Inside a cheap Chinese Yihua soldering iron.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- A thorough look at the assembly of the generic Chinese soldering irons often supplied with thermally controlled soldering stations. These are a very refined design with lots of neat features in the assembly.
Whole soldering irons or their various components like heating elements and bits can be bought at staggeringly low prices online.
It's a bit galling that for the cost of one pack of spare bits for my older style mains Antex iron I can buy 30 or more replacement bits in a wider range of styles for these generic irons. I guess they must be considered a disposable item in the Chinese electronics manufacturing industry
It's worth noting that the soldering stations have a calibration facility on them to fine tune the thermocouples. If you inadvertently set the calibration to an extreme level and get distracted the iron can reach a red hot state!
I've not tested the iron at this stage due to waiting for my preferred style of bit (3mm chisel) and the disconcerting smell of hot transformer and surprising case temperature on the base unit! - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
As i understand, there are many different levels of satisfaction to this Yihua solder station. I have bought two, about two years ago. One was for the firm i worked for, and one for me.
I have used it for almost all my solder work to date and have never exchanged the heating element. haven't burned any tip, and have had it on for about an hour at a time. Never had any transformer smell or red hot glowing solder tip.
I have made some pretty beefy solderjoints with a large heatsink, allthough that required that i put the solder station to max waited so that i rebuilt the thermal capacity in the tip between the spots. So it was the max capability of the iron. but overall i have beed satisfied with it.
I have one Yihua 939D+, I use it for 3 years 7 days per week without any issue.
This is a very good option if you are in budget.
I have a Hakko FX-888D but I prefer the Yihua because it have 3 memory easy to reach.
Best Regards.
Just bought one and I'm impressed. Thanks for your unbiased reviews
Just took apart my hakko 936 iron, and it's exactly the same construction technique though they use wires with proper heat resistant coverings, and the bit has a small metal sleeve that fits snugly between it and the heating element for a bit better thermal transfer.
i got the 240v 50w irons with the same setup its been in use everyday for upto 10 hours at a time .. and it is still solid .
My friends and I use the same iron for a 120 Volt supply, (40 or 50 Watts?) with a tiny temperature control knob in the handle and a LED that indicates the power level that the temperature control is set for. They look identical using the same parts, a set of tips, no spare heater, all for $17 delivered. We all love them.
I also have a 12 Volt 50 Watt version that has a cigar lighter plug with no temperature control that works great in cars, which uses the same accessories. ($?)
They all heat up very quickly. All are from amazon.com over the last 5 years.
Well don't be shocked if the design is good, if it is indeed based off Hakko, which are Japanese soldering irons that probably are the best quality ones in the world. And this Chinese company Yihua is indeed a proper company, so there will be quality involved, it's not like an unbranded ripoff for example. I think Yihua is what most Chinese use, so for example in China they don't generally use the unbranded ripoff stuff that some naive foreigners waste their money on, in China they usually find a good Japanese or other foreign design, and have a legit Chinese company try to clone it at a decent level of quality, so the domestic Chinese workers can have a reliable product etc.
I nearly watched all of your videos but then I realized that I'm not your subscriber, congrats you have a new subscriber
I've had this soldering station for almost five years now and it has been working perfectly, I have never had a problem with it.
Mine is the same as all the basic 936 clones with a black plastic face and plastic knob to set the temperature, but mine says "W.E.P. 936 ® sol dering station," printed exactly with that space between "sol" and "dering." Perhaps a limited edition. I have no idea what could W.E.P. mean. But I can definitely recommend the station, it is great value.
I've also had an Antex XS25 for many years, The reason I got one was because that's the type we used at school so I thought it must be good and reliable, it has been. I only have trouble with the tip which I have to give a light file occasionally to keep solder sticking to it. I've never learnt soldering since school so it probably makes experts cringe knowing I do this but I get by fine doing this :)
+CrustyBiker Once you start filing the bit it tends to pit quite quickly. It might be worth getting some spare bits out of Maplin or online.
+CrustyBiker I always dip my tip in flux while hot and wipe it off on a wet sponge, seems to clean mine up pretty well.
