[HN Gopher] Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable sold...
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Show HN: iFixit created a new USB-C, repairable soldering system
After years of making screwdrivers and teaching people to repair
electronics, we just made our first electronic tool. It's been a
journey for us to build while hewing to our repairable principles.
We're really excited about it. It's a USB-C powered soldering iron
and smart battery power hub. Super repairable, of course. Our goal
is to make soldering so easy everyone can do it:
https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub We didn't want to make just another
iron, so we spent years sweating the details and crafting something
that met our exacting standards. This is a high-performance iron:
it can output 100W of heat, gets to soldering temperature in under
5 seconds, and automatically cools off when you set it down. The
accelerometer detects when you pick it up and heats it back up.
Keeping the iron at a lower temperature while you're not soldering
shouold prolong the life of the tip. What's the difference between
this iron and other USB-C irons on the market? Here's a quick list:
Higher power (our Smart Iron is 100W, competitors max out at 60W
over USB-C, 88W over DC Supply) Heat-resistant storage cap (you
just have to try this out, it's a real game changer in day-to-day
use) Polished user experience A warranty and a local company to
talk to (I can't find any contact information for Miniware)
Comfier / more natural grip Shorter soldering tip length No-
tangle, heat-resistant cable Locking ring on the cable, so it
can't snag and get disconnected (this happens to me all the time on
other irons) More intuitive settings, either on the Power Station
or on the computer We used Web Serial https://caniuse.com/web-
serial for the interface, which is only supported in Chromium
browsers. The biggest bummer with that is that no mobile browsers
support it, yet. Hopefully that changes soon. Hardware is hard!
It's been a journey for us. Happy to answer any questions about how
we made it. Schematics and repair information are online here:
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/FixHub_Portable_Soldering_Stat...
Author : kwiens
Score : 612 points
Date : 2024-09-12 15:18 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (hackaday.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (hackaday.com)
| sdflhasjd wrote:
| What happens if you plug in headphones into the 3.5mm jack?
| kwiens wrote:
| Hmm... none of my headphone plugs will fit down the barrel!
| ramon156 wrote:
| Watch me!
| Kirby64 wrote:
| If you could actually fit something in there, you get your
| reward of a destroyed pair of headphones I assume. Or maybe it
| won't sense a thermistor and nothing will happen. I'd assume
| without a thermistor it won't actually function (although you
| could probably trick it)
| throwaway74354 wrote:
| You'll be able to know for sure, whether headphone burn-in is a
| placebo or not.
| varispeed wrote:
| I am sure the tracks it plays are fire...
| lloydatkinson wrote:
| I am definetly interested to hear how this performs versus
| industry standards like Weller and the like!
| kwiens wrote:
| Here are some other reviews! We'll be shipping on October 15
| and you can try it out for yourself.
|
| https://www.pcmag.com/news/ifixit-new-soldering-iron-power-s...
|
| https://www.tomshardware.com/maker-stem/ifixit-fixhub-portab...
|
| https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/12/24242497/ifixit-fixhub-us...
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30LOTlQ3Cc8
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IRP2LCswHs
| bebna wrote:
| don't see what tips are compatible or will be on offer. Shame
| that I can't control it on the pen.
| wildzzz wrote:
| Looks like it only takes their proprietary tip design (never
| seen one using a 3.5mm jack) but they don't have any others for
| sale yet. There are at least a few different tip designs out
| there already that don't require tools to replace (Metcal for
| example) so why not just do that? Unless someone comes out with
| an adapter, I can't use any of the tips I already own and would
| need to rely on iFixit for replacements.
|
| Also, can you safely put 100W through a headphone jack? The
| ones I can find on Digikey that list a power rating seem to max
| out at 75W but most are well below that. Headphone jacks aren't
| exactly meant for high power, there is only a small amount of
| contact between the terminals since there's very little power
| required for line audio. Obviously big speakers require more
| power but those use things like XLR, RCA, and wire posts that
| provide way more contact.
|
| Adding to this, I don't want to use their Chrome-only web app
| to configure it. Is this thing actually a serial device or is
| it something that only Chrome can talk to? If the former, just
| make it an Electron app if you want to be lazy. Can I still run
| the web app locally if iFixit decides to stop hosting it?
|
| iFixit acts like they are all for open hardware and then go
| make something that uses proprietary tips and a (likely) closed
| source web app. I'm glad I could repair it if necessary but
| seems like a step back from a cheap solder station from Amazon
| that has a control panel and takes Hakko tips.
| Kirby64 wrote:
| Literally all the cheap soldering irons (Miniware
| TS80/100/etc, Pinecil) use a 3.5mm jack for their tips. These
| look incompatible, though, with those designs, which is a
| shame.
| wildzzz wrote:
| The Pinecil nor TS100 definitely do not take 3.5mm jack
| tips but I see that the TS80 does. Thanks, never seen that
| before. I still don't trust putting 100W through it though!
| jsheard wrote:
| Unfortunate that they didn't make it compatible with genuine
| Hakko or JBC tips like many of the no-name knock-off soldering
| stations are, but I suppose being based in the US they might be
| wary of violating the design patents of those companies.
|
| Anyway it's good to have an option that's cheaper than the big
| names but presumably built to a higher standard than an
| AliExpress special, and has an actual warranty and safety
| certifications.
| kwiens wrote:
| We'll have a range of tips. Hitting the high performance we
| wanted, with 100 Watt output in a small iron, required really
| optimizing the entire system. The heating element and
| temperature sensor are in the tip itself.
|
| We really see JBC as our competition here. Performance and
| responsiveness should be comparable or better, at a fraction of
| the price.
| omgtehlion wrote:
| Where can I buy these cartridges? For JBC we have official
| catalogue, local retailers, aliexpress, and secondary market
| full of any tip I might need.
|
| What kind of tips do you plan producing for the fixhub?
|
| P.S.: all JBC stands (genuine and most of knock-offs) have
| really comfortable holder with detents to change cartridges
| on-handed on the fly. Do you plan any such features? I do not
| see any steps or hooks on a tip.
| kwiens wrote:
| Good questions!
|
| Tips we'll have at launch: Cone, Bevel 1.5, Wedge 1.5,
| Point, Bevel 2.6, Knife 2.5, Knife 1.4.
|
| They'll be on sale in our store on October 15.
| https://www.ifixit.com/Tools/Soldering_and_Wiring
|
| We will also be selling a complete line of replacement
| parts.
|
| I'm working right now on our distribution partners, but
| we'll have a variety of local and online distributors who
| you can also buy the system through.
|
| Rather than designing it to change tips on the fly, we set
| up the Power Station to handle two irons, with two USB
| ports and a mounting socket on both sides.
| omgtehlion wrote:
| Nice! Thanks, these seems to be the most popular types.
| Do your bevel tips have a dimple in the middle? It is
| very useful to contain a drop of solder even when
| dragging the tip over flat surfaces.
|
| > we set up the Power Station to handle two irons
|
| Having two handles is useful sometimes, but quick
| changing tips are a game-changer even for double jbc
| stations )
| cruffle_duffle wrote:
| I was gonna point out the same thing as the parent about the
| tips but figured that what you said must be true. Those
| existing tips were meant for specific power and whatnot...
