Lament for the death of my soldering iron (apologies to Jim Morrison)

[moid]

Sorry about the slow reply to all your great advice; it has been a dreadful week at work, so I haven't had much of a chance to go through the suggestions until today. It does look like the Hakko FX-888D seems to be the front runner from the positive opinions here and the videos I've been watching about it - I doubt I'll ever need presets but I guess it's potentially useful to have. The only downside is the cost (why do expensive things have to happen in January of all the months?). I got some Amazon vouchers for Christmas so I guess they're going on this instead of another reverb pedal

i think i paid 35 bucks for one of these off eBay: https://www.weller-tools.com/professional/USA/us/Weller+Consumer/Soldering+Irons/Stained+Glass+%26+Hobby+Applications/SL335
i am into simple and this is dead simple with replaceable parts. I've left it on (by accident!) for a day more than once with no ill effects (probably shortened the tip life)

I did look for this one thanks, but it costs the equivalent of $75 in the UK! Which seems ridiculous for something without any extra functions... I guess they charge more because it can be repaired? Although finding the parts over here is probably going to be hard.

[moid]

My vote is for the Hakko FX-888D.  My only regret after purchasing mine is not doing so sooner.  I've been using the same tip forever, and it's just everything I need in a soldering station.  No fuss and total control over temperature.

Buy from a legit seller—there are Chinese clones of these things, as there are many items these days.

Thanks for the warning,  I did see some cheap ones on Ebay... then watched some videos of how to spot the difference between the real thing and the fakes - I'll buy a new one via Amazon, so that should be fine.

[moid]

I'm just going to add a bit more inexpert observations  about my Hakko FX888D experience.  Is it useful to be able to change the temperature?  I have no idea.  I keep mine set at the default (which the display tells me is currently set to 750 Hakko USA soldering units).  I really only use the display to tell me when it is ready to use.

What has definitely been useful has been going from a cheap, low power, non-temperature-controlled iron to this.  Paul's gigantic soldering iron aside, I believe you can cause a lot more damage to electronics with an underpowered iron than you can with an overpowered iron.  My Hakko makes joints more quickly and effectively than my previous iron did.  I used to feel like I was torturing my circuits and hoping that they would endure it.  I feel much more confident now.

I did wonder about this - I have a smaller / low wattage iron I bought years ago because I assumed that too large an iron would fry the components, but it seemed to take ages to melt solder and I suspect contributed to a lot of busted components by me having to jam the tip against them for ages to get the solder to melt. Hot and fast seems to work better (that's what she said anyway)

[moid]

Mr Mojo Rising will get over the lack of lament for his johnson, btw.

Heh heh, I did wonder if anyone would get that rather obscure reference... well if you can't insinuate a smutty sense of humour when talking about hot iron rods, when can you do it?

Whoops I thought I had all the replies in one post, sorry if that upsets anyone. And thank you for the other suggestions from everyone, I'm going to rattle the piggy bank tomorrow and see how much falls out and then throw all my Christmas vouchers in the pile and get the Hakko. Thanks for your help and advice, it's greatly appreciated.

[Rob Strand]

Don't confuse the real Hakko with the rip-offs Huakko.  IIRC there was another rip-off like Hakakko? some years back.

[duck_arse]

well, time has come for me to let my weller go.

I'm looking at this iron from wavecom [they are cheaper through a popular auction site], and my questions are twofold:

has anyone here any experience with this iron?

and

the guff states "lead free" - there's no way I'm going without lead, will the iron know? will leaded solder affect it it some way?



https://www.wavecom.com.au/product_view.php?id_product=762

thanks for looking.

[bluebunny]

I suspect that the "lead free" tagline is much like "digital" on retail packaging for headphones.   

[stallik]

This is the iron that I use. Had it for a couple of years - really delighted. Picked up a second one in the Maplin closing down sale for peanuts thinking to keep it as a spare. Ended up shoving a bigger tip on and using both. The transformer boxes stack
Only issue I have is grabbing the wrong iron (usually when it's off)

Oh, and I use leaded solder and it's never noticed....

[anotherjim]

That looks remarkably like the PrecisionGold (Maplin) one I have. No problems really. Tip securing screw on the barrel comes loose occasionally.