+bigclivedotcom yeah sounds like a good idea, i think I must have had it almost 20 years and I never taken the tip off, let alone change it for a new one, :) ... I cannot even remember where I got it, it may have been from an old mail order company called Greenweld as I'm sure I didn't have Internet or know about marlin back then, ha! ..
Very good review. I have owned several cheap stations and if you truly need it to repair just a few joints or switches, then there is probably no reason to spend more, but these stations tend to fail out of the box or not produce a temp at the tip anywhere near what the dial reads. You will save yourself some headache and time by buying a proper Hakko or Weller station.
I have one of the cheap china ones that look like that, but are powered directly from mains, and have a temperature adjust pot in the handle. I'm actually quite happy with it's performance, it is my day-to-day go-to iron. I'm guessing it's a triac chopping off mains through a heating element...
For years I did field work and swore by my butane irons; however nowadays I'm a bench guy and a great soldering station makes all the difference.
It's good to know that this is usable to the point that you've made it a go-to device.
we have those antex irons in school!
hi Clive. Up until today, i had a maplin soldering station - precision gold A55KJ - looks exactly like the iron you dissected. Today, it tells me
" - 5 -E -" [without quotes] which, according to the manual is faulty element. trouble is, if i apply 19 volts at 1.6 amps to it, it heats enough to desolder the triac that should control the temperature to it - for testing - it too is fine. My question is - how can the unit detect the temperature of the iron - with pins 1+2 and 4+5 shorted out? [no thermocouple] I cant find a diagram for it anywhere and im not clever enough to reverse engineer it as its quite complex.
cheers in advance - Andy
Hello. For all solderers out there, you can get 5or 10 times more use out of your tips if you re-tin the tip right when it starts to turn a brownish color. I have found that a Sal Ammoniac Bar to work the best and they are not very expensive. First clean the brown deposit off the tip by wire brush, light sand paper, steel wool or whatever trips your trigger. Then I dig a small channel into the bar big enough for my tip to fit in and put a little solder into the channel. Then I lay my soldering gun flat on the bar into the channel with the solder in it and keep rotating it. It will not take long. In less than 2 minutes, you have a brand new soldering tip all tinned and ready to go.
Wait a minute I get the replaceable tip and heating element ,but how are you supposed to replace the heating element if the leads are soldered on ,do you have to get another soldering iron to solder on the element
hi clive love the vids , any ideas on a v cheap set up for plastic welding ? cheers for reading .
Did you ever get to take apart the base unit?
Hey big clive. I know it's been a while since this video was posted, but what is your current view on YIHUA (or Hakko) soldering stations? There are a few on Amazon and i'm considering to get one.
I'm still using my combined Yihua soldering iron and heat pen. I think they're absolutely fine for basic electronic work.
I just bought one of these Hakko "clones."
The hot air side works fine. the soldering iron side would start to heat up as soon as main power was switched on. when I turned the switch on for the iron the temperature displayed correctly but wouldn't stop heating until I turned the main switch off also there also was a loud hum coming from the transformer..
Opening up the case and traced the circuit and discovered 2 pins on the opamp were solder bridged. I replaced the opamp and triac . hooked it back up and all is well.
For $50 for the unit and $3 for the chips I'd say its a good deal.
Did you ever do a review of this soldering station? - if not, how is it?
Someone said you could take measurement with resistance to find out if it’s the soldering iron is that possible
I have a dual hot-air reflow plus soldering iron station. Some Chinese brand that I bought from a cellular repair shop down the road.
Same type of iron and it work beautifully.
They're crazy cheap. The only problem is the Schuko plug since I can't get a Schuko socket in South Africa.
(they sell cheap, plug-in 3A 'Schuko' adaptors for the un-earthed Chinese knock-off plug but not proper sockets)
How's the build quality, specifically, the plastic threads on the plastic/metal cover you start unscrewing at 03:31?
I'm asking because I've seen some 936/907 clones where those threads don't allow you to screw the tip cover properly (basically, they aren't strong enough to support the connection, they 'give out', and then you can (pretty much) keep turning the screw forever, without being able to tighten the cover properly).
