Author Topic: Weller WES51 Digital soldering station vs. Hakko FX888 soldering station  (Read 61170 times)

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Offline M. András

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haha try to consider the wrmp iron thats expensive, but really small lightwieght and easy to work with
True, but the WMP and the WP80 are just irons (no power unit or stand). ;)
its only the iron http://www.weller.de/products/product.php?pid=51
the station and the iron's stand another story :)
edit: im thinking about eaither buying a new tip for this cos the stock one 1 f**** small (rt3) eiather a gull wing style rt10 or the 55watts one chisel tip rt11 or to buy a complete 120watts wp 120 set for higher mass soldering

sorry for the completly off topic
« Last Edit: July 03, 2012, 04:38:14 pm by M. András »
 

Offline LEECH666

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My irons from left to right:

Pace SP-2 Sodr-Pen - Kind of in between the other two. Not bad. Belongs to my 3 channel Pace MBT-250 (among other hand pieces).

The WSP 80 soldering pen that comes with the WSD-81 station is excellent in my opinion. Very light and fits my hands perfectly.

LR-21 soldering iron. Belongs to my older Weller WECP-20. Gets hot on the grip after a while. I wouldn't recommend it for continuous use and it's too bulky for my taste.

I don't use them 24/7 but i have a feeling that, even though they are old stations, they will last me a long long time.

I don't know the new Weller stations, but who really wants a freaking touchscreen (unprotected LCD?) on their soldering station? Is Weller trying to be Apple now or what?

Cheers,
Florian
 

Offline M. András

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if you are referring to the wx series stations. i dont know who had the idea of make the irons "smart" by giving it a simple small memory to store settings specific to it. while completly rendering the old irons useless with the station series cos it simply wont recognize them or dunno i dont have 1 and never will. i love tools which are multipurpose. as a base station it should be drive all of their irons (smiling at a wr3m rework station, but the cost of them makes me sad)
 

Offline nanofrog

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edit: I'm thinking about either buying a new tip for this cos the stock one 1 f**** small (rt3) either a gull wing style rt10 or the 55watts one chisel tip rt11 or to buy a complete 120watts WP 120 set for higher mass soldering
At least it's not a conical tip.  ;) But yeah, 1.3mm is too small for general use IMHO as well.

I'd go for the RT11 for general use, and the RT10 if you do a lot of drag soldering (I'd be concerned with getting too much solder in the joint for general use). Definitely cheaper than going with the 120W iron + stand + tips though (unless there's something you're doing that needs that large an iron).  :P
 

Offline EEMarc

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I bought a Weller WESD51 when I started my company a few years back making circuit boards. I used be really like it. It had very good tips that lasted a long time. It is fast to heat up and recover from heavy duty soldering. It even looks great. I liked it almost as much as the significantly more expensive solder stations that I've used over the years. The only downside I had was the complicated tip calibration albeit I am an EE which makes it not a big deal for me.

Last year, I recommended the station to a friend and bought a stock of tips. That friend wasn't happy when it showed up dead on arrival. Defects happen. Then I changed my old tip and started using it. I noticed almost soon after that the solder wasn't sticking to the tip in certain areas. It made is more difficult to use. After a thorough tip cleaning, it returned to normal... for a while. I switched tips to another and it was equally as bad. I am now going through tips at a rate of over $100 per year, from the original tips I purchased a few years ago. They also require much more cleaning. I feel like I switched back to a cheap soldering iron. Apparently Weller went cheap with their WESD51 tips.

Just this past week, another friend mentioned to me that he is considering switching his 4 Weller WES51 soldering stations to Hakko. I'll try his stations if he ends up switching. I am seriously considering switching to something else myself. It's kind of a shame because I really like the look of my WESD51 station more than any other station I've seen. The Hakko models look like they were made by Fisher Price.

 

Offline T4P

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But hakko is very reliable as of it now.
 

Offline saturation

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Ah, yes, but a good Fisher Price  ;D, why not have some nostalgia?  We enjoy our toys.  I have been buying my Hakko stuff direct from the USA office and bypassing the dealers, because there are no minimum purchases and you know it can't be counterfeit coming direct from the main office. 

Weller isn't the same company that gave us the older WESD51.  A company willing to design a station like the WX 2, even if it looks professional, is more toy like in functionality and adds uneeded complexity to its capabilities, raise a lot of questions about their motives; not to mention it was bug ridden on release.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/general-chat/weller-wx-2-soldering-station-product-video/msg106014/#msg106014

Here from eevblog user Wartex, How can you argue with Hakko's level of customer service? :

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/general-chat/hakko-customer-service/msg90760/#msg90760



..The Hakko models look like they were made by Fisher Price.