[duck_arse]

it strikes me as interesting, for want of a better word, the small number of model numbers available to all those iron manufacturers. 936 and 937 are very popular. also - excellent news. will get onto that soonest.

[mwelch55]

Been using the Weller WES51 for about 8 years.  I built about 30 pedals and 7 tube amps.  Only changed the tip once.

[duck_arse]

my new wavecom arrived today. I haven't read the instuctions yet, but here is a picture of me trying it out, like I've seen others doing on the interwires .....




I already HATE the holder thing, which seems to have been designed for - well, something else. the iron just flops down in it, looks to be going to fall out at every opportunity.

and now a question - I've never had to think any further than weller #7 tip as far as setting a soldering temp, so, what is the right number of heat units to apply for ordinary 60/40 type solderings?

[bluebunny]

Nice work, mate.  You got a schematic for that?   

I already HATE the holder thing, which seems to have been designed for - well, something else. the iron just flops down in it, looks to be going to fall out at every opportunity.

I'm guessing it's grossly tail-heavy?  My recent Antex upgrade also forgoes the traditional FUNCTIONAL spring holder.  Instead, there's a metal clip hidden inside the stand to curtail the "flop".  It's not that secure and I've had to glue it in place.  Soooo... you're not missing a clip or summat?

[Slowpoke101]

I usually run my soldering stations at 340 degrees Celsius. Hot but not too hot.

The holder appears to be a copy of the original Hakko type and they didn't work that well either.
Bluebunny may be on the money here. See if there is a missing clip.

Just for interest's sake only, the Weller #7 tip runs at 370 degrees Celsius.

[stallik]

I have 2 of these units. Fitted with the same tip, they both have to be set to different temps to have the same effect. Don't know if it's the iron or the unit. Holder is slightly different on the newer unit - slightly worse than the first. They both feel like the iron is going to slip out yet they don't in my case. I put a bent metal box thing into the sponge holder to keep a silver scouring pad in place as I prefer those to the sponge

[willienillie]

That thing looks like the AC probe on an old VTVM I had, with a little tube in the tip.

[moid]

Hello everyone

A small update after all your excellent advice - I bought the Hakko station in the end and this week have a holiday (at home) so I've got it out of the box and managed to build a working* big muff pedal with it! It heats up really fast, and it doesn't lose heat while I'm using it. The display is great - I can see at a glance that the iron is on and how hot it is! I've swapped to a thinner tip than the one it came with which has been excellent for getting into tight spots, but I might try the original tip a bit more because I suspect I'd be able to apply heat to switch lugs and other larger components more effectively... or should I just run the thin tip at a slightly hotter temperature to compensate for the smaller surface area of the tip? The iron is on 350 degrees centigrade which I think is correct for lead solder.



* yeah, about that - the stock layout works well, but the mods I've made have some... personality issues... interested parties, or those that like to stand around and laugh may wish to repair to: https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=124228.0

[EBK]

My Hakko has a nice battle scar, by the way.

Dropped it from a height of about 1 meter onto a hard tile floor. In addition to that crack, the bottom plate broke into two pieces, and the switch popped out
I poked the switch back in (it locked right back into place) and cautiously tested it out.  Still works perfectly.   I've soldered over a hundred joints since the "accident". 

[duck_arse]

also an update - no, I don't think there is any steenking clips missing. I spent this afternoon hacking a bit of crappy pine into a fall-out gap filler, now it holds the iron, well, like a weller. good thing too, cause if the bloody thing had fallen out, my natural reaction would have been to grab it.

I'm not too keen on the tips for shape or heat transfer. I don't like conicals, never have. the screwdriver tips are shaped like screwdrivers - square across the tip instead of the double-flat [or chisel] conicals I've been wellering with this last 40 years. also, heat. too much? not enough?

hot enough for ya?

[moid]

My Hakko has a nice battle scar, by the way.

Dropped it from a height of about 1 meter onto a hard tile floor. In addition to that crack, the bottom plate broke into two pieces, and the switch popped out
I poked the switch back in (it locked right back into place) and cautiously tested it out.  Still works perfectly.   I've soldered over a hundred joints since the "accident".

Ouch! Still, very ruggedly handsome and quite dashing... make sure you refer to it as a duelling scar I suspect hot glue gun would hold that together? I'll make a note to myself that juggling Hakko base stations is not a pastime to become involved with.