You say "nice construction" at 05:34, but - is it? :)
I bought a "Hakko" 24V 50W Chinese soldering iron on eBay, it's exactly the same construction as this one. I want't to build a diy soldering station with a 24v 3A switching power supply but it's not enough. I measured the internal resistance of the heating element and it's 4 Ohm's, that means, this soldering iron requires 6 Amps witch is extreme for this little supply and it switches off. What can i do in this case to power it up? I need to buy a much bigger supply?
I would take a look inside that if i were you, some are down right dangerous, good luck with the heating element. Good videos though makes me smile at times.
Hi Clive! Did you come across the SH72 iron?
I totally agree with you that the best soldering iron bit to use is a 3mm chisel type. I have always preferred this style of bit as I find it better suited to various situations than the alternatives. I can't understand the obsession with finely pointed bits that the manufacturers seem to have. Given that you often have difficulty trying to find a 3mm chisel bit to buy and that I also found that the only bit not in stock at Farnell was the 3mm chisel bit, there's obviously quite a demand for this style of bit. Perhaps manufacturers should supply a small chisel bit as standard and suppliers should certainly maintain stock of such bits more efficiently. I use a Hakko-esque soldering station from Farnell which is obviously a Chinese copy with the same type of iron as in your video and I haven't had any problems with it in the year or so I've used it - plus the cost of replacement parts is a fraction of the cost of original Hakko parts!
***** For repair work, I too prefer the chisel tip however, I do a large volume of prototyping using 2mm pin pitch perforated boards. For getting dead on the spot accuracy without shorting the neighboring pins or it's pad, these sharp pointed tips are indispensable. I use them exclusively when doing this type of work. By the way, I own one of the Chinese made irons and it works really well. I'm highly impressed with it's performance vs price. A winner for sure.
Hi Big Clive, could you tell me which soldering station you have? I've got the Antex 660A and I was wondering if those cheap irons would fit. It's always good to have a spare iron, just in case...
Thanks a lot!
I'm not sure about the pinout or whether the Antex unit uses a thermistor or thermocouple. The cheap irons (referred to on eBay as soldering handles) usually have a thermocouple.
bigclivedotcom, thanks for tout answer. On second thoughts, I think I'll buy a Gaz or mains soldering iron as a spare and leave my station alone. I think it'll be safer!
Sure does look like the iron on my hakko 936. Though the original has much tighter tolerances between the tip and heater.
Please help I have one of those 907A soldering irons and it doesn’t seem like it’s heating up even though at the station at showing 400° is there a way to measure or find out if it is the soldering station or can you take a multimeter to that little circuit board inside that soldering iron to find out if it’s the soldering iron
+Chuck Schick It sounds like a sensor or wiring failure. Try a new iron first. They are often referred to as soldering handles on eBay. Make sure you get the version with the right connector.
Still have a couple of Antex irons, I agree with yuour comments about the bits. Plan on going for one of the import jobby soldering stations, probably a digital one, works out cheaper than a new Antex.
Keep the Antex irons for when you need a little extra mass for bigger joints.
Love my Yihua station.
I think your video has driven up the price on this station. But I love that little heat gun. I hate turning on my big heat gun fire small projects.
Good review thanks! Provided the thermocouple is well calibrated, what is the maximum temperature compatible with those iron tips?
The temperature I tend to use is around 350C. I'm not sure what is the maximum normal temperature, but I managed to get the bit glowing red hot while messing about with the calibration. Then the element itself failed shortly after.
bigclivedotcom I know this is an old post, but what do you need 350C for? That is really high for this style of iron. No disrespect intended but I'm very curious.
bain5872 I've traditionally used a thermally balanced iron that peaks at a heat of around 350 degrees. If I use a smaller iron with temperature control it seems slow to recover at the speed I normally solder. I guess the higher temperature is compensated for by my soldering speed. I was using a small iron yesterday to repair some illuminated props and it was capped at 300 degrees. It was annoyingly slow to use.
bigclivedotcom I understand now. Yes, there is but a few things more annoying than an iron with to low a thermal mass. Just no fun. Thanks for the reply.
Which base unit did you buy? I've been experiencing similar problems with Maplins soldering iron tips i.e. lack of them so could really do with an alternative. Also, have you ever noticed that Maplins carrier bags have a giant knob on them?
