Ersa Desoldering-Station

[tooki]

Bah, Ersa has recently revised their i-CON product line, and are now shipping the MK2 versions of their products. The Ersa i-CON1 MK2 soldering station comes with a new i-TOOL MK2, which now supports the series 142 soldering tips. Previously, the i-TOOL MK1 supported the series 102 tips, and the two are NOT interchangeable according to a reseller. Dang, I was just looking to upgrade to a multi-tool version, but I don't want to spend $$$ on new iron tips.

https://ts.kurtzersa.com/electronics-production-equipment/soldering-tools-accessories/soldering-desoldering-stations/produkt-details/i-con-1-2.html

ERSA says that i-tool MK2 is backwards compatible to old stations. It looks you could even put MK2 heater into old i-tool if you cut off 4 plastic protrusions, thus making it compatible with 142 tips, old i-tool heater apparently should fit MK2 handle right away.

Out of curiosity, where did you find that info?

just a visual observation as connectors look identical. However I looked again and likely you cannot do it as plastic part looks to be of a bit larger diameter, although old heater would probably fit into MK2, albeit loose. However I think you could do the trick with old i-tool pico or old pico heater inserted into MK2.

I wouldn’t use a Pico Mk1 heater (which has plastic threads); they aren’t grounded.

The i-Tool Mk1 and nano Mk1 use the same heater, with the metal threads.

Oddly, the i-Tool Mk2 and nano Mk2 use the same heater too, but the pico Mk2 shares its heater with the  i-Tool Trace, which is an ESD-safe production station, so that heater has to be grounded too. So I wonder why the nano Mk2 and pico Mk2 don’t share a heater now.

[wraper]

I suspect that heater itself could be actually grounded as it has the pin that is GND in other heaters.

[tooki]

I suspect that heater itself could be actually grounded as it has the pin that is GND in other heaters.

My post above mentions four different heaters. Please use sensible quoting or otherwise make clear what you’re referring to. (Your previous reply also had some unclear phrasing.)

[wraper]

Obviously I meant pico MK1 heater as you said it does not have ground.

[tooki]

Obviously I meant pico MK1 heater as you said it does not have ground.

It is possible that the pico Mk1 heater is capable of being grounded, but remember that the only feature difference between the pico and nano is that the nano is ESD-safe, while the pico is not. The pico Mk1 heater is not used in any other products, and I don’t have a pico heater to test, so can’t say for certain, but it’s possible the pin is unconnected and just used for mechanical stability or something.

The thing that makes me very curious is the Mk2 heaters, as I mention above, because both models must have grounds, since both are used in ESD-safe models. So I wonder what the difference between the two is, since both are used in full-power stations, too, so power isn’t the difference either. The pico and nano handpieces look identical, so I’d also be surprised if there were any mechanical differences between the handpieces.

[wraper]

The pico and nano handpieces look identical, so I’d also be surprised if there were any mechanical differences between the handpieces.

IIRC they have the same PCB inside. However plastic heater part is of larger diameter AFAIK.

The thing that makes me very curious is the Mk2 heaters

All MK2/trace stations use the same heater, including pico.  So the only difference probably is a power cord, maybe plastic materials.

[Faranight]

Thanks for confirming the i-Tool compatibility. Speaking of Ersa tools, does anyone have experience with their hot tweezers?
I am looking to buy something for SMD de/soldering, and I'm wondering, if any of these tools that they offer are good?

https://ts.kurtzersa.com/electronics-production-equipment/soldering-tools-accessories/tools-for-soldering-stations/produkt-details/chip-tool-1.html
https://ts.kurtzersa.com/electronics-production-equipment/soldering-tools-accessories/tools-for-soldering-stations/produkt-details/chip-tool-vario-1.html

[tooki]

The pico and nano handpieces look identical, so I’d also be surprised if there were any mechanical differences between the handpieces.

IIRC they have the same PCB inside. However plastic heater part is of larger diameter AFAIK.

If you recall correctly or know from what source? I haven’t seen any teardowns of any of the Mk2 handpieces.

The thing that makes me very curious is the Mk2 heaters

All MK2/trace stations use the same heater, including pico.  So the only difference probably is a power cord, maybe plastic materials.

No, they do not. I listed above which ones use which of the two Mk2 heaters that exist. I had checked Ersa’s own spare parts shop (ersashop.com) before writing above. Did you not read that part of my post?

Here it is again:

Oddly, the i-Tool Mk2 and nano Mk2 use the same heater too, but the pico Mk2 shares its heater with the  i-Tool Trace, which is an ESD-safe production station, so that heater has to be grounded too. So I wonder why the nano Mk2 and pico Mk2 don’t share a heater now.

Again, this information is straight from Ersa.

i-Tool Mk1 (0100CDJ) and i-Tool nano Mk1 (0120CDK) use heater 010102J
i-Tool pico Mk1 (0130CDK) uses heater 013100J

i-Tool Mk2 (0105CDJ) and i-Tool nano Mk2 (0125CDK) use heater 016100J
i-Tool Trace (0140CDJ) and i-Tool pico Mk2 (0135CDK) use heater 014100J

They Mk2 heaters look identical from the photos (which unfortunately are at different angles), but there must be some difference or they wouldn’t make two different heater models. Thus my wondering what the difference is.

[wraper]

The pico and nano handpieces look identical, so I’d also be surprised if there were any mechanical differences between the handpieces.

IIRC they have the same PCB inside. However plastic heater part is of larger diameter AFAIK.

If you recall correctly or know from what source? I haven’t seen any teardowns of any of the Mk2 handpieces.

I meant MK1 handpieces, and I can throw throw ball back about being confusing since you didn't explicitly write you were talking about MK2 in that sentence . But heck, Ersa made it even more confusing than it was already with naming of older stations.

[tooki]

The pico and nano handpieces look identical, so I’d also be surprised if there were any mechanical differences between the handpieces.

IIRC they have the same PCB inside. However plastic heater part is of larger diameter AFAIK.

If you recall correctly or know from what source? I haven’t seen any teardowns of any of the Mk2 handpieces.

I meant MK1 handpieces, and I can throw throw ball back about being confusing since you didn't explicitly write you were talking about MK2 in that sentence . But heck, Ersa made it even more confusing than it was already with naming of older stations.

Well the entire paragraph was about the Mk2, so…