OK Industries Equipment, such as MTR-5000-4000, BTR-1201 Ect.

[TD]

I came across some gear for free. I have an older friend with a son that's been in the military for some years now. Knowing I'm into working on Tech, He called me and ask me if I wanted some free equipment that he knew his son used for working on circuit boards. You know me I don't care what kind or age of free gear I'll take. What the worst that happens, I get some good parts, right?

I get there and he has some gear I don't recognize. I recognize the name Ok Industries from the Metcal gear I'm currently using. However, I have never seen or heard of the equipment in front of me. I take it to load it up and now it's at the shop.

What I got:
Modular solder hot air station = Ok Industries MTR 5001 Soldering / De-soldering MTR-5000
Desoldering Station               = OK Industries BTR-1201 with the handpiece
SMT Rework station               = OK INDUSTRIES MTR-3101

I got some other fun stuff as well.
However, this gear is what I'm a little confused about. Of course, the first thing I did was, you guessed it. (Take It Apart).
This equipment is very well built, great attention to detail, quality electronic & mechanical parts. I don't mean just, okay, this gear is some impressive engineering with build quality surpassing most current name brand Tech gear. The BTR-1201 has one of the best vacuum pumps I've seen in a (Self Contained) De-soldering station. I Measure the Vacuum and Flow. 26.3 - 26.9 in-Hg on average & CFM was around 3.8-4.3. This thing can suck a __________you know the rest .  All the other gear is very impressive as well for what it is!

My confusion:
With the quality and functionality of this gear. Why can't I find anything about this gear? I have found the same or similar units on eBay for sale. However, Finding Schematic, Manuals, Datasheet is proving to be difficult, to say the least. Review videos or just videos of anyone using or talking about this gear is no were to be found. Blogs, forum threads or just information, is very scares & for the most part nowhere to be found.

What's the deal? does everyone just hate this equipment or somthing? I find that hard to believe, just looking at the quality I would think this would be some of the best gear out there especially before the new iron & iron tip technology hit the market for hobby-grade equipment.
I even searched EEVblog for any info on the units I have and for any gear by OK Industries similar to mine. I believe I found one mention of it. I can't remember if that was in EEV or not though.

Questions:
Why is there no talk or info on this gear.?
Why is Service Manuals & User Manuals so hard or impossible to find?
Is anyone currently using this gear or have any experience or opinion on this gear?

Links of some of the same or similar gear selling on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OK-INDUSTRIES-MTR-5001-Mixed-Technology-ReWork-System/302709305957?epid=671933665&hash=item467ae17265:g:D3gAAOSwd9Za182v

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OK-Industries-BTR2000-SOLDERING-DESOLDERING-SYSTEM/291843812067?hash=item43f33f2ae3:g:QQgAAMXQIBBRBge5

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ok-Industries-BTR-1201-Desoldering-Station-w-DG-28110-Gun/233463708821?hash=item365b857c95:g:Gn4AAOSwjyZeG2Df

[AJ3G]

I can tell you that OK Industries is “top drawer”.  I owned some in the 90’s and it was very good stuff. I believe they were consumed by another company. I may be wrong, but thought it was METCAL.

[ResistorRob]

OK Industries made very high quality products. They were fairly popular when they were in production. I don't know the history, but remember seeing them in the late 80's and 90's. You don't see much talk about them because they went out of business, and the demand for 25 year old soldering equipment isn't there. Not sexy like an old oscilloscope. I loved their stuff back in the day, and still have a mint copy of their catalog from the early 90's, lol.

[Monkeh]

You don't see much talk about them because they went out of business

Uh, no, they're very much still in business..

[oPossum]

...and they acquired Metcal

https://www.okinternational.com/metcal

[AJ3G]

...and they acquired Metcal

https://www.okinternational.com/metcal

It appears as though I had it backwards.  OKI acquired  METCAL.  I remember when I owned OKI soldering tools/equipment, it was very expensive. I personally thought it was very good, and the station I had was awesome for the time.

Rich

[Gregg]

OK industries also made the good wire wrap guns, Kynar wire and tool kits for wire termination.  25 years ago every telephone company in the US used OK industries tools as they had jumped through the official telco hoops to become a preferred vendor with special pricing to the big customers while grossly inflating pricing to small buyers.  The super expensive replacement parts helped discourage employees from taking the wire wrap guns. 

[Jeff Sanchez]

Hi TD,
 I own and use this equipment. I have a lot of other equipment but this is my go-to everyday use. It by far is the best-built gear pound for pound! I say that cause this gear is heavy! Unfortunately, it's hard to come by the parts needed to keep it going. I have modified soldering tips for my desoldering gun and made things work over the years but it's all worth it. Back in the day, an MTR5000 could set you back 6,000.00 with accessories. I have an MTR5000 and 3000 complete with IR heat table and all the SMT hot air removal heads. I picked them up years ago for a few grand.

Also, I just took a look and have the full manual for the MTR3000 which is just a smaller version of the 5000. If you noticed these units were built modular which is great because you can find single soldering iron units for 50.00 or less on Ebay and remove the controller with faceplate and install them in your MTR unit. I have all the sales brochures I got from OKI at the time which features their full line of products and specs as well as two vhs videos from the factory. I am willing to answer any questions you might still have.