It's a Yihua 8786D. Right now it's in my bad books because it blew the element in the iron while it was heating up today. And I've found out why the internal transformer has a mysterious winding with an output of over 30 volts. It's overdriving the 24v iron element to make it heat faster and give a greater equivalent thermal mass. I'd say it's probably pushing the 50W element at near 100W!
bigclivedotcom Bugger that, then! Actually, I did a bit of Googling for the Yihua 8786D and it seems to be fitted with a 220 volt AC transformer as standard - could this be the reason why there's a burning transformer smell?
MegaWayneD That's what I was thinking myself. It seems odd to use a 220V transformer given that Europe theoretically standardised on 230V some time ago, and by using a 240V transformer it would handle the worst case scenario while still performing well at lower voltages. I plugged the unit in today and left it with the power on but the soldering iron and heatgun off, and it's passive draw was 6W and it remained cold. It must just be when the soldering iron is being used in earnest. That doesn't really fit with my traditional working environment where the iron is sitting on whenever I'm at the bench. At least the heatgun bit is good for doing heatshrink at low temperatures which is one of the reasons I bought it.
I got a 3 pack of the 2mm slanted tips for about £12
Is it possible to take multi meter and read the output of the four wires to see if The element is bad or the board of the soldiering handle is bad ... and what would the reading be on the four wires? The soldering station that I bought gave me a replacement element with the four wires but I don’t know if it’s the handle or the main unit that’s why am asking the question.
Chuck Schick My newest Chinese station comes with instructions for testing the iron with a ordinary ohmmeter. The element, needs to be one value, the sensor another, and the ground "pin" to soldering bit tip a third. Measure your spare element and compare to the iron. Values should be almost the same for the first two, and max 2 ohm for the grounding of the tip.
I can't get over the plug looks just like the ones use on a old Uniden CB radio. How Low of voltage is it?
+Paul Saville the plug has the 24V for the iron, the thermocouple connections and the ground.
Standard GX-16 plug&socket, 5-pin.
It was or is. Used on many CB and Ham radios. 35 years as an Ham..
Hey big c I've got 1 of these 825D+ with 80 w iron and air love it.
Mine has a hum when switched off so i unplug, better fix?
Only complaint other than that is iron cord is 2 short. I got multi colored silicon ins. wire(what they call it at least) Can i cut and extend the length or will that change something I'm unaware of?
+Vic Prk (Slick Vic) A longer cable may introduce too much voltage drop to the iron and reduce its rating.
Tks, just have to crank er up then eh.
Great video, very helpful, Thank you, Are these irons rated at 24 volts ? i applied 23 volts to one and it burned out the element in less than a minute !! I powered another with 16 volts AC and it has been working fine,,
They are rated for 24V, but only with thermal feedback control to limit the maximum temperature. To use them as a thermally balanced iron you need to use a lower voltage as you describe.
I'm staggeringly disappointed not to find out the outcome of the hot transformer smell! 👍
+Brian Edwards (Dino) I think it may just have been residual solvent, since the unit now behaves fine, albeit with a slight transformer buzz. It's actually become my main bench iron, mainly due to the usefulness of hot air pen.
+bigclivedotcom I've been looking at getting a soldering iron, to build a diy vape box mod kit. I'm a newcomer to your channel and not electrically experienced at all, yet find your content very fascinating although much of the terminology goes way over my head! Quite like the look of the 70s style battery iron you done the video for but looks quite hard to get a hold off in the UK.
+Brian Edwards (Dino) meant to add, for the first few days watching your channel, I was convinced that it was big C live dot com😀 Felt a right numpty when I noticed it was actually Clive 🙊🙈
+Brian Edwards (Dino) If you buy a basic iron from Maplin it should do the job, although I'd recommend something beefy like an Antex XS25. You could also consider one of their basic soldering stations which they sometimes have on offer.
+bigclivedotcom thanks for the advice! 😀👍
They are great, I have one..
i would get a 1mm chisel tip for that new iron.
Would like to extend the cable. Is the connector a 5 pin 270 degree plug?
+David Parry 5 pin 240 degree socket on the end of the irons lead. The base has a plug on it.