| y'all needed to do your own thing to meet your higher,
| different specifications.
| tdeck wrote:
| I would be surprised if TS100 style tips couldn't do that
| power output. Folks have gotten the Pinceil to 140W with
| the right power supply.
| omgtehlion wrote:
| These 140w are peak power, only in specific cases. To
| have useful power at all times you need to perfectly
| match supply voltage to i-v curve of your tip. Which
| pinecil (due to its schematic) cannot do.
| tdeck wrote:
| That makes sense, thanks for the response!
| Kirby64 wrote:
| The heating element and temperature sensor are also in the
| tips themselves in both Pinecil and the Miniware TS80/TS100
| designs. Every modern 'commercial' soldering iron (Hakko T12
| line, JBC, many others) has moved this way too.
| auxym wrote:
| Same, the first thing I looked for is what tip it uses.
|
| I want to like the miniware, pine, etc irons, but I'd really
| like being able to buy T15 tips from my local electronics
| supplier, who carries Hakko.
|
| If the product isn't sucessful and/or ifixit stops producing
| tips for whatever reason, a perfectly good iron is effectively
| bricked.
| 6SixTy wrote:
| Even compatibility with TS100/Pinecil V2 tips would be better.
| TS100 is meant to be open source, and the Pinecil V2 tips are
| just shorter with a different resistance.
| quitit wrote:
| I am interested to know its repairability score.
| kwiens wrote:
| We are, too! It didn't seem fair for us to rate it ourselves.
| Hackaday took theirs apart and seemed to like it.
|
| We're posting full service information and schematics here:
| https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iFixit_Soldering
|
| We'll be selling spare parts starting October 15.
| nightpool wrote:
| I hear https://github.com/google/web-serial-polyfill gets used a
| fair amount on Android devices, so that might be one road you
| could go down. Additionally, I can't imagine it would be _that_
| hard would it be to build a mobile app that could provide a
| WebSerial interface to a friendly webview of your choosing. You
| 'd need the user to download an app, but then you could use the
| same code for both web and app versions.
| scottbez1 wrote:
| Oh interesting, I'll have to try that polyfill - I've been
| using web serial for all my projects lately because I hate
| users having to install anything, but Android has been an
| annoying gap.
| mschuster91 wrote:
| > but Android has been an annoying gap
|
| If I were to guess - the issue is that many phone basebands
| appear (at least) as a serial device, and we all know from
| late 90s/early 00s dialer scams how bad that can go if some
| hardware manufacturer forgets to label the serial port in a
| way that can be detected as "never fucking ever expose this
| to apps"...
| kwiens wrote:
| Very interesting, I will check that out!
|
| And yes, if it seems like mobile browsers don't plan to add
| support then we'll have to look at wrapping it in a native app.
|
| I'm hopeful that smartphones will start supporting higher power
| output from their USB-C ports. The iPhone does 4.5W right now,
| which is (barely) enough to melt solder, but not enough to do
| anything with.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| My phone only has a 16 Wh battery; I'm not sure I'd want it
| to dump 100 W out its USB-C port even if it could!
| fragmede wrote:
| Pretty cool, but it has to compete with the P80, and also with
| Fanttik's soldering iron, which has a battery and thus doesn't
| have the cable leash.
|
| https://fanttik.com/products/fanttik-t1-max-soldering-iron-k...
| bogwog wrote:
| I'm very much a noob at soldering so idk if I'm missing out on
| anything, but the Pine64 Pinecil[1] has worked great for me so
| far and is surprisingly cheap. It also uses a RISC-V chip and
| even has open source firmware[2]
|
| 1: https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-
| solde...
|
| 2: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil_Firmware
| wildzzz wrote:
| This iron has more power than the Pinecil so it gets hotter
| faster and will heat up big chunks of metal faster (like
| ground planes or connector shells).
|
| Honestly, I've never been that interested in the Pinecil.
| It's nice that it's small but you still need a big type C
| supply. I could give a rats ass that it has open firmware and
| runs a RISC-V. I only care if it can push a lot of heat
| accurately and if the tips are affordable and available.
| Anything else does little to sway me.
|
| My solder station at work is an incredibly dumb Metcal that
| only has a power switch. Heat is controlled by the tips you
| use. When you pull it from the iron rest, it turns on
| instantly. Put it back and it turns off. The handle is just a
| plug for the tip, all the power electronics are in the base
| unit. It's got two plugs so you can run dual irons for
| microsoldering or if you just want a big chisel tip at the
| ready.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| And the Miniware TS1C
|
| https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/miniware-ts1c
| the__alchemist wrote:
| How does this, in practical terms, compare to a Hakko station?
| Can I use Hakko tips?
| riedel wrote:
| Looks much like the pinecil [0] (which I love btw if I have no
| acess to decent equipment) but with Webinterface ?!? Love the
| look though.
|
| [0] https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-
| solde...
| gs17 wrote:
| They compare the two in the article:
|
| >The star of the show is, of course, the Smart Soldering Iron.
| It's a 100 watt iron that comes up to operating temperature in
| under five seconds and can work with any suitably beefy USB-C
| Power Delivery source. The size and general proportions of the
| iron are very close to the Pinecil V2, though the grip is
| larger and considerably more comfortable to hold. The biggest
| difference between the two however is the absence of a display
| or configuration buttons. According to iFixit, most users don't
| change their settings enough to justify putting the interface
| on the iron itself. That doesn't mean you can't tweak the
| iron's settings when used in this stand-alone configuration,
| but we'll get back to that in a minute.
| omgtehlion wrote:
| Pinecil can not deliver actual 100w, and most chinese type-c
| handles can neither. This one uses real buck converter which
| can help with this problem.
| ssl-3 wrote:
| Pinecil V2 is specified to be 88w -- less than 100, but not
| very far off.
|
| And with a (simple) firmware change and the appropriate 28v
| EPR charger, it can do 140w.
| Mattwmaster58 wrote:
| Is the reason a buck converter is required so that it can
| increase I? I = V/R, by increasing V we can increase I?
| themoonisachees wrote:
| I suspect the usb-PD standard doesn't allow for raising the
| voltage any more than they already do
| omgtehlion wrote:
| Even if usb PD could go up to over 9000 volts, it can
| only provide fixed set of voltages, none of which can
| really match what every tip requires
| auguzanellato wrote:
| PD with EPR can go up to 48V, 28V support is common-ish.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| Well done! I'm mostly a TS100 user, so I'm looking at it from
| that angle.
|
| Why no boost button (unless I missed it)? That's the one on-iron
| UI feature I'd be missing - very useful for GND planes. I'm
| guessing its not a matter of rated power, but just the thermal
| resistance from the physical size of the tip which restricts heat
| entering into a heavily-heatsinked joint. Helpful to increase the
| iron temperature momentarily for such cases. Then again, I can't
| see heat transfer - happy to be told I'm wrong.
|
| Is this your own tip design or is it the same as the TS80? Can't
| speak to the TS80 but I've found the TS100 tip quality to be
| somewhat lacking (I've had tips plainly break off before).