Best Wishes,

 Saturation
 

Offline T4P

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Wow  :o
 

Offline IanB

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The Hakko models look like they were made by Fisher Price.

But they work like champs! And why shouldn't engineers have a sense of aesthetics anyway? Does my lab have to look dull and boring just because I work in it?
 

Offline M. András

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edit: I'm thinking about either buying a new tip for this cos the stock one 1 f**** small (rt3) either a gull wing style rt10 or the 55watts one chisel tip rt11 or to buy a complete 120watts WP 120 set for higher mass soldering
At least it's not a conical tip.  ;) But yeah, 1.3mm is too small for general use IMHO as well.

I'd go for the RT11 for general use, and the RT10 if you do a lot of drag soldering (I'd be concerned with getting too much solder in the joint for general use). Definitely cheaper than going with the 120W iron + stand + tips though (unless there's something you're doing that needs that large an iron).  :P
the problem with this micro pencil, when you tin large wires or high area of copper. its simply small you cant put force on the tip cos its too fragile, i already bent 1mm from the 90degree angle out when i knocked it out of the magnetic stand with the cable landed on the tip, and grabbed by the cable before it fully hit the wood a good 50cm fall, and the base unit can support up to 150watt, its the single channel version but with the same 150watts af the dual channel, however there are two wd1m station 1 is 80 the other is 150 watts, ohh and the thing loves to heat up the aluminium handle little warm, but not unconfortable, it heats up mostly when used at 400celsius or more than 10 minutes, nothing serious, side effect of the metal/metal contact. if someone intrested i can take pics from the thing at any angle
« Last Edit: July 04, 2012, 07:51:19 pm by M. András »
 

Offline nanofrog

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the problem with this micro pencil, when you tin large wires or high area of copper. its simply small you cant put force on the tip cos its too fragile, i already bent 1mm from the 90degree angle out when i knocked it out of the magnetic stand with the cable landed on the tip, and grabbed by the cable before it fully hit the wood a good 50cm fall, and the base unit can support up to 150watt, its the single channel version but with the same 150watts of the dual channel, however there are two wd1m station 1 is 80 the other is 150 watts, ohh and the thing loves to heat up the aluminium handle little warm, but not uncomfortable, it heats up mostly when used at 400Celsius or more than 10 minutes, nothing serious, side effect of the metal/metal contact. if someone intrested i can take pics from the thing at any angle
The larger RT11 tip should help though (would think it has more mass as well as surface area).

Since I'm using different irons on a WD1, I don't have that issue. Even the WMP seems to be a bit more sturdy (tip is mostly a stainless steel tube, with the tip just on the end). As both are plastic & silicone (there is metal under the plastic), I don't have the handle heating issue.

I've always wondered about that BTW, so thanks.  :) Newer ones appear to be aluminum as well. Not sure why they did this other than maybe can take a bit more abuse. But if the tips are that fragile, I'd expect a lot of tip damage before the handle, even if it were plastic.  :-\

The tips on the WMP don't have a lot of mass, so the larger iron is needed to tin larger gauge wire (14AWG & up turns out much better on the WP80; possible to go up to 12AWG on the WMP, but I have to crank the temp up substantially to get it done. For a one off, I've done it that way out of laziness. But if I've a few to do, I swap the iron.
 

Offline IdahoMan

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I think I want a Hakko FX888 type soldering iron, because of the metal-wool in the stand. But I can't find one, they are all stupid digital now.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2018, 09:35:31 pm by IdahoMan »
 

Offline nanofrog

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I think I want a Hakko FX888 type soldering iron, because of the metal-wool in the stand. But I can't find one, they are all stupid digital now.
Zombie thread.  :P

FWIW, the digital variant replaced the analog unit a few years ago at least now.

As per brass wool, it's an easy add-on for any station that doesn't already include it (Hakko 599B is a good quality stand-alone unit for example).
 

Offline IdahoMan

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I think I want a Hakko FX888 type soldering iron, because of the metal-wool in the stand. But I can't find one, they are all stupid digital now.
Zombie thread.  :P

(snip)


Lol. Yeah, I know. But it's better to post to an existing Thread than to start a new one.

I think I am going to get the Weller WES51. Seeing that..

A. The Hakko can't be found anymore
B. The Weller tips are cheaper

I'll just cut the sponge in half and place some brass wool on one side of the tray, or something. :S

Is there anything I should know before I go ahead with the Weller purchace? Is there a good source to ensure I get a good, non-foreign machine and authentic tips? Any reason you can think of I should not go this rout?

Thanks.
 

