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| Measuring the temperature of a soldering iron tip |
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| sonpul:
To calibrate the induction soldering station, I use a thermocouple and Brymen and use a PT100 temperature sensor. Both methods give excellent, accurate, similar results. I make measurements in a small drop of solder on a wooden platform. |
| jonpaul:
use type K thermocouple #30 AWG Kynar or Téflon jacket. Must be welded,bead,type. Allow well tinned tip to stabilize in free,air, horizontal. Imerse TC bead on to center or tip, add solder, 63/37, eutectic NOT lead,free. after 60,sec read TC. Accurate and repeatable Jon |
| smbaker:
Okay, I have some results after finally receiving my "soldering iron temperate tester". I purchased one of the knock-offs of the FG-100. This tester is utter rubish. Poor build quality, some difficulty getting repeatable results, and thermocouples that fit loosely in the tester. It's what you expect from a < $20 knockoff. Instead, I switched to jonpaul's method of putting the iron horizontal and immersing the TC bead into a blob of solder on the tip. Doing this I received repeatable reliable measurements. At 370 degrees: * Pace with 1/64" conical tip: 354 degrees. * Hakko with factory (1/16" ?) wedge tip: 350 degrees * Hakko with aftermarket 1/64" conical tip: 298 degrees When I started this thread, I probably using the Hakko with that aftermarket tip as I had already set my mind on returning the Hakko. My original intent had been to compare the performance of the factory and aftermarket tips and although I have a Hakko 1/64" factory tip as well, I did not test it, as I did not want to open the package containing the tips. Scott |
| jonpaul:
Rebonjour Cher Monsieur SMBaker, Bravo pour votre efforts thermocouple. We have had consistent results on solder iron tips,as well as,solder pots,,for both leaded,,and RoHS solder since,15 years. We used Omega K TC, plugs,and cables, and Keithley and,Fluke types K TC meters. We calibrated the meters,and TCS with ice,bath and boiling water. Important to select a thin guage,TC,wire eg,#30AWG, and insulation rated for solder temps like Kynar, Téflon, etc. DIY TC must be welded or braised. We get very consistent tip temps.with both old Hakko 926, 936 and our 1992 Metcal SmartHeat SP-200 500 kHz solder stations with Metcal handles and tips. As we,have several of each type iron, we have both large,chisel tip and small cone tip irons on the bench. We use wet sponges to clean off dross and original Hakko and Metcal holders. Remarkably we,have yet to change a tip in decades....but we are doing bench work perhaps once a month nowadays..... Hope this mémoire is of interest Wishing you an absolutely fantastic weekend Jon pix one bench Tektronix scopes 7000 plug-ins, Yokogawa digital scope and in background the Hakko and Metcal irons.... |
| Arts:
--- Quote from: smbaker on March 04, 2023, 10:27:42 pm --- Agree on the Hakko having the worst interface of any piece of equipment on my bench. It's worse than programming a 1980's VCR. It's like some bean counter declared "you must reduce the cost of this product by one more nickel" and the engineer replied, "the only way I can shave off another nickel is to eliminate the down button", and the two-button interface was born. Who in their right mind wants to set each digit of the temperature individually? --- End quote --- Yes indeed, I couldn't agree more, it's a horrible system. I have an 888D (genuine) myself, but other than the user interface, I think it's a great little station. One thing to remember is that if you get your button-pushing wrong, you can end up in calibration mode re-setting everything, thinking you are just changing the temperature. Then, despite what the display says, your tip temperatures will be way off. I know this from personal experience, and it had me chasing my tail for an embarassing amount of time until I figured out what I'd done. The included instruction manual made no mention of this, and I only found that information when I downloaded the "complete" manual from the Hakko website. I believe (??) you can restore the unit to factory default calibration using that manual. Cheers, Art |
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