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Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

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bd139:
It takes 5 seconds to heat up from cold start as well. Thing just piles out heat when you need it. Just did a couple of SOIC ICs onto carrier boards.  Much nicer than the weller.

Ordering a brush and some kimwipes and I’m sorted :)

Mr. Scram:

--- Quote from: bd139 on June 29, 2018, 05:26:23 pm ---It takes 5 seconds to heat up from cold start as well. Thing just piles out heat when you need it. Just did a couple of SOIC ICs onto carrier boards.  Much nicer than the weller.

Ordering a brush and some kimwipes and I’m sorted :)

--- End quote ---
To be fair, your Weller isn't the most modern model.

bd139:
Indeed. This metcal was cheaper than the TCP is now as well.

Cerebus:

--- Quote from: Specmaster on June 29, 2018, 05:22:41 pm ---Looks good, can see why it's good on ground planes, it's got lots of metal so should have very good thermal clout when you need it. [emoji106]

--- End quote ---

The type of Metcal BD139 has picked up is a bit of a hybrid and operates slightly differently from the 'classic' Metcals. The principle on all the Metcals is to move the point of thermoregulation as close to the work as possible, they don't rely on thermal mass but speed of response. My SP200 takes tips like this:



which is 108mm long, 6.25mm wide and weighs all of 7.25 g and includes the entire heater, curie point thermostat mechanism, actual soldering tip and a two pin connector. It's 'only' rated at 30W, but the heating and regulation mechanism is concentrated in the last inch so that 30W is delivered to exactly where it is required. It pisses all over the conventional 50W temperature controlled iron I was using beforehand by a factor of two or three in terms of heat delivered into the workpiece.

The type BD139 has got separates out the (induction) heating coil into the hand-piece and uses a separate tip that still uses the curie point regulation mechanism. it isn't quite as fast to respond as the heat has to travel slightly further so it needs a bit more 'meat' to even the response out, but it's still much faster than any conventional temperature controlled iron.

The most comforting thing about the whole way Metcals work is that it's physically impossible for them to overshoot their temperature setpoint more than a tiny amount so there's much less risk of cooking the part you're working on. Since I've had the Metcal I haven't lifted a single pad in situations where my older iron would have destroyed the pad in short order but probably would have still failed to deliver enough useful heat to let me get the part off. I also get much less cooking flux into a brown mess when I have to dwell on a part to get it to flow properly.

bd139:
Exactly spot on.  I wasn’t expecting MX performance out of this, just a reliable item which is a big step up from normal irons for a price I’m willing to pay. It was this or the FX-951 at this price point.

The tips however are mostly hollow with a metal centre piece which slides into the induction coil when you change tip. The actual coil is about 5mm from the start of the tip which is pretty good. Good compromise for the price.

The dwell time is absolutely minimal which is the winning thing really. I whipped off some LT1097 in SOIC packages from an old HP scope board a few mins ago and they were barely warm to the touch. Took about 3 seconds per IC to get them off.

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