequently*.

Even with frequent cleaning the tube and the chamber spring will plug up and require attention.  For that one needs a fixture to stretch the spring once it's been heated with a hot air gun and a #49 wire size twist drill to clear the tube. The tip sizes vary, but they should be hot enough that the vacuum will clear that.

I'm still working on assembling a dedicated cleaning setup.  After the spring has been stretched you need a way to clean the solder off the wire.  I'm hoping that 4/0 steel wool will absorb the molten solder, but haven't tried that yet.  Cleaning the spring is a bit scary as I don't want bits of molten solder flying about.  The eye hazard is easily dealt with.  A little blob of solder landing someplace and causing a short is of more concern.

[Southerner]

It must be cleaned *frequently*.

Even with frequent cleaning the tube and the chamber spring will plug up and require attention.  For that one needs a fixture to stretch the spring once it's been heated with a hot air gun and a #49 wire size twist drill to clear the tube. The tip sizes vary, but they should be hot enough that the vacuum will clear that.

I cleaned my spring by heating it with the soldering pencil. Then the solder fell out.  There was quite a bit but then I lost the rubber end cap and that was when I replaced the entire chamber with a Hakko chamber from the Hakko 701 gun.  It does not use a spring and the metal piece is in the back of the chamber against the filter pad but either way it does not seem to do the job any more and yet has only been used 3 or 4 sessions.

I'm still working on assembling a dedicated cleaning setup.  After the spring has been stretched you need a way to clean the solder off the wire.  I'm hoping that 4/0 steel wool will absorb the molten solder, but haven't tried that yet.  Cleaning the spring is a bit scary as I don't want bits of molten solder flying about.  The eye hazard is easily dealt with.  A little blob of solder landing someplace and causing a short is of more concern.

What size is the twist drill to clean the tip?

[rhb]

The 3 tips I have are  54, 56 & 58  wire size drills.  The design is fundamentally flawed in that the tube needs to be tapered with the cold end larger than the hot end.

If you're doing a lot of desoldering e.g. stripping a board for parts, you need a bunch of the Aoyue spring and rubber gasket sets so you can quickly switch them every 5-10 connections and a safe place to drop the hot one when you remove it.  I think applying some silicone grease to the spring will probably make cleaning easier.

The instructions are utterly wretched.  The 2073A uses the cartridge heater/tips.  Those *must* be lubricated with the silicone grease or the O ring that holds them in place will break, but there is no mention of that in the instructions.  I hope to replace that with a 701 style handpiece.  Sometimes you need a weirdly shaped tip and you can modify the bare metal tips safely without risking damage to the heater.

This is my first encounter with a rework station.  In the past I used a Craftsmen (Ungar??) ungrounded iron and a solder sucker.  The power cord has contacted the tip a few too many times,  so that is in rehab.  But it's still my favorite iron.  Yes, it's *very* hot.  But that means that the heat can't get far from the joint before I'm done.  I'm increasingly leaning toward the opinion that the heat control only benefits marketing.

From a pure pyhsic (i.e. Carslaw and Jaeger, "Conduction of Heat in Solids")  perspective you want enough thermal energy in the tip to bring the joint to the melting point as quickly as possible.  That implies large thermal mass and high temperature with a very small dab of solder on the tip to provide good heat transfer.  My traditional norm is less than 1 second to make a through hole connection on a DIP or small signal transistor.  I haven't bothered with a heatsink for years.

Consider the basic physics.  You need to bring the joint up to temperature.  If you do that quickly enough, as the residual heat moves away from the joint the temperature drops very rapidly because of the specific heat  of the materials adjacent to the joint.  The smaller the tip and the lower the temperature the more time it takes to get the joint to temperature and the more total heat is transferred to the work.  I'm increasingly convinced that the requirements specification for modern soldering gear was developed by people who flunked Physics 101.

I bought a Tenma temperature controlled 701 style iron some years ago for SMD work because the Craftsman tip is too big.  But I quickly dug out the Craftsman after using the Tenma for through hole work a couple of times.

You call that a soldering iron?  This is a soldering iron!

[Southerner]

The 3 tips I have are  54, 56 & 58  wire size drills.  The design is fundamentally flawed in that the tube needs to be tapered with the cold end larger than the hot end.

I know I sure hate the iron itself on the 701A+.  That nozzle is always in the way.  Once I hooked the hose up to the vacuum pump to use as a solder sucker like the gun but there was no suction (since the switch to activate it is in the gun trigger...and there is no gun).  Anyway that thing is always in the way!

[rhb]

Removing the the fume extractor should not be hard.  I plan to do that because it's completely useless and very clumsy.  Those little black sponges are not going to remove anything from the air.

It's like the lead free solder stuff.  Idiots run amuck making rules for other people to follow.

