Looking for best clone JBC tip

[Sajid]

I am looking for best clone JBC tips mainly C245 on Aliexpress. there are brands like Aixun, Magma, Mechanic etc. which brands will perform best and last longer?
Thanks

[digger]

i've never used clone carts, but i would take a look at aixun's premium line:
https://www.aixuntech.com/product/c245-high-level-nano-lead-free-soldering-iron-tip-for-jbc-iron-head-replacement/

their regular line is supposedly junk:
https://www.aixuntech.com/product/c245-soldering-iron-tips-/

[DavidAlfa]

Don't. All clones are pretty much junk.

[Sajid]

which brands did you use and what are their shortcomings?

[digger]

which brands did you use and what are their shortcomings?

jbc; price

[Sajid]

what you meant by jbc; price?

[digger]

brands i've used: jbc
shortcomings: high price of cartridges

[Arts]

If you want to get the longest life and the best performance, just spend the money and buy a real JBC tip.

Do you know why all of the JBC clone tips are soooo cheap? Because they are crap. Period.
Poor materials, sloppy manufacturing and no knowledge of nor investment in proper engineering.
If any of that clone garbage was worth a crap JBC would have been out of business and ceased to exist long ago.

[Sajid]

I don't have money to buy overpriced JBC tips and this doesn't answer my question. I didn't ask for any of this.

[Someone]

I don't have money to buy overpriced JBC tips and this doesn't answer my question. I didn't ask for any of this.

Perhaps they are not overpriced, but in fact fairly priced by market forces?
People have already given several consistent responses that alternatives are bad value for money.

[thm_w]

If you want to get the longest life and the best performance, just spend the money and buy a real JBC tip.

Do you know why all of the JBC clone tips are soooo cheap? Because they are crap. Period.
Poor materials, sloppy manufacturing and no knowledge of nor investment in proper engineering.
If any of that clone garbage was worth a crap JBC would have been out of business and ceased to exist long ago.

Competing companies like Thermaltronics and Pace are able to make high quality tips and sell them for $10-15. The only reason JBC tips cost more than that is because they build in a higher profit margin.

Clone tips are only recently becoming more available in various tip shapes (other than the 3 standard we had for years). So to say they'd be out of business long ago is not realistic, regardless of the quality.

Perhaps they are not overpriced, but in fact fairly priced by market forces?
People have already given several consistent responses that alternatives are bad value for money.

Some are definitely bad value for money as we've had photo teardowns showing as such. Though some may not be. There are just too many companies making them to make a blanket statement without a project farm style test suite, imo.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/why-you-dont-want-to-buy-aixun-t245-tips/

[Geoff-AU]

I don't have money to buy overpriced JBC tips and this doesn't answer my question. I didn't ask for any of this.

You probably shouldn't be using a JBC iron (or worse, a clone that specs JBC tips).

They're not overpriced, they just don't suit your use-case.  Big difference.  The people who know and appreciate the benefits a genuine tip provides are happily paying for them, because the labour savings are worth it for them.

[thm_w]

You probably shouldn't be using a JBC iron (or worse, a clone that specs JBC tips).

They're not overpriced, they just don't suit your use-case.  Big difference.  The people who know and appreciate the benefits a genuine tip provides are happily paying for them, because the labour savings are worth it for them.

$100 clone stations are effectively as good as a normal JBC station for most use cases. The tips are completely interchangeable.

https://youtu.be/4dOrV8wTkaw?t=1839

[Sajid]

did you forgot to tell me that what should I use then?

[digger]

did you forgot to tell me that what should I use then?

no:

i've never used clone carts, but i would take a look at aixun's premium line:
https://www.aixuntech.com/product/c245-high-level-nano-lead-free-soldering-iron-tip-for-jbc-iron-head-replacement/

their regular line is supposedly junk:
https://www.aixuntech.com/product/c245-soldering-iron-tips-/

as i said, look at aixun's premium/high-level/nano/whatever-they-call-it line of carts. it's the only one i've read even a single flattering comment about, and yes, it was just one comment.

most people are not writing about clone carts because most people are not using clone carts. jbc carts are expensive, but they're still relatively cheap compared to their stations. that's why most people with fake stations buy the real carts.

[woody]

You probably shouldn't be using a JBC iron (or worse, a clone that specs JBC tips).

They're not overpriced, they just don't suit your use-case.  Big difference.  The people who know and appreciate the benefits a genuine tip provides are happily paying for them, because the labour savings are worth it for them.

$100 clone stations are effectively as good as a normal JBC station for most use cases. The tips are completely interchangeable.

https://youtu.be/4dOrV8wTkaw?t=1839

Ah, but those cloners don't have this:

https://www.jbctools.com/clmu-a-senior-tip-cleaner-metal-brushes-product-1474.html

 

[Sajid]

Ah, but those cloners don't have this:

what is your point actually?

[thm_w]

what is your point actually?

Its for fun.



Interesting comment from this aliexpress seller for these specific tips: "Please Note：The C245 Series Soldering Iron Tips is used with JBC soldering stations or high-power soldering stations. But not for Aixun soldering stations."

[shabaz]

Also, probably goes without saying, it might not be a good idea to use clone tips with genuine handles and genuine stations, just-in-case.

I can't be 100% sure, but I think my (old) genuine JBC station+genuine handles only started playing up after a clone tip was inserted by accident (I don't use the clone tips, but they come with the portable AliExpress irons (i.e. powered by USB-C charger or other external PSU), and I was trying to compare temperature just out of curiosity, because there was a small discrepancy between the displayed temperature and what was measured, with the portable AliExpress iron and genuine tip.

Anyway, long story short, I suspect I either damaged the handle and then the station, or just the station. Or maybe it was just by chance. In any case I have a new genuine station+genuine handles now, and I don't let the clones anywhere near it. I have a genuine JBC tip in the portable AliExpress iron too, so will probably throw away the clone ones now, to eliminate any chance of accidentally using them.

[woody]

what is your point actually?

Its for fun.

Absolutely, but with a serious undertone.

JBC is a very expensive brand. But their products are (IMO) bloody good. That means that there is a large professional market for them where price might not be the major component of the buying decision. Therefore JBC can set their prices relatively high giving them a nice profit margin. That gives them the financial leeway to venture into creating other equipment. Such as the rather remarkable tipcleaner I linked to, that contains firmware, a USB port and that costs upward of €500,-. And that yet has to prove itself.

If it ever does prove to be a valid solution then cloners will be stumbling over each other to churn out a range of look-alike cleaners that will be dirt cheap and technically inferior and then people will start asking what is the best clone tipcleaner to get. Which will still be a far cry from the original.

In a nutshell, if we all run to Aliexpress cs to buy cheap imitation, new solutions will never be developed and eventually we all end up using sh*te tools because the companies making the good tools will be forced into oblivion.

And I am not going to help that when I can.

[thm_w]

There are plenty of other companies that offer tip cleaners:
https://hakkousa.com/ft-720-tip-cleaner.html
https://www.somersetsolders.com/soldering-iron-tip-cleaning-station#167=
https://www.thermaltronics.com/tmt-astc100.php
https://eleshop.eu/itc-soldering-tip-cleaner.html
https://eleshop.eu/automatic-soldering-tip-cleaner.html
https://eleshop.eu/weller-watc100f-automatic-tipcleaner-fiber.html

I don't see the USB port and buttons doing anything other than increasing the price of the unit.

[digger]

There are plenty of other companies that offer tip cleaners:

didn't know that. the weller watc100f looks pretty nice.

the hakko can be had for like $90 on ebay. shipped from japan. tempting kinda