Be careful about resistance if you extend the lead, as it drops a modest voltage.
+bigclivedotcom Thanks BigClive, only need an extra couple of feet or so.
Only just found your vids about a month ago, really enjoy them, keep it up.
I ordered that iron without station very cheap and I will try to make my station for school ,will make something like 10 times amp with op amp to boost input from termocouple and make comparator with histeresis also with op amp add variable resistor and just conect output to a gate of a mosfet add a led and that will be it,also I have mains soldering iron that uses same handle and everything just changed circuit board with one that containg triac control and a pot for adjusting i keep the pot on lowest setting and works just fine very good iron. Do you know what type of termocouple it uses ?
+JOSIP Žlk I tried it on a K-type thermocouple unit and it showed the correct room temperature. So presumably a K type.
Ty
Does the air gap between the element and the tip matter that much?
Yes. It slows the response time.
Have you looked at any butane/gas fueled soldering iron? There normally pocket sized and are very handy as they don't require any wires.
+Lucas Solomon I've never really found a butane iron that solders well. Their temperature is very volatile. I keep one in my tool bag for emergencies only.
+bigclivedotcom OK I had only used one once and didn't know whether or not it was worth it to get one myself, when I used the one I used it had a few issues staying lit but other than that it worked fine. That makes sense though since it strictly based off of the flame and not regulated specifically for it.
+Lucas Solomon I have used a BernzOmatic butane soldering iron. i can say once you get them lit they don't go out very easy in fact i haven't had mine go out unless i turn it off. best part is not being tethered to any outlet or base. However that being said the exhust port on these require some practice so you don't burn yourself or whatever your working on. i feel they take awhile to heat and to cool. Plus i am unable to find a single ultra fine tip for surface mounting. So for my final opinion i would rate them as meh more of a novelty than a hard working iron.
+Lucas Solomon You'd be better off just getting a nice-ish battery powered one. They take forever to heat up and it's hard to control the temperature of the tip.
I have the same base unit you're talking about. You said you're not comfortable about it. Why is that? I couldn't make it out in the video?
Better yet you can make a video on it if you feel up to it!
+The Destroyer I'll be covering these irons again. Once you get used to their quirks and the fairly poor thermal coupling they are quite usable.
Why are there different types of tips? I've always just used the point ones like this but a few mates have said to swap to the flatter tips. What's your thoughts on this?
+Philip Downs Different tips have different applications. The standard pointed one is mainly for fine surface mount type components. I prefer a slightly larger and flatter bit to hold and transfer more heat.
Don't go by the temperature displayed on your soldering irons display, the Chinese units are notorious for being non calibrated. If the tip of the iron is clean and shiny and the solder is melting quickly when applied to it then it should be OK. If it's clean and shiny but the solder does not melt quickly when applied to it, try adjusting the heat up on the controls. There is a facility to calibrate the iron's temperature on the soldering stations, but it requires a suitable test unit that has a shaped thermocouple that you place the wetted soldering iron on.
+bigclivedotcom ah so the pointed tip would be better for the guitar parts I work with.
+bigclivedotcom 1-1/2 years how is it holding up?
+acklan3 It took a while to get round to actually using it, but it's not bad at all. I don't leave it on all the time I'm at my bench like I used to do with the Antex. So I'm not sure what the expected bit life is.
bigclivedotcom cool. Great channel look forward to the next video.
i would like to try less than 120 volts on a red soldering iron. maybe 60 - 80 volts.
I prefer the needle bits.
I Got this Yihua soldering station, after the fist try the heating element is broken, from where to get a replacement and how to do it?
You should contact your supplier and tell them that the element failed on the first use to see if they will replace it. You can get complete new irons for it quite cheaply on ebay, but make sure you check the plug type. Some have a plug on the lead and some have a socket. You can also change the element on its own by unscrewing the end of the iron, but ironically this involves a need to solder on the new elements wires.
bigclivedotcom
thanks for the help, i already contact the supplier, if they not gonna replace it i will get a new iron.
yep those are robust and nice to use when the station is roughly accurate in managing the temperature. nice old video 😉👍
Some to increase the thermal conductivity between the ceramic heater and the tip put off grit graphite or copper paste (as you know both solutions can transfer electric charge through the soldering tip) It is better to press a small amount of thermal paste used for the CPU - IMPORTANT that the paste does not conduct the charge electric, so it must NOT contain silver or other metallic ingredients in the composition!
