Soldering stations and tips compatibility?

[Red Squirrel]

Are solder iron tips somewhat standard?  How do I know what's compatible with what?  I'm thinking of buying a temp controlled soldering station to replace my old 20/40w Radioshack soldering electronics frying stick station mostly because the tip on mine is completely worn and when I did try to buy a new tip it was a different fitting. 

I'm looking at this station:

http://www.amazon.ca/Aoyue-AO936-AOYUE-Soldering-Station/dp/B000VINMRO/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1426234896&sr=1-1&keywords=hakko+936#productDetails

When searching for tips how do I know if they will be compatible?  Do I need to stick to the same brand?  I found these which were recommended but different company:

http://www.amazon.ca/Solder-Soldering-Iron-Hakko-Station/dp/B00CJ7DRFW/ref=pd_sim_hi_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0D4JZ3QV8WJQFRS5A539#productDetails

Though I'm getting the jist that these are basically the same company, is that the case? Will those be compatible?  Any other recommendations?  I want to spend under $100 idealy.

[Psi]

The 900M series tips (or a copies of them) are very common on the cheaper soldering stations as well as china clones.

It's a hakko tip standard that has been superseded with the newer T18 standard.

My Hakko FX888 came with a T18 but works fine with 900M tips.
My Aoyue station came with a aoyue tip which looked to be a 900M clone and also runs fine with genuine 900M as well as T18 tips.

If you're buying a soldering station in the sub $200 range then irons that take these style tips are the best option.

Always buy your tips from a genuine reseller, A piece of shit china soldering station with a genuine hakko T18 tip will produce good results. Conversely putting a crappy china clone 900M tip on a really good hakko iron will produce bad results. (Or it may work ok for a while but the tip will fail very quick, there is quite a range of quality in clone tips out there).

That link you have is for fake 900m clone tips (hakko dont make the genuine ones any more, T18 replaced it )
A genuine 900M / T18 tip is in the $8-$15 range per tip

[picandmix]

The thing that catches my eye about that Aoyue 936 is that the iron is only 35W whereas many other 936 clones including the original hakko 936 are 60W.

I recently got a 60W 936 clone  ( and very happy with it for such a lo cost) after using 15W and 25W Antex mains irons , and would originally  have thought 35W would have been more than enough power, let alone 60W, but not so, the irons are by comparison quiet small and delicate and I do not feel at 60W they are over powered even for delicate smd work.

[nanofrog]

Why not just get a genuine Hakko FX-888D? 

TEquipment is selling them for ~$85, and they also offer a discount for EEVBlog members (6%). USPS to Canada would be the least expensive shipping method (i.e. $46.25 to Toronto, ON). I know this is a tad out of budget, but it's worth the extra $25 or so for the quality of the genuine article.

Hakko's Distributor page can also show you who sells within Canada. Seems Hisco is one of them (have an address in Burlington, ON). That $107.47 figure is MSRP.

PM sent.

[GreyWoolfe]

Genuine Hakko tips are the best way to go.  One tip will cost more more than that 10 pack but will last years of occasional use.  Even for everyday use they will last much longer than the 10 for CDN$5.23 shipped.  I also agree with Nanofrog.  I don't understand the fascination with Hakko clones.  I understand that for a lot of people, me included, budgets are tight.  But are you saving money if you have to repair/replace the soldering station more often?  My Hakko is about 5 years old and I still have the original tips I bought when I bought it.  The one thing I do like about the AOYUE is it includes a power LED which I ended up adding to my Hakko 936 after leaving it on a couple of times over the weekend.  I made mine green instead of red.  I thought about using Dave's hack for the FX-888 but mine was 2 components and a few minutes probing for voltage.  The interesting part was soldering the LED in place with the iron I was installing it in  

[picandmix]

Think its a case of where you are in the world as to what you can buy at a decent price.

Would have loved a genuine Hakko FX888 from a proper UK or EU  Hakko dealer but here it  costs me GB £130;   a simple 60w 936 clone bought locally cost just £22 delivered   - no contest really for a typical hobbyist , how can you argue at 6 times the price ...?

[Red Squirrel]

Why not just get a genuine Hakko FX-888D? 

TEquipment is selling them for ~$85, and they also offer a discount for EEVBlog members (6%). USPS to Canada would be the least expensive shipping method (i.e. $46.25 to Toronto, ON). I know this is a tad out of budget, but it's worth the extra $25 or so for the quality of the genuine article.

Hakko's Distributor page can also show you who sells within Canada. Seems Hisco is one of them (have an address in Burlington, ON). That $107.47 figure is MSRP.

PM sent.

That same station was over $300 on Amazon so I originally skipped it.  I'll try Hisco. That's a much more reasonable price.  With the shipping cost it's not worth buying from TE, and I'm guessing that's in US dollars too so even with the code it would end up more expensive I think, then add customs on top of that.  I've been hit with $900 customs before, not fun.  Especially for "odd ball" items, and this could potentially count as one.  With Bill C-51 on the horizon they might even think I'm going to use it to solder a bomb together and put me on another government list (I'm probably already on most).   

For the tip, how is the default one that comes with it?  It does say it's a chisel tip which I think is what is preferred for every day use right?  I might just stick with that for now.  I was trying to find other tips on Hisco but they all seem to be for very specific models.