| scottbez1 wrote:
| Yeah, boost button was a huge step up when I got my TS100 and
| now I can't imagine ever buying a new iron without it.
|
| Plus, not having the ability to quickly tune temperature
| settings on the iron itself seems like a step back as well.
|
| I'd be happy to be proven wrong on these, as iFixit's
| screwdriver sets were one of those things I needed to use to
| understand the hype (and then promptly bought my own set), so
| maybe this is another case of subtle quality you have to see
| for yourself?
| kwiens wrote:
| We spent a lot of time tuning it. We've found that
| temperature settings really aren't needed for most use cases
| as long as the heating algorithm is responsive enough.
|
| But that may not be for everyone: With the Power Station,
| changing the temperature is fast and easy with the dial, so
| you can pick a workflow that works best for you. (You can
| also change the temperature with the web interface.)
| scottbez1 wrote:
| Appreciate the response! I'm still not immediately sold (my
| TS100 is doing great and I can't justify replacing a
| perfectly acceptable iron), but I'll have to give it a try
| sometime because it does look really thoughtfully designed!
| kwiens wrote:
| It's our own design, although clearly inspired by those who
| came before.
|
| I'm really happy with their quality, but you'll have to judge
| that for yourself.
|
| We're handling the boosting automatically in software. When the
| iron detects that it's under load, it maxxes out the power to
| the tip. It's incredibly responsive.
|
| You're right, where you want that is with high thermal mass
| objects like ground planes. The difficult part is getting
| enough of a thermal bridge onto the material to really let the
| iron rip. It can dump a lot of power into a joint.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| Thanks for the response! If true, this would make the
| experience more like a Metcal then. Very good iron. You must
| have your thermistor/thermocouple very close / inside the tip
| itself then, no?
|
| No doubts then on the tip quality - I've seen the rest of
| your stuff (good).
| kwiens wrote:
| Yes, the thermistor is inside the tip. That's essential to
| getting good performance out of the algorithm.
|
| The instant that the iron detects that it's under load, it
| pours power into the heating element. That makes it feel
| and perform like a much more powerful iron. We're
| dynamically responding to the power load and flowing heat
| into the material.
| ssl-3 wrote:
| ...just as IronOS does on a Pinecil.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| The sensor for the Pinecil / TS100 seems to be located
| fully behind the tip though: https://web.archive.org/web/
| 20221110163337/http://www.minids...
| ssl-3 wrote:
| Indeed.
|
| I guess we'll have to wait for an iFixit teardown to see
| how this new widget actually differs in internal
| construction.
| jareklupinski wrote:
| i literally just bought a pinecil and usb-c battery pack (with
| carry case) to make basically a DIY version of this three weeks
| ago, but would have gotten this one instead if it existed back
| then
|
| after a few days trying to turn that into a daily driver however,
| i've had to go back to my weller desktop station, for one weird
| reason: i dont have anywhere to put the hot iron in between uses!
|
| i dont know if it's just me, but my work cadence involves me
| using my soldering iron about 30-40 times over the course of an
| hour or so, for about 3-4 seconds each time. sometimes i'm
| soldering a row of headers, or just one or two joints, but then
| theres 3-4 minutes where i'm moving wires around or programming
| something quickly, and i dont want to wait for the tip to cool
| each time so i can set it somewhere and work on the board a bit,
| if I can just leave it in a safe place while hot, which my weller
| always had.
|
| I got one of those bent sheet metal desktop 'holders', but the
| iron is so light compared to the cable, there's no way it's not
| falling off the table at some point.
| varispeed wrote:
| It seems like they didn't thought this product through. Holder
| is one thing, but holder should be able to put the iron on idle
| when not used. Otherwise it will be burning through tips like
| there is no tomorrow.
|
| I had one of these pencil soldering irons as I needed to solder
| something at a location. Once I powered it on, I was like oh
| snap, where do I put this thing now. Very much noped out and
| got the thing home where I could solder it properly with proper
| tools.
| teraflop wrote:
| The article mentions that the iron has an accelerometer-based
| idle mode, like most of its competitors. So no special holder
| is required.
| varispeed wrote:
| So you can just toss it anywhere?
| sandreas wrote:
| Try buying a third Party holder and flash ironOS[1] to allow
| cool extra features.
|
| 1: https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
| ploxiln wrote:
| I got this $6 soldering stand, I use it with my pinecil v1 (and
| the pine64 silicone usb cable), it works pretty well for me:
| https://www.microcenter.com/product/659412/eclipse-enterpris...
| ssl-3 wrote:
| They make soldering iron stands in factories every day, and
| have probably done so for at least a century so far.
|
| Just pick one out out that you like and get it coming your way.
|
| For portable use, I got some snap-on purpose-built "legs" made
| from steel wire from aliexpress the other day that let me put
| the Pinecil down safely on a flat surface. They work a treat.
|
| (And for bench use, stick a magnet to the collar of the stand.
| Pinecil V2 has a Hall effect sensor built in (and one can be
| added to V1) that will detect when the iron is in the stand, so
| IronOS will enter a selectable lower-temperature sleep mode
| right away. It heats back up quick enough that it's unlikely to
| ever get in the way.)
| kwiens wrote:
| Yes! You need a way to pull the iron out and put it away
| quickly.
|
| Our cap is just a game changer there. You handle it more like a
| Sharpie than a soldering iron. Put the cap on and stick it back
| in your bag.
| https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GXR8kMVbgAEeRgd?format=jpg&name=...
|
| I set the motion timer on mine to 5 seconds. It heats up so
| quickly when you pick it back up that there's no reason to
| bother with the power switch. By the time I have it back at the
| joint, it's at temperature ready to go.
| lobsterthief wrote:
| The cap is neat but requires two hands to apply (and locate)
| vs a stand. Makes a big difference at times.
|
| I'm also worried about burning myself if I'm not paying
| attention when putting the cap on 20 or 30 times in
| succession.
| noman-land wrote:
| I've been using a small glass jar and just sticking it into the
| jar while it's hot.
| bkanuka wrote:
| Can you comment on the compatibility with other 3.5mm tips like
| the TS80/TS80P?
|
| Will there be other tip shapes available?
|
| Is the tip design patented (and enforced) or will you allow for
| 3rd party tips?
| kwiens wrote:
| We did not patent the tip design, anyone is welcome to make
| third party tips.
|
| Tips we'll have at launch: Cone, Bevel 1.5, Wedge 1.5, Point,
| Bevel 2.6, Knife 2.5, Knife 1.4
|
| We made some different electrical design decisions than they
| did. TS-80 tips aren't rated for the power that we're putting
| out, so being compatible with the TS-80 tips could be pretty
| sketchy.
| bkanuka wrote:
| Amazing! Thanks for clarifying. Now I'm much more interested
| moffkalast wrote:
| I always see these USB-C irons marketed a lot, but I've recently
| bought a travel iron that's the same form factor with adjustable
| temperature and all that jazz but just ends with an outlet plug
| for $16 and couldn't be happier with it tbh.
|
| Unless you're somewhere out in the wilderness, finding an outlet
| to do any on the road repairs is pretty trivial and you don't
| need to lug around a large heavy box that does grid to USB-C DC
| conversion nor a powerbank.
