Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Quick diversion into soldering ... Referring to my comment about soldering irons in this thread in December 2017 I decided to have a look at new ones again due to some major annoyances.

Honestly I'm not that happy with the T12. I had to do too much frigging around with it to get anywhere and the handle is dicky already. Plus it takes bloody forever to get on the slow boat from China whenever it does go wrong which means I have to have two on hand. Plus the three stands I tried were shit. And my Quicko unit doesn't allow me to cal due to a software bug. All I want to do is solder shit!

Ergo it was back to the Weller for a bit. Which isn't bad but has some problems hitting ground planes hard due to the new tip styles which is a bugger as I do a lot of work on ground planes. Also due to magnastat everything stuck to the iron like glue like component leads and SMD parts. Where did the 0805 go? Oh it's stuck half way up the iron. And the last straw: Last week I bought a lower temperature chisel tip for the Weller, a and found that the thing won't fit in the handpiece due to the tip being too wide at the top. The shank won't screw up. Genuine Weller 4PTA6-1 tip from RS. Fuck it had enough.

So reviews were consulted, information collated (thanks to this forum) and a spreadsheet knocked up and ranked.

One new Metcal SP900 arriving tomorrow 

Not as good as the MX but more cost effective for low volume and repairs.

The SFV tips are less expensive for sure, but I haven't seen enough feedback on them as to how they compare to MX series tips. It's pretty clear they've redesigned to eliminate clonage, and at the lower price point there should be less incentive for them to clone for a while. I look forward to your review of this budget-priced Smart-Heat station.


Please remember that I said that the clone T12 gives you "80% of the Hakko at 20% of the cost"... and the quality of the handle/tips are most of that 20% you don't get. Having used genuine Hakko, I can tell you there is no comparison in the quality between the two; the Hakko genuine handle is easily exponentially better in overall quality, as are the tips. That's why I recommended, if you're going to use it constantly, to invest in genuine Hakko for the tips you use most, and if you really need the best, go with a genuine Hakko (I think they no longer have the FX-9501, you'd have to go with the FM-2028 instead) handle as well. You'll find even the cheap handles make much more reliable contact with the genuine Hakko tips because their contact rings are much more precisely manufactured.




For you folks having trouble with the strain relief wiggling loose; I had that problem on one of my handles. I applied a little silicone RTV sealant as shown in the above pic.




Also, on the genuine Hakko handle, the socket is actually attached to the cable with a crimp ring; using a tiny zip tie doesn't work right and it all tends to jam up inside the handle. You are SUPPOSED to be able to unscrew the handle apart and everything inside is loose enough to just push out by pushing on the cable, or to pull out along with the tip.

If you attach the cable to the socket using several wraps of thin copper wire (I just stripped about a foot of Cat5 cable for the wire - use solid-core Cat5 cable, not ultra-flex stranded) and either twist and nip short (or if you're feeling froggy you can spot-solder like I did here, but you have to be super-quick or it'll melt the tab on the socket). I also put a small rubber o-ring between the socket and the spacer that goes into the threaded part of the grip as seen here; this reduces the endplay of the socket quite nicely.




And finally... in case you didn't know... there's a right and a wrong way to assemble the handle. There's a slot in the side of the socket which needs to align with this little pip on the handle; when you do, it all just slips in together easy as biscuits & gravy. When you don't you have to jam it all in and then the socket doesn't make good contact because it's jammed crooked and it can't float to equalize the spring tension. Once that's in, I drop in my o-ring, make sure it's flat, then screw together the rest of the parts of the grip.

Remember... these parts ARE a clone of the real Hakko handle... and while they might not be great quality, the did generally clone EVERYTHING, even if they and their vendors didn't fully understand all the features they were cloning.

I've made several of these clone handles that absolutely work as well as a real Hakko handle, as long as you use them with a real Hakko tip or an especially well-made clone tip with good, true/concentric slip rings. If you want to see what I'm talking about, just chuck one up finger tight in your drill from the business end, then run the drill and see how the slip ring area wobbles/doesn't run true. A genuine Hakko tip is almost as true/concentric as a drill rod.