Thanks to this, we eliminate the air gap between the ceramic heater and the tip and get better heat transfer to the tip.
The heating element is nonconductive ceramic, what's the problem with copper paste? Soldering iron temperatures are way above CPU temperatures, what makes you think that CPU paste doesn't go sideways when subjected to 200, 300 °C?
I just bought one on eBay for $13 including a desoldering pump and some solder and a screwdriver and a PCB tweezers and a stand and some flux (also its 60W) so far its going great but its not the greatest iron in the world but I'm still happy, the brand is stearnel
+Sony Trinitron try to change the tip. The tips differ a lot in quality. Some are very poor.
JackySixSeven I'm going to keep the tip since it works fine as it is but I will probably get a new tip once the tip on it starts to age, I'm thinking of getting a Weller tip but depends when the tip gets beyond its useful life as I've used it every couple of weeks and it is still as good as ever as I tin the tip.
I use it with a hakko pcb, it cost ~10$ on ebay. You only need a 24V~ transformer, and you have somthing good. All together ist cheaper than a tip for my expensiv station. With a good tip you can solder well. With a bad one you need much more heat and it takes all much longer.
+JackySixSeven I didn't realise they sold those. I've just bought one for closer inspection. I doubt they are real Hakko PCBs, mainly because they are available in both male and female output sockets. And also because they are very cheap.
I bought my PCB( I have 2 ) ~2 Years ago. I compared them with the photos I found. And Snapshoots i took of one of Daves Video. They looked absolout the sameas the original hakko, and I saw no difference. I compared them with the schematic of Hakko too, and I found no difference. The other 936(there are a lot names of it) use a different schematic, with different ICs. I have one of those too, but I don't use it because its no fun to use it, it has the other gender of the output socked.
I've been having issues with the soldering iron falling apart where it screws together with the plastic housing sleeve. Does anyone know where to get a good quality replacement iron?
£2 ebay?
are you saying buy more cheap ones? My question is asking for info on a affordable better quality replacement.
Seven5555 I don't know, but these irons are fine
Im sure the actual pronunciation is "yee whaa"
But "yeehu-ah" is good enough. Lol
My how times have changed as the tips for these on eBay are 10 for 50 US dollars.
Good video, would you have the link to heating element for hk soldering iron (yihua 936)? I broke mine.
+Nas Khan Do a search on eBay for your soldering iron brand. It may be easier to get the whole soldering iron, in which case make sure that you check if the listing if for a male plug or female socket version of the lead.
Clive makes my mouse click on Buy Now buttons. This time an actual, new, original Antex XS25 for only 20 quid popped up on my desk and I have no recollection of how it got there. Oh well.
Best used with a suitable "big spring style" stand. It's a very good iron. My primary iron for decades.
I just got a iron and it glows red is that normal as the solder will not run as iron is to hot
No. The iron should not glow red-hot. Your unit is either needing the iron temperature calibrated or is faulty. What does the display read?
bigclivedotcom not got a display, I am going to return it, got a photo of it glowing Thanks
Is this Antex ok for smd work
Most irons can be used for SMD work with care.
I have learnt to hate these Yhiua irons. I bought 2 one after another. After one use i now get the 5-E error.
On the digital irons look at my video about them and the very common and easy to fix fault
@@bigclivedotcom i knew you might have one. Looking now
So I found the video I think it is. I actually have the a blue soldering station that also died after a few uses. I ended up just putting into storage. I will try to use your video to fix it.
The latest iron is a Yihua 928D-iii.
I checked the continuity of the element and sensor, both are fine. It does seem to heat up, showing temp rising quickly, then showes the S-E error. Could it be an overheating issue?
Did you find a good video to fix error codes on replacement irons on cheap solder stations ?
In the end I bought a cheaper iron and re heated all the contact's. Which seemed to have worked.
who can tell me, how much voltage this heat element needs
24V but only as needed to reach the desired temperature.