| anamexis wrote:
| You don't need a "large heavy box," just a standard USB-C PD
| power brick.
|
| e.g. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1FZWT8M/
| moffkalast wrote:
| On one hand I agree that if everything you have uses PD, your
| laptop, your phone, your powerbank and a charger like that
| and it's powerful enough to handle it all then it probably
| makes sense to also have an iron that works with it and it's
| all interchangeable.
|
| On the other hand we already have a standard power thing,
| it's called an outlet. And in practice you need to charge/use
| things in parallel so you'd need to carry around like four of
| these.
| ewoodrich wrote:
| I charge any combination of my Macbook Pro, Thinkpad,
| Chromebook, phone, tablet etc at the same time almost
| exclusively with high wattage GaN multiport chargers. I
| keep one in my backpack with 2 or 3 100W cables so charging
| in parallel is never a problem away from home from a single
| outlet/charger.
| systemtest wrote:
| I really appreciate that iFixit made the schematics publicly
| available, unlike a certain other right-to-repair advocate.
| kwiens wrote:
| Schematics are table stakes!
|
| https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iFixit_Soldering
| varispeed wrote:
| Never buy cheap tools. It looks like a cool gadget, but is it
| actually useful for soldering? Does it maintain correct
| temperatures? How long the tips last and can you buy them easily?
| Are there many variety of tips?
|
| etc. etc.
|
| If you are into soldering, do yourself a favour and buy something
| tried and trusted like Hakko FX-951 if you are on the budget. It
| will probably outlast you.
| vault wrote:
| the Hakko FX-951 is discontinued and its replacement FX971-44
| costs GBP 350. would you also recommend the FX888D that is half
| the price, ignoring second-hand market?
| kwiens wrote:
| I agree. We put an incredible amount of effort into making this
| a functional workhorse that will last a lifetime.
|
| Tips we'll have at launch: Cone, Bevel 1.5, Wedge 1.5, Point,
| Bevel 2.6, Knife 2.5, Knife 1.4
|
| What kills tips is oxidation. With our auto-sleep sensor, it
| drops below the temperature that will wear it out. When you
| pick it up, it's back at soldering temperature in a few
| seconds.
|
| Give it a chance! You're right, it's not tried and tested, yet.
| But Tom at Hackaday is not an easy person to convince: he's
| been around the block and used every iron out there: "iFixit
| didn't just raise the bar, they sent it into orbit."
| varispeed wrote:
| Thanks! That sounds reasonable. I would still consider making
| a holder.
|
| I could also suggest a Barrel 0.8 tip, that wraps around pin
| that one wants to solder.
| jeffbee wrote:
| I don't see why maintaining tip temperature would be even
| slightly difficult with modern electronics. It should be
| possible to make a very cheap and excellent soldering iron at
| this point.
| jdietrich wrote:
| Lots of cheap tools are excellent. In this space, Sugon/Aifen
| make fantastic JBC clone soldering stations for under $100; you
| can use original JBC tips, but MAGMA tips work 95% as well as
| the JBC originals at a fraction of the cost. The range of tools
| and materials being produced for the Chinese phone repair
| market is incredible - some stuff (like tweezers) that's just
| outright better than any western equivalent, some stuff that's
| completely novel and has no big-brand equivalent.
|
| https://bresun.aliexpress.com/store/900239507
|
| https://kaisitool.aliexpress.com/store/3152011
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Alternate link: https://www.ifixit.com/News/99434/introducing-
| fixhub-the-por...
| dlevine wrote:
| I paid ~$100 for my Hakko FX888D, and have had had that for
| almost 10 years. Looking on the Internet, the price hasn't gone
| up much. Not sure whether this (for $250 including the power
| supply) is a class above that. The repairability is a definite
| plus (assuming parts continue to be available for many years),
| and all the nerdy features are also cool, but not sure how useful
| they will be in the real world.
| jsheard wrote:
| The FX888 is an older style iron where the tip and heating
| element are separate components, the newer generation (such as
| this iFixit one) have the tip, heater and temperature sensor
| integrated as a single component which allows them to regulate
| the tip temperature much faster and more accurately. Hakko does
| make irons of that type now but they're very expensive, up in
| the $500 range.
|
| Another benefit of the newer style irons is the tip can usually
| be hot-swapped (literally while it's still hot) without having
| to unscrew anything, you just need something insulating to pull
| the tip out with.
| mysteria wrote:
| It's worth noting that with some practice you can unscrew the
| hot metal tip holder with pilers, flip the tip out into a
| tray, drop the new cold tip in, and screw it all back using
| the pliers in 30 seconds or so.
| anamexis wrote:
| Only $80 for the iron itself though, compatible with any USB-C
| PD power supply.
| themoonisachees wrote:
| The pinecil is $25.
| scottbez1 wrote:
| It will almost certainly be a class up, if only because it uses
| integrated tips that combine heating element, temperature
| sensor, and tip itself into a single element, rather than
| having thermally bulky and inefficient interfaces like the
| FX888d's replaceable separate tips. So you get faster heating
| and more accurate temperature control.
|
| But there's the rub: there are a TON of USB-C irons that use
| integrated tips, and most are cheaper than this new iFixit
| iron, so you can get that class improvement for the same price
| as your Hakko station, so I'm curious if their improvements are
| a big enough step up from _those_ irons to justify the price.
| mysteria wrote:
| On the flip side wouldn't that make replacement tips much
| more expensive? On my old Hakko station I've replaced the
| tips several times but the element and sensor seems to be
| going strong.
| jdboyd wrote:
| Yes, it makes tips more expensive. However, for the about
| of improvement in performance, I think it is worth it. I
| use Hakko T15 tips and they are about $20 each. Cheaper
| Chinese compatible toys are available and probably are good
| enough, but I don't replace yours frequently enough to care
| to find out.
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| They're more expensive, but they tend to last longer (at
| least for JBC & this new iFixit iron since they lower
| temperature when not in use), allow much nicer more precise
| temperature control, and often can have significantly more
| power output and/or thermal mass (depending on the
| particular tip). JBC tips in particular can be changed
| while still hot, one-handed, thanks to their iron holders
| having a tip puller & holder built-in.
| Kirby64 wrote:
| The delta in price isn't that different. Legit Hakko tips
| for FX888/903/907 are ~$7-10 each. Legit Hakko tips for
| T12/T15 are only $12-20 apiece. Twice as much, sure, but
| how many tips do you really go through? We're talking
| probably sub-$30 over many years in cost delta, for some
| significant advantages.
|
| Legit JBC tips are closer to $20-40, but those are just a
| different price tier and much more premium. You can also
| get knockoff/clone JBC tips for $10 pretty easily, and in
| my experience they work just fine.
| agys wrote:
| Long time Miniware TS80 user. Very happy with it, with a couple
| of extra tips.
|
| Installed IronOS on it and it got even better...!
|
| https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
| BugsJustFindMe wrote:
| > _The accelerometer detects when you pick it up and heats it
| back up._
|
| I don't want this. I would rather push a button and wait for a
| light to turn on. Automatic off, fine, I guess, though I don't
| love it and would never want to rely on it. Automatic on, no way.
| kwiens wrote:
| By default, the timer is set to 30 seconds. You can turn the
| whole feature off, and it'll never bother you again!
| BugsJustFindMe wrote:
| > _You can turn the whole feature off, and it 'll never
| bother you again!_
|
| Awesome. Thank you!