Hope this little slideshow helps somebody else make their clone T12 work a little better, and be a little more of a keeper!


mnem
*Solder-ify*

[mnementh]

[Random Repair Corner]




Currently building a new screen/frame for my phone; I cracked it a couple weeks ago at the junkyard and have been using it with an old SamSuck screen protector on as a band-aid while I wait for a replacement.

Discovered after I received it that this manufacturer doesn't include the uber-gooey adhesive seal on the screen/LCD like pretty much EVERYBODY does; so I could either order and wait for a roll of generic sealant tape, or try manually applying silicone RTV sealant and letting it cure overnight. Luckily I had a donor phone for the chassis, so my phone will not be out of service.

The funny looking clippies are from the garden section of the local Dollar Store; they're meant to hold vines and such to trellises or stakes without injuring them. You get like a dozen of 'em for a buck, and they're perfect for jobs like this where you need a zillion little fingers to gently pinch all around the edge of something.

[/Random Repair Corner]


mnem
Life is messy; bring a sponge.

[bd139]

Thanks for the detailed T12 notes. The contact problem I have appears to be contact quality issue. They wear pretty quick. I suspect that’s due to the contact leaves being made of chinesium.

I use the same clips for holding tarp on the big hole in my fence where someone kicked a pikey sized hole in it. They’re pretty good. Don’t leave them in the sun though; they go brittle and if you even look at them funny they explode.

Had a weird TEA related dream this morning commencing at around 4AM which was no doubt triggered by random consumption of cheese or the associated wine last night. Was totally convinced I was responsible for the North Korean national standards lab and was in charge of “the people’s volt” and “the people’s ohm”. Weird one that.

[Specmaster]

I've had a couple of tips fail in the contact area and as far as I can see the problem is in the alignment and fit of the contact rings and the fact that the join is only a press fit and I suspect that the genuine Hakko ones may be welded at the seam?

If the contacts are not correctly aligned then after being inserted and extracted a few times in the handle, the rings split open and then they catch on the contacts and the rest is history. I have yet to find any genuine Hakko tips to try and see if that is infact the problem but thats my opinion for whats it worth.

[Specmaster]

On my 9501 handles I don't have the little pip on the body, but there is only 1 slot on the contact assembly and so sliding it back into body and slowly rotating it will locate the spline in the body and that indicates the correct alignment and the assembly just slides down the spline with ease and then the retaining top part can be screwed back in place and the jobs done.

[bd139]

Same with mine. Nubbin free but has a slot.

[mnementh]

Hmmm all of the dozen or so I've built now had the little pip... sometimes very faint so it looks like a molding slub, but still there.




In other news, not entirely pleased with my repaired  phone screen. Clearly not Gorilla glass like the original; I scratched the sh** out of one corner just polishing the silicone residue clean.

grr.

However, this is the downside to buying the $129 smartphone from Best Butt; you can't get parts anywhere but 3rd party. Maybe a screen protector will hide it.


mnem
*Back out into the suck*

[bd139]

Gah that would annoy the shit out of me.

Waiting for my new soldering iron still. PF usually turn up before 10AM here but it’s 16:24 now

[Specmaster]

Hmmm all of the dozen or so I've built now had the little pip... sometimes very faint so it looks like a molding slub, but still there.




In other news, not entirely pleased with my repaired  phone screen. Clearly not Gorilla glass like the original; I scratched the sh** out of one corner just polishing the silicone residue clean.

grr.

However, this is the downside to buying the $129 smartphone from Best Butt; you can't get parts anywhere but 3rd party. Maybe a screen protector will hide it.


mnem
*Back out into the suck*

Nothing new there then, I don't think you can get genuine parts from anywhere because they don't want us to repair our own gear do they. Apple even call them counterfeit parts that are taken from broken phones.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[Specmaster]

Gah that would annoy the shit out of me.

Waiting for my new soldering iron still. PF usually turn up before 10AM here but it’s 16:24 now

Oops sorry I meant to tell you, its coming to me now.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[mnementh]

I've had a couple of tips fail in the contact area and as far as I can see the problem is in the alignment and fit of the contact rings and the fact that the join is only a press fit and I suspect that the genuine Hakko ones may be welded at the seam?

