Got my first Metcal soldering station

[slburris]

I got a Metcal soldering station in July for my birthday.  How did my wife
know?  Thank you Amazon wish lists!

This replaced a Weller digital soldering station that I've used for years,
an EC2002M with an EC1201A handpiece.

Instead, I'm now using a Metcal MX-5200 with a couple of handpieces.

After a few minutes using the Metcal, I had to conclude that I had no idea
what I had been missing.  Absolutely effortless soldering with a small
chisel tip.  Ground plane?  No problem.  Small tiny component?  No problem.
Instant heating of the tip when removed from the holder?  No problem. :-)

Now to try a small hoof tip for drag soldering.  I'm hoping this will be
a more pleasant experience to solder SMDs than using a tiny conical
tip on the Weller and soldering pin by pin.  Not fun with a 208 TQFP.

Scott

[ConKbot]

Enjoy it, I used an MX-5000 at a previous job, and it is indeed many  times better then even a nice weller station. A single hoof tip did everything, from QFPs to 0603's to mounting D2pak (or whatever SMD to-220 is ) regulators to ground planes.

[Smokey]

Welcome to the club.  Your Metcal owners secret membership card should be in the mail!  Someone will show you the secret handshake soon.

Seriously though, you got a really good station.  It has twice the output power of the mx500 which was already a beast.  The dual handpieces is super nice too with one big tip and one small one at the ready all the time. 

Now it's time to start scouring ebay for rework tips.  Not every used tip you get from the ebay will have a lot of life left it in, but most work fine.  I highly recommend you get the tssop and soic removal tips.  Those come in really handy.

[mikeselectricstuff]

You also NEED a SMTC160 blade tip. Great for reflowing QFPs an SOICs.
Remember you can now also get third-party tips from Thermaltronics. Their version of the SMTC1147 is much better than Metcal's as it has a sharper edge, and is good for reflowing QFNs as it can get right into the corner between the chip and the PCB 

[slburris]

I eagerly await my secret membership card in the mail :-)
I currently have the STTC-136 chisel tip, the SMTC-188 slot tip,
and the SMTC-1175 hoof tip.

So, say I wanted to solder a VQFP-100 or TQFP-208.  I was
thinking you would drag solder those with a hoof tip.  Are you
saying it's better to use the STMC-160 blade tip instead,
presumably by laying down a line of solder paste first?

I can see using two of the blade tips to quickly remove
two-sided SOICs.  Normally, I'd use hot air, but I'd think using
two blades would be much faster.  That's why I got the slot tip --
I change SMD resistors often enough that it's faster to use
that tip than the hot air.

I take it Thermaltronics is knocking off expired Metcal patents?

The Metcal is a huge step up from the Weller, which itself was
a huge step up from some Radio Shack wiring pencil thingy
from decades ago....

Scott

[slburris]

Oh, what about EasyBraid?

http://www.easybraidco.com/hand-soldering

They seem to be a clone of the Thermaltronics?
Their tips seem to be stocked by Amazon, surprisingly.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZ7TSB0/

I think this is their clone of the Thermaltronics clone of the Metcal
SMTC160 blade tip.  $50 new instead of $84 for the Metcal.

Scott

[mikeselectricstuff]

Oh, what about EasyBraid?

http://www.easybraidco.com/hand-soldering

They seem to be a clone of the Thermaltronics?

They look identical, so probably just badged Thermaltronics units

I take it Thermaltronics is knocking off expired Metcal patents?

I was told they were set up my some ex-Metcal people

[Smokey]

I don't have the part numbers here for the soic/tssop rework tips.  Ill check it out at work tomorrow. They are super cool.  One rework tip with a slot that fits right over the chip and heats up both sides of pins at the same time.  Pops it right off.

As for removing smd resistors and caps, don't bother with hot air or one of the special smd tips, just put a blob of solder on the part so its touching both pads and swipe it off with the iron tip.   Way faster and less chance of overheating thing next to it.  You will presumably be solder wicking the pads anyway so the blob of left over solder is no big deal.

I never drag solder anything.  I just get the smallest tip and the smallest diameter solder and go pin by pin under the scope.  Never get any shorts and you end up inspecting each pin as you solder them.  It ends up looking way cleaner most of the time as well. 

[mamalala]

I never drag solder anything.  I just get the smallest tip and the smallest diameter solder and go pin by pin under the scope.  Never get any shorts and you end up inspecting each pin as you solder them.  It ends up looking way cleaner most of the time as well.

I'd say it's just a matter of enough practice. With a suitably large and clean hoof tip and lot's of flux, there shouldn't be any shorts after practicing a while. See attached image, i'm getting these results all the time (it's a TSOP package in the image). And it will be faster as well.

Greetings,

Chris

[nanofrog]

clean ... tip and lot's of flux, there shouldn't be any shorts after practicing a while.

+1 

[Monkeh]

Remember you can now also get third-party tips from Thermaltronics.

Where on earth do you even get Thermaltronics stuff?

[mikeselectricstuff]

Remember you can now also get third-party tips from Thermaltronics.

Where on earth do you even get Thermaltronics stuff?

AMS UK  or 
Ebay

[Monkeh]

Remember you can now also get third-party tips from Thermaltronics.