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Agreed. There's a place for open, smart tools. Some things want
| to have serial interfaces and sensors and so on, that will do a
| whole host of actions automatically.
|
| Other times you just want the equivalent of a drill or toaster.
| Pull trigger, drill spins. Twist chuck or shift gearbox, it
| slips or changes speeds. Push toast down, it toasts, twist the
| dial if you want darker or lighter.
|
| An on/off switch, a potentiometer or 7-segment and some buttons
| to set temp, and a nice, fast, powerful PID loop to control the
| temperature (with a 120V AC cable to make 100W all day not a
| problem) is all I want in a soldering iron. I have a
| combination soldering/hot air station that's almost 20 years
| old, it just always works.
| wvenable wrote:
| I have something like this on a TS100 and it works fine. You
| set it down for a while because you're still soldering but you
| need to move stuff and it reduces the heat. Then you pick it
| back up and by the time you've gotten to part it's already back
| up the temp.
|
| How is that worse than it just being full temp the whole time?
| BugsJustFindMe wrote:
| It's just unnecessary complexity and another thing that can
| go wrong. I know when I'm using it and not using it. I don't
| need the device to guess. The device guessing doesn't
| actually improve my life in any way.
|
| And it's going to guess wrong a lot of the time.
| Automatically turning on and off both have unsafe failure
| modes that lead to it being on unexpectedly (it turns back on
| when I don't expect it to, and it doesn't turn off when I do
| expect it to) based on imperfect sensing hardware and
| software that can both stop working, and I'm not ok with
| unsafe failure modes in a device that will burn down my
| house.
|
| This is also the reason that I disfavor battery-powered
| soldering irons in general, but at least being portable adds
| something you may need and can't otherwise achieve.
| wvenable wrote:
| In the case of the TS100 it doesn't turn off, it just cools
| down.
|
| I've never had it guess wrong -- my hand isn't so steady
| that it will turn off while I'm using it. If it's on and on
| the table, it is still visibly ON so this is just extra
| safety if it's a little bit cooler.
| pcdoodle wrote:
| The tip will get nasty sitting there at max temps for
| extended periods.
| WheatMillington wrote:
| I have this feature on my Pinecil and it's annoying. Need to
| look into turning it off. I really just want to be in control
| of whether my iron is on (I'm working with it) or off (I'm
| finished with it). Generally speaking I never want it off while
| it's plugged in.
| MostlyStable wrote:
| So is this iron competing mostly with other portable, USB c
| irons, or is there s case for it to also be someone's only, at
| home, soldering station iron?
| kwiens wrote:
| It's on my workbench!
|
| We designed it as a soldering station that can replace the
| station on your workbench. The cap mounts to the battery pack.
|
| https://www.ifixit.com/products/fixhub-power-series-portable...
|
| You actually get a few more watts of power (104 W or so) if the
| hub is plugged into an AC charger (there's a third USB-C port
| on the rear).
| MostlyStable wrote:
| Yes, I definitely got that it _can_ be a pretty good
| workbench iron, I guess I was asking if the price /feature
| balance works out mainly for people who _also_ need a good
| portable iron, or if it 's still competitive if you are
| comparing it to non-portable stations as well.
| atoav wrote:
| 100W via TRS 3.5mm connector? I checked and I didn't even find a
| power rating for these connectors, but that seems excessive.
| zerocrates wrote:
| Where are you seeing a TRS connector? Looks like it's USB-C
| everywhere to me...
| kwiens wrote:
| We use a TRS connector between the tip and the iron. And yes,
| it's a lot of amps!
|
| It's amazing how versatile a well designed analog connector
| can be.
| zerocrates wrote:
| Ah! I was looking around for one: not on the battery pack,
| not on the iron-to-cable connection, but didn't think about
| the tips.
|
| So you can plug an unused tip into your Walkman's headphone
| jack for safekeeping...
| fecal_henge wrote:
| The twist is that the TRS is the heating element.
| mrWiz wrote:
| Weller uses TRS too. In my experience the connection is a
| little flaky, but I don't know the provenance of the lab irons
| I've used; it wouldn't surprise me if they've been abused.
|
| https://www.weller-tools.com/us/en/industrial-soldering/prod...
| donatj wrote:
| Every time I see a soldering iron use a 3.5mm headphone jack for
| the tips, some dark dumb part of my brain wants to plug a pair of
| headphones into it to see what happens.
| Forge36 wrote:
| Magic smoke is released. Do try to avoid doing this with
| headphones in ears.
| marcosdumay wrote:
| Results vary depending on the phone.
|
| EDIT: I take the following back. The actual cable is USB-USB.
| The P2 connector links directly to the heated head, what is
| perfectly equivalent to "labeled".
|
| But yeah, people that design products, please if you make a
| non-standard use of a standard connector, label it.
|
| I would absolutely not buy this because that USB-P2 cable will
| mix with every other thing that thought was a good idea to use
| an unlabeled USB-P2 cable that only God knows whether they are
| compatible or not. (Common sense would imply they are, but
| common sense already flew out of the window long ago when you
| see a cable like that.)
| thebruce87m wrote:
| Before the invention of lead-free solder you would hear heavy
| metal.
| dunham wrote:
| Back in the 80's a friend of mine had a system for launching
| model rockets built out of power cords - a extension cord with
| multiple outlets for distribution, and power cords with
| microclips on one end to hook to the rockets. And of course he
| had to find out "what happens if I plug this in". (If I
| remember right the microclips were fused together, but they may
| have just melted, it's been a while.)
| myrmidon wrote:
| This looks really nice! Can the base station be used like a
| normal powerbank (for plugging phone or laptop into it)? Also
| while it is in use?
| kwiens wrote:
| Yes! You have two ports on the front, so you can charge your
| phone or laptop while you solder.
|
| Or, mount two soldering irons with different tips. The wheel
| controls the temperature, and the blue action button toggles
| between which one you're controlling. Two soldering irons can
| be hot at once.
| syntaxing wrote:
| Overall a great idea, though not a fan that you can't directly
| change the temperature on the soldering iron without the power
| station.
| rcarmo wrote:
| That's a no-go for me then.
| kwiens wrote:
| You can set the temperature on the iron with our web console,
| which uses Web Serial: https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console
|
| Once you set the temperature, the iron remembers it and you can
| use any power source.
|
| We've spent a lot of time talking to engineers and makers who
| solder all day, and it turns out that most people rarely change
| the temperature. Pick a temperature you like and leave it
| there.
|
| Our heating algorithm detects and dynamically responds to load,
| so you don't need to turn the temperature up for larger thermal
| masses: it'll add as many joules as required to get it to
| temperature.
| syntaxing wrote:
| I definitely can see that, I rarely change my solder iron
| temp too but the biggest issue is that I purposely do not
| keep my phone or laptop within reach where I solder. I still
| use lead solder and I don't want to accidentally rub off any.