[Southerner]

This is my first encounter with a rework station.  In the past I used a Craftsmen (Ungar??) ungrounded iron and a solder sucker.  The power cord has contacted the tip a few too many times,  so that is in rehab.  But it's still my favorite iron.  Yes, it's *very* hot.  But that means that the heat can't get far from the joint before I'm done.  I'm increasingly leaning toward the opinion that the heat control only benefits marketing.

From a pure pyhsic (i.e. Carslaw and Jaeger, "Conduction of Heat in Solids")  perspective you want enough thermal energy in the tip to bring the joint to the melting point as quickly as possible.  That implies large thermal mass and high temperature with a very small dab of solder on the tip to provide good heat transfer.  My traditional norm is less than 1 second to make a through hole connection on a DIP or small signal transistor.  I haven't bothered with a heatsink for years.

Consider the basic physics.  You need to bring the joint up to temperature.  If you do that quickly enough, as the residual heat moves away from the joint the temperature drops very rapidly because of the specific heat  of the materials adjacent to the joint.  The smaller the tip and the lower the temperature the more time it takes to get the joint to temperature and the more total heat is transferred to the work.  I'm increasingly convinced that the requirements specification for modern soldering gear was developed by people who flunked Physics 101.

That has also been my philosophy.  My main soldering iron is a Weller WTCP with TC210 and I use the 800 degree 1/64" conical tips.  The Wellers set the temperature with the tip itself so no adjustment.  It may not be the right way to do it but I like having  very hot tip and get on a connection, get it molten, then get off of it quickly.

[Southerner]

I'm using the A100x series designed for the 474. My go-tos are the the A1002 and A1006.

Brad have you bought any more of the Aoyou tips and heater elements?  I tried to find replacements for mine recently and it seems they discontinued them.  Is there an alternative to the Aoyou heater elements?

Thank you.

[Southerner]

The Hakko tip with the adapter is the same size as the Aoyue tip. The copper adapter goes inside the Hakko tip and the whole lot plugs into the barrel.

I thought you were turning down the Aoyou tip piece so the Hakko tip would fit on the end in place of the Aoyou tip?

[BradC]

I thought you were turning down the Aoyou tip piece so the Hakko tip would fit on the end in place of the Aoyou tip?

I did do that originally. Then I picked up some really nice 1/2" copper bar, so I made the next ones from that and just re-used the tubes from the sacrificed Aoyue tips.

[Southerner]

I did do that originally. Then I picked up some really nice 1/2" copper bar, so I made the next ones from that and just re-used the tubes from the sacrificed Aoyue tips.

Does that mean that you found the drawing for it?  Can you share it?  Or would you consider machining one for me?

If all you used was the copper tube from the Aoyou tip then would one of the standard K&S copper or brass tubing sold at most hobby type stores work?

I am surprised that no one including SRA seems to ever have the Aoyou tips in stock.

I would prefer the Hakko tips anyway.  I am currently on a quest to find a replacement vacuum compressor for this Aoyou 701A++ as the one in it is totally worthless!  I wonder if the B2444 used in the Hakko 701 would fit/work and do a better job.  So far I have not found anyone that has it and Hakko returns no find on the Hakko.us web site when searching for the B2444.

Thank you.
Jim

[BradC]

Does that mean that you found the drawing for it?  Can you share it?

The tube on the Aoyue tip appears to be stainless, not copper. I machined down 2 Aoyue tips as adapters initially, so I just reused the tubes from those. I machine the adapter as a press-fit and just press the tubes in.

I never did a drawing of the adapter, I just measured up the Hakko tip and machined it up on the fly out of a bit of solid copper bar. A bit of blue and experimentation to get the fit right.

I'm on the other side of the country from my Lathe and will be for quite a while, so I haven't had the chance to get out and make another one. The problem with making them from pure copper is they oxidise heavily and as a consequence tend to wear out (which is why I need to make a new one and I've been considering some form of plating).

Happy to document the next one I turn up though. Until I get the longevity issues sorted out, I don't really want to go making them for others as I can't put any form of guarantee on them. They don't last. The next ones I do will have a smaller bore. That should give more meat on the neck of the adapter and it might last a bit longer. The solder appears to erode it from the inside.

[Southerner]

The tube on the Aoyue tip appears to be stainless, not copper. I machined down 2 Aoyue tips as adapters initially, so I just reused the tubes from those. I machine the adapter as a press-fit and just press the tubes in.

I grabbed a copper K&S tube that appeared to be "close" to the same size but was slightly bigger diameter so it would not fit.  That makes me wonder if it was a metric size so not readily available from a K&S selection.

The problem with making them from pure copper is they oxidise heavily and as a consequence tend to wear out (which is why I need to make a new one and I've been considering some form of plating).