2/13/2022

Jeff Sanchez
ngmtech@gmail.com

[ilikewires]

Jeff, I have the same here, with 3 main OKI control boxes. Two of them were bought just to get handpiece parts.
Meanwhile, I wanted to use a modern T12 handpiece, so I reverse engineered the control box and designed some PC boards to create a replacement module. It is not done yet.
I also made a lot of measurements of the heater elements and temperature sensors for different handpieces.. to see what could swap. The specs are different enough that there are no direct replacements.
I have only used the machine for hot air pencil and hot air tool for a few decades.. I have no other working handpieces.
I have a regular iron that is missing parts that I will never find.
And ultimately, I want to cobble in a desoldering tool into the machine as well.. oh, the dream.. 3 functions running in an OK industries chassis.
BTW, I would love to have your manuals.
I can scan my hand sketches and send them FWIW.

[ilikewires]

Wow.. hope someone is actually checking this post.. I was able to get a Hakko FX-8801 iron to operate on an MTR-5000 base with a VVM-1 module.. in place of the original SAI-690 iron.
It is not calibrated, no doubt the temperatures are not quite right. I cannot measure tip temp, so go by feel. Maybe someone good at this can do it and post the results??
The connector that is needed is a Conxall 6282-6PG-3DC. The pinout is hard to describe without pin numbers, so email me and I will scan my notes and sketch of how.
The FX-8801 is not the greatest iron in the world, but is a LOT better than Yihua and not as good as a T12.. but it lets the MTR live again!
I plan to put two irons on the machine with a hot air pencil and live like it's 1999..

[kbrill]

I have the operation manual for the MTR-4000/MTR-5000

Its 39 pages and if you still need it contact me and I will scan it for you

Regarding OK wire wrap tools their tips where good however the Gardner Denver guns  were more compact and better
balanced

Ken

[ilikewires]

Sending pictures of the proper wiring to connect a Hakko FX-8801 iron to an MTR station.
This picture is the wiring into the back of the connector with the key slot rotated up.

[ilikewires]

This view is rotated 180 with the key down.

[ilikewires]

And this is the front of the connector with the key up.
If you cut off the Hakko connector, and add this connector, then plug it into an SAI connector on the MTR. You will have a working iron.

[kbrill]

User manual & higher res copy of schematic pages

[kbrill]

will not permit upload of OK MTR 4000 & 5000 operations & user manual as file size too large

Have just scanned this large document and do not have software to reduce file size or time to re-scan .

anyone needing a copy send me a message with your email address &  I will send it to you

[ilikewires]

That is awesome, thanks..
I will scan my hand drawn PCB schematics.. if anyone modifies the temperature sensor circuit, it is a great place to start.
And I will PM you a file drop folder so that you can upload the monster..
Next, a desoldering iron!

[vouager]

Hello guys,
Thanks to Google I just found this great thread and had to get registered immediately.

I have had an OK INDUSTRIES MTR-2000 for about 10 years, laying around in the attic, that I just want to start using again.

Back in the days i got it as a present, but I only received the device by itself without any iron.
Can you guys recommend me a good soldering iron? What do I have to look out for, when buying one? Voltage, positioning of the pins on connector.

It would be great, if someone could send documentation, a circuit diagram or any pictures?

As far as I know, each module of MTR-3000 4000 und 5000 Series should be compatible with each other.

I would appreciate it very much, if I could get a circuit Diagram .

Thanks,
Regards

[ilikewires]

First a post with some schematics, hand sketched, on the MTR system. They are fairly chaotic, I sketched as I went..

[ilikewires]

And next, a post that shows how I wired up a Hakko FX-8801 iron to an MTR.. you add a connector to the iron as mentioned above, and then change one resistor in the control module. Assuming that you are wired to the top section of a VVM-1 module (there are two controls per module), change R27 to 4.99K. You may as well change both upper and lower.. you will never find a complete and working SAI iron!

[vouager]

Hello,
Many thanks for these valuable scans!
Tomorrow my MTR will be on the surgical table, let's see what comes out! 

[ilikewires]

You can still buy the MTRs on Ebay, but buying a tool to connect to it is almost hopeless.. now that we can use the FX-8801, that is some progress. I kept mine on the bench for almost two decades just to use the hot air pencil! Now it does two things. I am going to keep trying, my next step is to get a desoldering iron to work on one.
If we can keep finding ways to connect new irons, the old girls suddenly become useful!

[vouager]

Yesterday I saw somewhere on the internet a SAI-690 connected to Metcal Lotstation and it was offered by which company for sale!
So I'm wondering, If SAI-690 works with Metcal Soldering Station it must work and work around!
Or?

Unfortunately, I can't find the link right now.

[vouager]

But today everything is not so bad!

I was flushing  my memories back once and a lightbulb lit up  and I ran in the basement!
And after 10 min search voila  !!
Check out the pictures below! 





Now I need info what is this soldering iron for? For desoldering or can I swap the tip and use it as a normal soldering iron?

And above all, I need the right pinout from the connector!

Could these plugs fit? Maybe I can mount a suitable pin for air.
https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2339443.pdf

(Back then, some idiot was lazy to buy new ones and simply gave up on these soldering irons, even though they are working!)

[ilikewires]

@voager, the hot air pencil SHP-1060, has a special air tube in the center, and the tubing around the wire acts as the channel for the air. The connector was probably made special for that. The company for the connector is listed above. Attaching pictures separately because of size.