Where on earth do you even get Thermaltronics stuff?

AMS UK  or 
Ebay

Neither of which presently supplies even a price for the TMT-2000S. :/

[mikeselectricstuff]

Remember you can now also get third-party tips from Thermaltronics.

Where on earth do you even get Thermaltronics stuff?

AMS UK  or 
Ebay

Neither of which presently supplies even a price for the TMT-2000S. :/

Showing as AU$295 here

[Monkeh]

Showing as AU$295 here

On par with the PS-900 price-wise, then. May as well just get that when I've saved up for it, seeing as it's available.

[ben_r_]

Congrats! Love my Metcal!

[slburris]

I think Dave complains that you can't adjust the temp with the Metcals.  As far as
I can tell, that would only really be a problem if you are dealing with both lead and lead-free
solder, right?  I guess I could pull out my Weller if I really needed higher temps for a one-off
(otherwise I'd just get the higher temp tip).

Since I'm a hobbyist sitting on a huge supply of 63/37 and 60/40 solder, I figure I've got
enough to last me for a lifetime and I can just ignore the lead-free stuff!

Someone asked about the TMT-2000S -- the Easy Braid version EB2000S is listed as
$216 at Digikey.  Not currently in stock though, backorder shows 4 weeks.

Scott

[nanofrog]

I think Dave complains that you can't adjust the temp with the Metcals.  As far as
I can tell, that would only really be a problem if you are dealing with both lead and lead-free
solder, right?  I guess I could pull out my Weller if I really needed higher temps for a one-off
(otherwise I'd just get the higher temp tip).

Fixed temp tip based stations (curie point) could pose an issue on power and ground planes though. Granted higher temp tips may be an option, but it increases the cost to the user to have multiple temp versions of the same tip profile vs. a temp adjustable station that only needs the one tip (until worn out). Fine for corporations that have ample budgets for this (and need very tight process controls), but for hobbyists, it could be more of a financial imposition (i.e. funds that could have gone for parts diverted to more iron tips instead).

Just a thought.

[Smokey]

The Metcal tip temp is not really an issue as far as I'm concerned.  I have a set from super small point that I use for 0402 to the big chisel tip for through hole connectors and such.  My personal set was all purchased used off Ebay, usually about 20 bucks for like 10 tips.

You are probably not going to use the tiny point to try to solder a 12AWG wire into a hole (even through you could if you were really desperate), and you probably aren't going to use the huge chisel tip for an SOT23 (even though you could if you were really desperate).  Even using the medium size chisel tip, I've been able to desolder big through hole parts directly connected to planes, then go right back to putting on a dsub or something.

The thing with Metcal tips is that they are almost always the right temp for the job you would be doing with that size tip.

[poorchava]

How did my wife
know?  Thank you Amazon wish lists!

Dude.............. I want your wife  O0

[mikeselectricstuff]

Fixed temp tip based stations (curie point) could pose an issue on power and ground planes though.

No - that's the whole point. With a conventional iron, you often need to increase temp to compensate for inadequate ability to dump a lot of heat into a heavy load, This is a bad solution as it can then overshoot.
The Metcal/JBC irons can dump enough heat quicky into a big lump of copper with no risk of overshoot, so you don't need temp adjustment.

You can use leaded and leadfree with the same tip type - if it's hot enough for leadfree it's fine for leaded. The only time you'd need variable temps is if you need to use something exotic like indium low-temps for soldering bare-die laser diode bars or other very specialist stuff. I've used Metcals for >15 years and  never once felt the need to adjust temp.

[cwalex]

I have both a jbc and a thermaltronics. They are both fantastic and both handle large power planes no probs. the thermaltronics tmt9000 has less power (40 watts) though. I slightly prefer the jbc for one it is much easier to change the tips, you can do it one handed and heat up time is much faster. But both heat up very quickly and are a pleasure to use.

Gongrats on the new iron 

[onesixright]

Hey Guys,

Finally, a MX-5200 on the way! Looking forward to jump on the Metcal bandwagon ;-)

Now i'm curious which solder type do you guys use? In the documents i read from Metcal, they advice RMA for best tip life.
Since the technology is different, does that mean the solder using should also be different?

I'm having a hard time finding (lead-free) RA solder ... (europe)...

[nanofrog]

Now i'm curious which solder type do you guys use? In the documents i read from Metcal, they advice RMA for best tip life.
Since the technology is different, does that mean the solder using should also be different?

I'm having a hard time finding (lead-free) RA solder ... (europe)...

Unless there's a requirement for using lead-free, you'd be better off with a lead based alloy IME. Either with rosin or no-clean flux content will be fine on your tips; it's the water soluble and non-electronics stuff made for plumbing and such that will corrode stuff.

FWIW, I use Kester 44 in 63/37 (RA flux, with a core size of 66 = 3.3% flux by weight).

[john_p_wi]

Hey Guys,

Finally, a MX-5200 on the way! Looking forward to jump on the Metcal bandwagon ;-)

Now i'm curious which solder type do you guys use? In the documents i read from Metcal, they advice RMA for best tip life.
Since the technology is different, does that mean the solder using should also be different?

I'm having a hard time finding (lead-free) RA solder ... (europe)...

Congratulations, that is a very nice piece of kit.