If anyone is looking around to buy one of these be careful. Came across a UK seller on eBay that was advertising some units with a US plug but also asserting that it had a 220-240VAC input. After asking how they knew this to be true (these units are typically simple voltage specific transformers) their reply was, "we haven't had any complaints and have sold many of these units". o_0
edit: I am specifically talking about the family of 936/937 base units with just the soldering iron. I am unsure about the dual hot air gun units, perhaps those do have selectable input ranges (though I sort of doubt it).
+Leigh Robinson The Chinese plugs look very much like the American two pin plug, but their voltage is 220V. It may be that they have the Chinese plug in the picture. But it's always worth checking the voltage and earthing when you buy something like this.
Ah that is a good point. There wasn't a picture so much as they stated in the description that it had a "US plug" - they might very well be mistaken there and not on the unit ratings. It can be a bit of a lottery when buying this sort of stuff!
that plastic coupler between the metal and the plastic handle is very flimzy to say the least. Otherwise it's OK
You should go on ebay and search for those tips there You have better luck finding them There What about size you looking for.
1980's weller clones?
or 1990 ungar soldering
I’ll stick with my Weller tcp
Ya
darn, that soldering tip is really loose.
bergweg It is. I've seen others with springy shims to help make a better thermal contact, but I've been using this iron for a while now and it's actually OK.
bigclivedotcom Good to hear that, 'cause I'm looking for a station on eBay now, my ZD-937 is broken, I don't think I'll be able to replace the MCU atmel at89c2051 (don't have a suitable programmer and the firmware has to be extracted).
Have you looked inside your soldering station to see what kinda of MCU it has?
bergweg I've not. I did open it, but just to check it for safety bonding and general construction.
Some good stuff from China,insert Coronavirus jokes here...
So you need to get another soldering iron to replace the heating element? lol...
or you just ask the guy sitting next to you at the factory to borrow his and hope you both don't get in trouble for the 1% reduced output that hour.
No, you can buy the heating element itself.
+Andrew wood Ya, I guess you can buy the element, but the thing is soldered to the board so you can't replace it without another iron to make the connections.
+Graham R No, it means you start experimenting with arc soldering!
1:45 "makes a really strong smell of Hodkin's Formalin in use" ????? what???? Anybody?
+pignanelli I think he said "hot transformer". What kind of accent is that?
+pignanelli Sounds like Edinburgh to me.
+pignanelli Western Argentina.
There are three types of heating elements for those Chinese soldering irons A1321, A1322，A1323. The one in this video seems to be A1322（ceramic），you can also use A1323（metal & long-life），but not A1321.
Thanks!
I can't stand electric irons myself. once I used a good gas one there was no turning back.
i buy cheap chinese soldering iron and the filament broke after 10 min
I got one for 1.60
(American money)
5£!!! Those bits should be .5£
arunavadas1 Actually they should be free, especially for you!
well, i buy those @INR25
Sorry sir, you don't buy "those" @ INR25, you buy cheap copper bits, most probably Siron brand, which last 5 days on a production floor. They need to be filed after every 15-20 minutes of usage. For your information, the bits that come with these imported irons are called Long Life Bits, they are made of copper plated with nickel and iron (or maybe some other combination of metals) and they last very long, they don't need to be filed to keep them clean. I use them regularly, so I know what I am talking about. Even Siron brand has these long life bits which cost INR 75 each. I use these also regularly since I am into electronics production.
He is also having the same problem
I think you didn't watch the video... He sid those bits are expensive and burn out quickly
Wait you need to solder the soldering irons circuit board to repair it...but your soldering irons broken... Noooooooo
Don't bother with the cheap tips. Get some hako tips and you will have yourself a good iron.
heat transfer from heating element to tip is the key for all soldering irons, and this one fails big time. look inside the tip you ll see that sleeve pushed in but doesn't make tight connection only touches the tip at few points inside, the rest is air gap. now look how tight is the tip on the heating element, yes it is very loose, touching each other at few points not with a big surface. remove the ceramic white part around the heating element and the same here, the coil which producing the heat barely touches the ceramic part, loads of air gap.
so lets count how many air gap does this crappy iron has:
1, coil to ceramic part
2,ceramic part to sleeve
3, sleeve to tip
wow loads of air gap very low heat transfer. the heat sensor is near the coil, if there is any, sometimes there is only 2 wires coming from the solder station, in that case the resistance of the coil is measured, if higher the temp is higher. Anyway, the temp is not measured on the tip but for the heating element and therefore stabilized fir it. NOT FOR The TIP!