For now most of the stuff I do is through hole, or even bigger work like soldering two pieces of wire together. Might play with SMD at some point too though.

[nanofrog]

That same station was over $300 on Amazon so I originally skipped it.

Pure insanity at that price. You'd be able to get a better performing station with some very nice extra features, particularly regarding standby settings.

I'll try Hisco.

Make sure they have stock in Canada, as it may only be a business office.

Do note the Hakko distributor page I linked in my previous post if Hisco doesn't pan out.

For the tip, how is the default one that comes with it?

It comes with a T18-D16, which is a 1.6mm chisel. As per quality, Hakko's tips are well made (thick plating, so they last years if cared for properly).

It does say it's a chisel tip which I think is what is preferred for every day use right?  I might just stick with that for now.  I was trying to find other tips on Hisco but they all seem to be for very specific models.

Chisels do make good general purpose tips, but you'll need more than one size (i.e. 1.6mm, 2.4mm, and 3.2mm for sure, and perhaps one larger & smaller), and a couple of other profiles will likely be of use as well. Particularly as you get into SMD.

Hakko's Tip Selection Page might be of particular interest for you (how to select size & what, when, and how to use the different profiles).

For tips, you'd be looking for the T18 series (Hisco has them here).

[Red Squirrel]

I just put the order through Hisco... though it was kind of an accident, I was trying to get the shipping price but it kept saying "calculated later" and figured I had to check out but it just submitted the order instead, I still don't know how much shipping will be.     That can make or break a sale.  If shipping is $100 then I'd back out and look elsewhere.  I guess I'll find out sooner or later.

[denelec]

This Montreal store sells the Hakko FX-888D for CAD$146.90.
http://abra-electronics.com/index.php?subcats=Y&status=A&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&search_performed=Y&q=888d&dispatch=products.search&currency=CAN

When you buy from the USA, some courier charge you outrageous custom fees on top of regular shipping.
When I bought my Seek Thermal camera, I had to pay $10 for shipping (reasonable) and a $47 custom fee at delivery (outrageous).

[nanofrog]

I just put the order through Hisco... though it was kind of an accident, I was trying to get the shipping price but it kept saying "calculated later" and figured I had to check out but it just submitted the order instead, I still don't know how much shipping will be.     That can make or break a sale.  If shipping is $100 then I'd back out and look elsewhere.  I guess I'll find out sooner or later.

Generally, suppliers such as that bill you the actual cost for shipping (contract rate), so it's low. 

But I do understand the concern, so call them on Monday and see what you can find out (they may be able to give you a reasonably accurate estimate, if not an exact amount). 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I sent an email with order number and I'll see what happens. 

Crazy how it's so hard to find stuff in Canada sometimes though, without having to go through 3rd parties who are technically still in the states.

[nanofrog]

Yeah I sent an email with order number and I'll see what happens.

Don't rely on email.

Use a phone instead, as you'll get an answer in minutes, not days.    And if you call early, you have a better chance/easier time of canceling the order (before it's pulled and packed), should that be necessary.

[Red Squirrel]

Hisco was no go, it sounds like they're more oriented towards business sales where they have a Fedex account or what not.  They said they can still ship to me but they don't know shipping/customs before after it's sent through so I cancelled.  I did buy through abra-electronics.com and thanks for that link because I spent 4 hours browsing their site (I'm on a 12 hour night shift, it's amazing how much time you can waste just looking at random stuff online )  They seem to have lot of nice stuff that I'm sure I'll find myself ordering from there again.  They did not have much selection as far as tips though so for now I'll just hold off.  Anything will be an upgrade from my 15+ year old radioshack tip that I used to melt plastic with as a kid. 

Order came up to $215.20 which is not bad considering I bought a whole bunch of random stuff too like flux and thermal compound to have on hand.  I also bought fuses and fuse holder for a setup I got in my basement for power backup which I got yelled at in another thread for not adding a fuse to for the panel meter comm wiring.  So I'll finally do that too. It's on the negative side of battery so never really saw it as an issue since it's grounded but better safe than sorry.

[nanofrog]

Hisco was no go, it sounds like they're more oriented towards business sales where they have a Fedex account or what not.  They said they can still ship to me but they don't know shipping/customs before after it's sent through so I cancelled.

Sorry Hisco was a no-go for you.

I've run into the lack of detailed shipping costs before, notably with Allied, so I know where you're coming from. FWIW, I went ahead with that order, and the shipping was very reasonable. Subsequent orders as well.

I did buy through abra-electronics.com

At least you found a source to get one from you're happy with.  Enjoy it when it arrives (sure you'll be impressed with the performance & usability differences vs. your old firestick). 

As per tips, there are 3rd party sources out there, notably from Plato (owned by ITW/Techspray). Good quality for the price IME, and just might be easier to get without importing them if you're having trouble getting genuine Hakko tips. If you can get either, recommend getting genuine Hakko if possible (excellent quality that will last you years with just a little bit of basic care).

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that was fast!  Just came in today along with other misc stuff I ordered. And wow does it ever heat fast.  With my old one I could go take a coffee while I wait lol.