Offline KL27x

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There's some talk about the Weller tips being a crap shoot, ever since they started making them in Mexico.

I dislike the UI/firmware on the Hakko 888 as much as anyone. But I prefer it over my analog 888, now. The reason is that I use the same setting for 99% of my soldering. But if and when I have to bump the temp for something, I can do that and also set it back to exactly my default set temp without ever looking away from the microscope.

I cheated a little bit. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/hakko-888d-interface-fixed/msg875006/#msg875006

But the stock UI isn't that bad when you figure out how to make presets. And I have experienced a heck of a lot worse, since then. Here's looking at you, Bakon 750D.

I never used the Weller, but take a look at the Hakko 888 iron stand, as well. It's really good.

 |O Just remembered the links are broken. Well, I'm gonna have to fix that, soon.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2018, 09:26:28 am by KL27x »
 

Offline IdahoMan

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Woldn't you know it, I just bought a Weller.. the iron says "TC201", station says "TC202" ..soldering station at a yard sale for $10.

Good source for good tips?
 

Offline MosherIV

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IdahoMan, I just answered your other post.

Look for bit for the old Weller TCP irons, they use the same bits.
If you are using lead free, you will have to use the #7 tips for higher temperature.

Try Element14 or RS
 

Offline nanofrog

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There's some talk about the Weller tips being a crap shoot, ever since they started making them in Mexico.
Tips made in Mexico and Bosnia do have QC issues (PT & LT series' respectively). FWIW, back of the envelope calculations on the LT series tips I've bought shows ~ a 30% defect/early failure rate. Newer tip production is engraved as of August 2013 (source), so hopefully they've addressed the QC issues as well (still a lot of older stuff in the supply chain IME).

Weller tips made in the US, Germany, or Japan are of consistent quality IME however.  :-+ Of course you pay for it (~4x - 5x more IME, such as 3 & 4mm tinned face only bevel/hoof shapes).

For those that want simple, low cost plated tips + excellent performance, Ersa is currently the way to go IMHO (especially for those in the EU). In the case of cartridge tips, Pace's new AD200 will probably shake out to be the way to go for those outside of the US (Hakko FX-951 will be hard to beat here as a setback stand is included ~ $236 in terms of cost/features).
 

Offline labjr

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For those that want simple, low cost plated tips + excellent performance, Ersa is currently the way to go IMHO (especially for those in the EU). In the case of cartridge tips, Pace's new AD200 will probably shake out to be the way to go for those outside of the US (Hakko FX-951 will be hard to beat here as a setback stand is included ~ $236 in terms of cost/features).

I think the ADS200 will be hard to beat in the US market too. If TEquipment has a similar discount on the model with the setback stand, it may be under $245 US.  It's a 120W station. (FX-951 is 75w). Tips heat in half the time of FX-951. All tips will use the same handpiece so no need to buy extra irons. All metal construction.
 

Offline nanofrog

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For those that want simple, low cost plated tips + excellent performance, Ersa is currently the way to go IMHO (especially for those in the EU). In the case of cartridge tips, Pace's new AD200 will probably shake out to be the way to go for those outside of the US (Hakko FX-951 will be hard to beat here as a setback stand is included ~ $236 in terms of cost/features).

I think the ADS200 will be hard to beat in the US market too. If TEquipment has a similar discount on the model with the setback stand, it may be under $245 US.  It's a 120W station. (FX-951 is 75w). Tips heat in half the time of FX-951. All tips will use the same handpiece so no need to buy extra irons. All metal construction.
I suspect so, but am waiting to see what the street prices will be once they're readily available.  ;)

Performance wise, they do have an advantage over the Hakko. But keep in mind, it won't be noticeable for most tasks IME (it's the rare stuff that really sucks heat away that such stations can show off  >:D).

FWIW, I've found the 70 - 80W or so range tends to be the sweet spot for general purpose stations. I've noticed power has been increasing lately, but so has overshoot in order to reach those faster heating times.
 

Offline labjr

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I agree the power has been increasing. Soldering station wars seem to be good for the consumer. More features for less $$.

Maybe they should have the ability to edit ramp-up curves for delicate soldering. People who are used to old pencil irons can set it for like fifteen minutes.  :-DD   
 

Offline nanofrog

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I agree the power has been increasing. Soldering station wars seem to be good for the consumer. More features for less $$.

Maybe they should have the ability to edit ramp-up curves for delicate soldering. People who are used to old pencil irons can set it for like fifteen minutes.  :-DD
IIRC, Ersa's done this to some extent on the i-Con1/2/4 stations (no idea if this is available on either the Pico or Nano).
 


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