So if you set 350 C degrees eventually the tip will reach 350 C but when you start soldering tip temp will drop, and because there is loads of air gap from heat source the heat only goes to the tip very very slowly. Making soldering hard, frustrating or impossible. Works better at 450 C but many times even that fails to melt the solder on pcb.
Interesting thing that the wattage of the station doesnt really matter. If this iron would be powered with 500W station the heating element would get hot faster but because basically it is heat insulated with air gaps the tip temp would be the same slowly rising crap.
This thing is only good for melting plastic, hot glue, so you are not gonna make your good iron dirty.
If a chinese brand says power consumption is 100w actually mean 60-80w max (not that if higher wattage would help).
Even Weller wes51 is uncomperably better.
fifferfiffer This is the reason that I have refuse to buy such a soldering station. The manufacturing tolerances are a joke on this things. Also the tips, that you usually can find are not genuine so, sometimes you get lucky and the tips fit snugly but most of the times they won't. Cheers :)
The air gap merely delays the temperature correction by a couple seconds. Where you are going wrong is not understanding that when a heating element heats up INSIDE a tip, there is nowhere for the heat to go except into the tip. It is not THAT important to have an exact tip temperature, the iron can merely be set a few degrees higher if you need to keep up a productivity rate (same as with any iron).
You seem to lack a basic understanding of the design, obviously when you wrote "sometimes there is only two wires". That is a different tech which only controls how much of a fixed power level goes to an iron with no feedback to regulate temperature. This has temperature feedback and regulation. It is not great, depends on the tip used but it's "good enough" for all but those obsessed with numbers on paper. With any type of iron you have to calibrate it with the tip you're going to use if you are that picky.
Soldering with this is not hard, frustration, or impossible. Neither is soldering with the other type of iron that has no temp feedback. It's just slower with no temp feedback but in a non-production environment, you already spent more time complaining than the wait while using it (lol).
Is it the best station on the market? Of course not, but it's great for the price and anyone who can't solder well with one, without the problems you imagine, lacks soldering skills... not the station's fault.
However, the general consensus is that you'll enjoy soldering with it more if you ditch the Chinesium tips and get genuine Hakko 900M if not their newer generation T18. They wet better and have a nickle plating that's more temperature resistant and more uniform, BUT they are pretty pricey so most people opt for a full set of the generic tips and only their two most favorite as genuine hakko tips.
Someone good at soldering can get by with a nail and a candle if they have to. Don't blame the iron.
I've been using household aluminium foil wrapped carefully and tightly around the heating element to achieve a snug fit with the soldering bit. I've yet to encounter any downsides. *UPDATE:* After a few weeks, possibly months, the packing seized! All my tips I have prepared like that are now stuck tightly to the heater. Temperature conductance seems to be unimpeded, or may have become impeded unnoticeably (still better than rattling about inside), but I now can't exchange them anymore, so if I ever want to swap, I'll have to swap tip AND heating element.
Good idea. I wonder if some kind of heatsink paste would be even better
If you find one that survives any accidental temperature excursions beyond 400 °C, let me know. The super-cheap Chinese irons with the little dial can get glowing cherry-hot, starting at 580 °C. (Almost like they don't bother with a 220-V heating cartridges, and simply fit 110-V cartridges in all of them.) Aluminium melts at 660. Copper foil would be better, of course, melting at 1084, but that stuff is far less likely to be part of an average household.
I've had this soldering station for almost five years now and it has been working perfectly, I have never had a problem with it. Mine is the same as all the basic 936 clones with a black plastic face and plastic knob to set the temperature, but mine says "W.E.P. 936 ® sol dering station," printed exactly with that space between "sol" and "dering." Perhaps a limited edition. I have no idea what could W.E.P. mean. But I can definitely recommend the station, it is great value.
Cool