| Seems like a huge pain to wash my hand, get my laptop, change
| temp, then continue. But like you mentioned, I probably
| haven't changed the temp on my iron in a while, ironically
| the last time I changed it was because I used silver solder.
| green-salt wrote:
| Do you have plans to have an actual local application to do
| this? Chrome-only web tools are not sustainable and a deal
| breaker.
| KingOfCoders wrote:
| Maybe they get money from Google to slave people into
| Chrome, like everyone else One Chrome to
| rule them all, One Chrome to find them, One Chrome
| to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In
| the Land of Google where the Shadows lie.
| mynameisvlad wrote:
| I mean it uses an experimental web standard, WebSerial.
| https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
| US/docs/Web/API/Web_Serial_...
|
| Chrome just happens to be the only browser that supports
| it right now. It's not like it's using proprietary
| protocols that will never exist outside of Chrome.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| This is something I'm wondering about, because yeah - my
| ability to change the iron temperature (if not using the
| battery) shouldn't depend on iFixit's servers being online.
| I would at least hope that they document the protocol so
| that other people can write local applications to do it if
| not.
| qingcharles wrote:
| Protocol here:
|
| https://hackaday.com/wp-
| content/uploads/2024/09/fixhub_seria...
| jamesgeck0 wrote:
| As noted in the article, there's also a traditional serial
| interface.
| iosjunkie wrote:
| In that case, an Arduino + touch screen would be a nice
| little addon for this.
| wvenable wrote:
| > Pick a temperature you like and leave it there.
|
| It's hard to argue because that's mostly what I do. But it
| feel really odd for a soldering iron not to have a
| temperature control right on it. Especially given competitor
| irons have screens and buttons. Going to a web interface
| seems insane in comparison to pressing some buttons.
| thesh4d0w wrote:
| The 100w and heat resistant storage caps are nice, but that
| battery pack pricing and the lack of on-device controls makes
| this not an option for me.
|
| $110 cad for the soldering iron is semi-reasonable, if a bit high
| compared to their competitors. $342 for the iron + battery means
| that's a $230 battery pack, which is absolutely insane.
|
| Requiring the battery pack to be able to easily change controls
| means anyone doing more than super basic work, needs the $342
| combo.
| myrmidon wrote:
| For tools that you use regularly, it is sometimes worth it to
| take a step back, put the cost into an absolute perspective and
| then just get the thing if you know that it's well-made and you
| use it regularly, instead of getting a cheapish, price-
| optimized knockoff instead (my experience).
|
| I spent over 200$ on a glorified PCB holder and some probes
| (PCBite), which is in hindsight one of the most useful tools I
| own and still makes me happy every time I use it (even that
| alone is kinda worth it over time!).
|
| I don't know your financial situation, but just consider: How
| much do you spend each month on meals/entertainment? Is $300
| actually an inappropriate cost for a quality thing that you
| often need?
|
| Note: Iron + station shows up as $250 to me, $350 is the set
| with some additional bits and bobs.
| 420official wrote:
| Why buy this for $250 when you get the same thing from a
| pinecil v2 and use it with any 20v 100w PD USB-c power pack?
| I'm not seeing any differentiating features.
| myrmidon wrote:
| Because I have more trust in ifixit then in pine64 to sell
| robust, quality tools.
|
| And most of what you are going to overpay (?) for this is
| going to ifixit, which is also a plus. It's like buying
| merch from a band you like.
| brailsafe wrote:
| I love iFixit, but their tools, parts, and kits have been
| a bit mixed (bit of poor, bit of good) in terms of
| quality.
| KingOfCoders wrote:
| I think their tools are overhyped - not worth the price,
| you pay for the brand they have built by basically PR
| (repair scores for iPhones).
| brailsafe wrote:
| For me it's hard to reconcile what is a good initiative
| to ostensibly reduce waste, with the reality of ordering
| at least one of their products. For example I couldn't
| get a screen replacement at one point unless I ordered a
| kit, but I needed 2 screens, so I ordered 2 kits and now
| have redundant, specific, toxic, tools, only some of
| which actually helped perform the repair.
|
| I'm thinking of the heating liquid pad, which gave me a
| bit of a laugh and didn't work, the plastic spudgers that
| were too soft to be durable, the precut adhesive strips
| that almost seemed insultingly ineffective. The actual
| handles and screwdriver bits were great though, so mixed
| feelings, I just hate waste.
| bmurphy1976 wrote:
| I can see why somebody might think that of general pine64
| offerings, but the Pinecil is anything but that. It's a
| significant improvement over my bucket of old soldering
| irons I inherited and purchased over the years. Unless
| you are doing some serious heavy duty work, I'm hard
| pressed to think of a better alternative.
| spookie wrote:
| Honestly a pinecil is more than enought to deal with small
| electronics
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| But it's just a soldering iron and a weird usb c power bank.
| Of course one can spend 300$ on it and justify it, but is
| this actually better than the alternatives?
|
| The ts100 and variants of it have been around for a long
| time, can be adjusted on device and powered by regular usb pd
| power banks.
| brailsafe wrote:
| I agree, in general, and also agree with iFixit charging
| whatever they can for it, but $350 is pretty much what I
| spend on core food for the month, or 3 pairs of shoes, or 2
| pairs of climbing shoes, or a plane ticket to visit my
| hometown periodically. It is to your point also less than the
| tax on a new computer, and less than each ram upgrade on a
| MacBook Pro, or a week-long road trip, or a mountain lift
| ticket. There are different ways to convince yourself it's
| worth it, and it may be, but it's kind of a huge jump up if
| you're not already soldering nearly every day. Like $350 on
| meals and entertainment or $350 on a soldering iron is quite
| clear, I need to not buy the iron and reduce my spending a
| bit.
| disiplus wrote:
| Is this for professionals?. I need the soldering iron maybe 3
| times a year. I'm ok throwing 100eur for something ok/good.
| But not 300.
| myrmidon wrote:
| I think you could justify the soldering iron itself then
| for like 80EUR, maybe not the basestation/powerbank.
|
| IMO 340EUR for the whole set with the wirecutters and
| tweezers and such is still an ok deal, even though it is
| slightly expensive, because the accessories are probably
| good quality also, and there are few things as frustrating
| as bad wirecutters ;).
| alias_neo wrote:
| It's hard to place exactly at its price point. At the full
| kit price it's approaching the cost of a mid-range Hakko
| soldering station which you can use all day every day.
|
| I see this is a potential "better quality" portable option
| for a professional (than something like a Pinecil and a
| TS100), that might want to carry it around or use it when
| not at a desk, but the quality and performance remains to
| be seen (though I do trust iFixit).
|
| At PS240 in the UK, it's about 2.5x the cost of the Pinecil
| + Powerbank (which I already had). If I didn't have a Hakko
| soldering station and wanted something portable but capable
| to use fairly regularly, this seems like a good option.
|
| For everyone else, if you already own a PD powerbank, the
| ~PS25-30 (~PS50 with a bunch of tips) for a Pinecil is
| _much_ more palatable.
| alias_neo wrote:
| While I agree with all of your points on determining value,
| it's never that simple, and is often determined, in someone's
| mind, by the comparison made.