If the contacts are not correctly aligned then after being inserted and extracted a few times in the handle, the rings split open and then they catch on the contacts and the rest is history. I have yet to find any genuine Hakko tips to try and see if that is in fact the problem but thats my opinion for whats it worth.

You won't "find" genuine Hakko on fleaBay as everything there is clone crap; just like SanDisk flash memory, if it's on eBay and it's genuine, it got there by accident.

You'll have to buy from an authorized reseller, and then still beware. Hakko DOES have a store on Amazon.



This is what their current "small shop" offering looks like. They appear to have greatly cut back their T12 series tips in favor of their T15 series, and the FX-951 now ships with the FM-2027 instead of FM-2028 handle. I think the difference is in how they apply "ESD-safe" to the instrument; the T12 & T15 tips are mechanically interchangeable.

The FX-951 still appears to have the same horrible firmware/UI that is geared towards keeping (l)users from changing temp on an assembly line as opposed to being user-friendly for repair work. 


mnem
*Back out into the xuck*

[Cerebus]

Gah that would annoy the shit out of me.

Waiting for my new soldering iron still. PF usually turn up before 10AM here but it’s 16:24 now

It being Friday they're waiting until 15 minutes after Beer O'Clock.

That's the downside of working from home, there's nobody to say "Sod it! Are you coming down the pub?" to you at 16:45 on a Friday. You can say it to yourself, but it's not quite the same thing skivving off without aiders and abettors.

[bd139]

Hahaha. It arrived. It’s fucking amazing. The first thing I threw it at was an oxidised brown chunk of Fr4 out of the scrap box and it went “whatever dude” and allows me to drop solder bungs on it instantly. Playing with some stripboard and some 0805’s now.

[bd139]

Mini review. I will do a proper one later.

Box - brown, cardboard, boring.



Out of the box



Feels good, even in my manky mit



Comparison to T12 / 9501. It's actually nicer to hold due to the indent in the shaft.



Quick test



Happy so far

Weller going on ebay on Sunday. Boxed with all accessories and some spare tips and sponges so hopefully it'll pay for half the Metcal at least

[Mr. Scram]

Those are some chunky fillets!

How's the business venture going? Not having a lot of luck or simply missing us too much?

[bd139]

It's on stripboard so goes with the territory. No soldermask   (also they were the first three joints i did with a new iron so ...). Excuses excuses

Thanks for asking ... About 60% complete now and on schedule. Lots of pauses while we wait for other people to do things though which always worries me as I'm a control freak. Also this week sodding credit card stopped working due to VISA problem so AWS billing failed 

[Mr. Scram]

It's on stripboard so goes with the territory. No soldermask   (also they were the first three joints i did with a new iron so ...). Excuses excuses

Thanks for asking ... About 60% complete now and on schedule. Lots of pauses while we wait for other people to do things though which always worries me as I'm a control freak. Also this week sodding credit card stopped working due to VISA problem so AWS billing failed 

Have you tried updating the VISA drivers?

Good to hear things are moving along. I feared things may had gone awry, considering the recent post density on here.

[Cerebus]

Feels good, even in my manky mit

Either you've got really small hands or that hand-piece is quite a bit chunkier than the ones that don't have a seperate coil assembly. My MFR-H6-SSC hand-piece looks a lot smaller in my hand that that does and I've relatively small hands (glove size 7 1/2).

[bd139]

It’s a lot chunkier than the MX hand pieces for sure. My hands are quite big. It’s easy to handle though. Bear in mind I come from a TCP background which is like soldering with a chair leg. I’ll do a side by side with that after dinner.

[Specmaster]

Mini review. I will do a proper one later.

Box - brown, cardboard, boring.



Out of the box



Feels good, even in my manky mit



Comparison to T12 / 9501. It's actually nicer to hold due to the indent in the shaft.



Quick test



Happy so far

Weller going on ebay on Sunday. Boxed with all accessories and some spare tips and sponges so hopefully it'll pay for half the Metcal at least

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]

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[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]

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

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]

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]

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.