Would a different material for the adapter work?  Maybe stainless bar rather that copper?  Or Brass?  Or a different grade of copper like 101?

Happy to document the next one I turn up though. Until I get the longevity issues sorted out, I don't really want to go making them for others as I can't put any form of guarantee on them. They don't last. The next ones I do will have a smaller bore. That should give more meat on the neck of the adapter and it might last a bit longer. The solder appears to erode it from the inside.

I would like to see that drawing when you get it made.

Thank you.
Jim

[BradC]

The problem with making them from pure copper is they oxidise heavily and as a consequence tend to wear out (which is why I need to make a new one and I've been considering some form of plating).

Would a different material for the adapter work?  Maybe stainless bar rather that copper?  Or Brass?  Or a different grade of copper like 101?

Copper gave the best balance of heat conduction vs machineability vs cost. Stainless would be almost useless by comparison. Brass is not crash hot either. My experience with most alloys with very high copper content is they tend to oxidize much like "pure" copper and the more you dilute the copper content, the more you impede conduction of heat. As this adapter sits between the tip and the heater, you *really* want it to conduct as much heat as you can manage.

I've been doing some more digging and it appears a nickel/phosphorous plating is relatively resistant to solder wetting once passivated and needs an aggressive active flux to re-activate it. That can be applied electroless, so that's probably my next avenue.

Still many months away though.

[BradC]

While I was giving it a birthday, I dismantled the pump and put it back together with a light smear of silicone sealant on all gasket surfaces. This has doubled the ultimate vacuum and greatly enhanced the ability of the unit to pull solder out of stubborn holes. As you would expect, the fit and finish of all the pump sealing surfaces leaves a _lot_ to be desired and the rubber gaskets are barely a joke.

So 12 years on I found the unit was struggling a bit. I put a vacuum gauge on the inlet and it barely moved the needle. Time for another birthday.

I wish I'd taken photos. The pump is one of these :


Each end is held on with 4 screws that screw into positive plugs in the body. The end cap locates on these plugs and the screws hold it in place. 7 of the 8 plugs had broken off. One end was held on by a single screw and the 12 year old silicone, and the other end was peeling off as the silicone let go with vibration.

I cleaned all the old silicone off, re-did it and held the ends on with a couple of very large cable ties around the body, and we're back in business.

Next time it fails I'll replace it with one of these :


The original pump is 220V and driven by a triac on the control board. Oddly enough, when you hit the trigger it turns off the heater, so I've got 70W of 24V to play with and happen to have a 24V version of that pump little DC driven pump on the bench. Comparing, they move roughly the same amount of air at zero vacuum. Getting the vacuum gauge out, the Aoyue pump achieves about -20kPa, and the DC pump achieves all of it's rated -80kPa so I'd expect a bit of a performance boost too.

Just need to tap into the control circuit to find a relay trigger, and bodge up a rectifier to drive the DC pump.

[Southerner]

Is more better?  I see there is also a 42watt version at 40 liters.  The one is my Aoyou 701A++ is worse then not vacuum at all.  In fact I gave up using it because it was so worthless.  That is why I am wondering if the 40 liter version would do a much better job.

Thank you.

While I was giving it a birthday, I dismantled the pump and put it back together with a light smear of silicone sealant on all gasket surfaces. This has doubled the ultimate vacuum and greatly enhanced the ability of the unit to pull solder out of stubborn holes. As you would expect, the fit and finish of all the pump sealing surfaces leaves a _lot_ to be desired and the rubber gaskets are barely a joke.

So 12 years on I found the unit was struggling a bit. I put a vacuum gauge on the inlet and it barely moved the needle. Time for another birthday.

I wish I'd taken photos. The pump is one of these :
(Attachment Link)

Each end is held on with 4 screws that screw into positive plugs in the body. The end cap locates on these plugs and the screws hold it in place. 7 of the 8 plugs had broken off. One end was held on by a single screw and the 12 year old silicone, and the other end was peeling off as the silicone let go with vibration.

I cleaned all the old silicone off, re-did it and held the ends on with a couple of very large cable ties around the body, and we're back in business.

Next time it fails I'll replace it with one of these :
(Attachment Link)

The original pump is 220V and driven by a triac on the control board. Oddly enough, when you hit the trigger it turns off the heater, so I've got 70W of 24V to play with and happen to have a 24V version of that pump little DC driven pump on the bench. Comparing, they move roughly the same amount of air at zero vacuum. Getting the vacuum gauge out, the Aoyue pump achieves about -20kPa, and the DC pump achieves all of it's rated -80kPa so I'd expect a bit of a performance boost too.

Just need to tap into the control circuit to find a relay trigger, and bodge up a rectifier to drive the DC pump.