|
| The comparison here is a Pinecil. I've been using a Pinecil
| for a couple of years now, I power it from a USB-PD power
| bank that's already in my backpack, and charges everything
| else I carry, and has more capacity and a lower price than
| this one, and the Pinecil without the power bank is much
| cheaper and more functional with its buttons and display than
| this iron alone; I don't need a PC (and I don't use Chrome
| anyway, though I do really like the WebSerial configuration).
|
| I already own a Hakko soldering station, but I find I reach
| for the Pinecil 99% of the time due to convenience; only when
| I know I'll be doing a _lot_ of soldering in one go, and I'm
| going to do it at my desk, do I get the Hakko out.
|
| This looks like a nice iron, and I'm all for supporting
| repairability (and iFixit in general), if someone will use it
| as their main station, and assuming this can perform, it
| seems like an excellent option.
|
| For everyone else, a Pinecil and that powerbank you already
| have is an excellent option at a trivially low price.
|
| EDIT: Fixed some typos
| foldr wrote:
| The TS80P is very nicely made and can be obtained for around
| $70. It's only 30W, but this newer generation of irons has a
| much more efficient tip design, so it works much better than
| the wattage would suggest (if you're comparing to a Hakko or
| something).
| kwiens wrote:
| We designed the system to work for people at a variety of price
| points.
|
| If you just buy the iron, you have access to all the settings
| in our web console: https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console
|
| The iron persists settings when you unplug it. You can change
| the sleep timer and timeout, set target temperatures, calibrate
| the accelerometer, and more.
|
| The Power Station is nice to have, but you don't lose any
| functionality without it.
| thesh4d0w wrote:
| I was a kickstarter backer of the pokit who thought "oh
| that's cool", and it just sits in my drawer because I don't
| want to have to use an app to use basic functionality on my
| tools. I learned my lesson on that one and I know if I bought
| this soldering iron I would have the same issue. I'd rather
| use other soldering irons because I don't have to plug them
| into my computer to change the temperature between tasks.
|
| FWIW this is just my $0.02. I'm sure you'll still sell lots,
| but if that had an onboard display + buttons then I'd have
| ordered one right away for the other nice tweaks you've done.
| brailsafe wrote:
| I feel the same way, but did just realize that because they
| used web serial, you could use the iron to make yourself a
| little 3D interface, could be a fun project.
| jinzo wrote:
| I'm running a TS80 with IronOS as my daily driver for
| device/cable connection on the field (relatively thin
| cables) and some misc PCB repairs. And I set the
| temperature (and other settings, like sleep) once and
| that's it. I know I'm probably a niche user, but I see this
| working very nicely (it looks better quality, I like the
| connector design they used more, ect) for me, if/when the
| TS80 kicks the dust.
|
| YMMV, but I think you can get a lot of mileage with a setup
| like that. Thinking about it, even my 'stationary' old
| Weller is used as an ON/OFF affair 98% of the time.
| Eji1700 wrote:
| Yep, i'm much of the same opinion. It's a much sillier
| product, but I had a annova sous vide forever ago that
| died.
|
| Looked around, heard Joule was the "go to" these days, got
| one. Gave it the fuck away eventually after the 15th time
| the app lagged or wouldn't work or whatever.
|
| I'm sick and tired of my tools (yes it's a cooking tool)
| having the audacity to require an app. I get there's a lot
| of possible functionality that an app provides, but the
| annova I replaced it with still has a functional interface
| so I don't have to fuck with it for the basics.
|
| I don't even see what the workflow would be to use their
| web interface on this iron?
| urda wrote:
| No Firefox support? Seriously?
| samatman wrote:
| This is a Firefox problem, not an iFixit problem.
| KingOfCoders wrote:
| This is a Mozilla $6B+ wasted money problem.
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| What feature is Firefox lacking? It would be nice if the
| error message was more specific, rather than referring
| you straight to Google or Microsoft for their latest
| spyware.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| WebSerial in this instance, and it's also not on Safari
| on Mac.
|
| It's a convenience but I'm happy using CoolTerm on my Mac
| or launching Chrome if I need some WebSerial feature like
| in-browser flashing of my Meshtastic nodes.
| NoNotTheDuo wrote:
| > We used Web Serial https://caniuse.com/web-serial for
| the interface, which is only supported in Chromium
| browsers.
| urda wrote:
| Mozilla didn't make them implement a browser feature that
| is not widely available. Believe it or not there are
| plenty of better soldering irons that don't require a web
| browser to configure.
| crote wrote:
| > If you just buy the iron, you have access to all the
| settings in our web console:
| https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console
|
| So how are you supposed to actually _use_ that? I don 't
| think there are any computers out there which can provide
| 100W out of their USB ports.
|
| Am I supposed to unplug the iron from its power supply, plug
| it into a computer, change the temperature, unplug it, plug
| the power supply back in, wait for it to heat up, and
| _finally_ continue soldering? That 's awkward enough that
| even a crappy proprietary smartphone app would've been
| better!
| WheatMillington wrote:
| Seriously? You need to use a web portal to change
| temperature?
| RF_Savage wrote:
| At $342 I'd rather buy the production line JBC from Weidinger
| and spend the difference on tips or another handle.
| rcarmo wrote:
| WebSerial is indeed a bummer. I hate having to switch browsers to
| configure QMK keyboards or doing some ESP32 stuff, and need
| something that will work in Safari and Firefox (or a cross-
| platform app that doesn't suck).
| scottbez1 wrote:
| Eh, I'm mostly just sad Firefox hasn't implemented it yet. I
| daily drive Firefox, but switching browsers temporarily still
| beats installing single-use applications with full local
| machine permissions by a huge margin. So I've been opting for
| building web serial companion apps on my own projects as well
| and it's great (besides Firefox)!
| dvh wrote:
| If you feel like $80 is too much, I recently bought $6
| temperature regulated soldering iron (model 908S) on AliExpress
| and it has no problem soldering even LQFP-48 or MSOP-10 packages.
| barbazoo wrote:
| But can it run Doom?
| kwiens wrote:
| We didn't lock down the firmware on the Power Station, so go
| right ahead!
| madeofpalk wrote:
| Interesting that new products are shipping 'relying' Web Serial,
| given it's tenuous position as a web standard.
| kwiens wrote:
| Google depends on it for firmware updates and repairs on the
| Pixel lineup. https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com
| crote wrote:
| That's not exactly surprising, given that Google is the one
| who's pushing it in the first place.
| omgtehlion wrote:
| Thanks for using real buck converter, unlike many other type-c
| soldering irons. Hope this helps achieve full USB PD power range.
| kwiens wrote:
| Thanks! It cost more but I think the outcome was worth it.
|
| We really pushed the envelope on every aspect of the hardware
| to max out the joules we could push into the material. The
| trick is being really responsive to the load so that you don't
| overshoot the target temperature too much.
|
| With the Power Station plugged into the wall and a full charge
| on the batteries, you can get about 104 Watts into the iron.
| cruffle_duffle wrote:
| Soldering is one of those things where the tools you use have a
| direct impact on the quality and enjoyment of the work. Shitty
| $20 soldering irons from Home Depot not only produce awful
| results but they are incredibly frustrating. I'm pretty sure most
| people who think they suck at soldering and hate it only feel
| that way because their tool sucks. A good quality soldering iron
| and high quality, thin solder make a huge, huge difference in
| output.
|
| If your experience with soldering is one of those cheap flimsy
| $30 dollar things from Amazon paired with fat, chunky solder...
| yeah you will hate soldering and you'll never get even remotely
| good results. You don't need to spend $500 dollar or anything but
| something like what is in this post and a $40 roll of thin gauge
| solder (which will last the rest of your life) will make
| soldering actually fun and enjoyable.
|
| ...I should also mention a solid, heavy parts holder factors into
| this as well.
| luqtas wrote:
| dunno. my first ever soldering project was a handwired
| keyboard. i was popcorning when i finished. it was my first
| time using a mechanical switch keyboard too. not bad... 2deg
| project, right after finishing the keyboard was soldering a
| PMW3360 sensor to someone's board from Github. it was a
| freaking blast on my 40W, 40 BRL (~ 8 USD) solder
|
| i still have it & i'm selling handwired keyboards at a very
| cheap price (made with it), trying to set a non-profit that
| sells fair priced handwired keyboards with Vial & aims to teach
| the basics of electronics for teens... i can't see myself
| supplying anything more expensive than cheap solders, nor i can
| see what joy i would get from an expensive solder tool
|
| my wiring for reference ->
| https://happort.org/keyboard_example.png
| timfsu wrote:
| That's wonderful - I used to solder with a cheap iron until
| university. A nice iron gets a lot hotter, and it makes
| everything easier and faster. It may not matter for
| keyboards, but on a small PCB where everything is a few mm
| part, the precision of a good tip matters too.
| arcanemachiner wrote:
| Popcorning: "the happy little jump that guinea pigs give when
| they are full of joy"
|
| In case anyone else was wondering.
| schmidtleonard wrote:
| Oh good. In the context of soldering "popcorning" typically
| means explosive steam formation that puffs up the package a
| part, often an expensive part because bigger / more
| complicated packaging is a risk factor. I was having
| trouble making that fit with the rest of the post.
| aylons wrote:
| I went through the same thing, it was a really
| unfortunate choice of words in the context.
| kwiens wrote:
| Agree. It's kind of like a chef's knife: a better tool makes
| you a better chef.
|
| A sharp knife is also quite a bit safer than a dull knife. By
| heating to operating temperature in 5 seconds and rapidly
| pouring heat into the material, you don't have to hold the hot
| iron as long. As soon as you're done, pop on the safety cap and
| instantly shield the hot metal.
|
| Soldering isn't remotely mainstream, and part of that is the
| quality of tools. We set out to streamline the entire process
| to make soldering as accessible as possible.
| dpedu wrote:
| I am completely confused by your example. Buying a better
| knife doesn't make you a better chef. Buying a faster car
| doesn't make you a better driver. Buying a more powerful
| laptop doesn't make you a better developer.
| lelandfe wrote:
| My dull chef's knife got caught when I chopping an onion
| and nearly lopped my fingertip off. I was not a very good
| chef that night.
| dpedu wrote:
| I'm not sure what that has to do with better vs worse
| tools. Expensive knives get dull too. Good chefs, on the
| other hand, keep their equipment in working order
| regardless of its value.
| lelandfe wrote:
| A dull knife is a worse tool.
|
| You're getting awfully literal, though.
| jpalawaga wrote:
| no, but with a shitty laptop it can be hard to be a good
| developer. having dull knives will make cooking experience,
| slow, dangerous, and unpleasant. having a boat-car will
| make it difficult to practice any sort of skilled driving.
|
| it's not that you can't overcome adversity and do the thing
| anyhow, but you're certainly not making it easy. In all
| cases, using the proper tool allows you to remove the extra
| difficulty factor and focus on that task at hand.
|
| But also, cutting a tomato with a sharp knife is way, way
| easier than with a dull knife. Same with soldering. Ignores
| the rest of the parts of being a chef, but you get the
| comparison.
| belthesar wrote:
| "Better" is definitely the wrong word, but the jist is
| sound with the right framing. A better tool often allows
| you to do work safer, and that is what was attempted to be
| conveyed. Applying the approach to one of your examples, a
| faster car doesn't make you a better driver, but a car with
| more safety features makes your driving experience safer
| than one with less.
| Larrikin wrote:
| Do you cook? There are dozens of obvious examples. A crappy
| knife will tear instead of cut. You'll ruin tomatoes, have
| uneven dices, crush and smear delicate herbs, have ripped
| apart meat and fish that you'll destroy more trying to get
| rid of the trim. That's not counting the downtime you'll
| have when the knife slips instead of cuts and you can't
| cook at all due to injury.
|
| Giving an expensive knife to a new cook that has never
| cooked before will not make them a Michelin chef, but their
| progress will be faster when they don't have the knife
| working against them.
| spookie wrote:
| Fair enough, but for anyone wondering, you can make a
| shit knife shine if you take good care of it! Sharpening
| it, using a chef's honing steel in between some harder
| cuts to take care of those nasty burrs and you're off to
| the races!
| lttlrck wrote:
| Now you've introduced "expensive" muddying the argument
| even more :-)
| dpedu wrote:
| I don't cook, but I solder. And I got a _lot_ of mileage
| out of a dirt cheap Radio Shack iron. Well, I do cook,
| but I 'm not into it or as skilled at it to the degree I
| am with soldering.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I cook, and I disagree with the assertion that a better
| knife makes you a better cook. Good knives are useful,
| but ultimately you're still going to produce crappy
| results if you're a bad cook with a good knife.
| willcipriano wrote:
| A bad dull knife bruises and smashes more than it cuts.
| If a first time cook was making a salsa, the one made
| with the good knife would be better as the tomatoes would
| be juicer and not all smushed.
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| A better cook will want sharper knives.
|
| A better cook knows that if her knives are dull, she
| won't perform as well.
| mauvehaus wrote:
| For all edge tools be they for cooking, woodworking, forestry
| or something else: buy steel, not sharp. Henkels, Lie-
| Nielsen, Gransfors Bruk, Victorinox, or Stanley is only going
| to sharpen it for you once.
|
| Corollary: learn to sharpen. The best steel in the world
| isn't going to cut anything if it's dull.
|
| For the record, I sharpen chisels almost daily and I hate
| sharpening kitchen knives. The carbides set at the right
| angle in the handle you pull down the length of the blade
| will keep your knives a lot sharper than a set of Japanese
| water stones you never use.
| Kon-Peki wrote:
| If you live in a reasonably large metro area that has a lot
| of good restaurants, there is going to be a small handful
| of cooking knife sharpeners. A large percentage of
| professional chefs can't afford/justify good quality
| sharpening equipment for something that they use a couple
| times per year.
|
| They'll take their knives to these services and pay $5 or
| $6 per knife, and it will get done to perfection in just a
| few minutes while they wait. You can use these same
| services, there is no membership card needed to get in the
| door.
| talldayo wrote:
| You're correct that some soldering irons (especially uber-cheap
| ones) are shit, but Pinecil proves cheap can also be good. Past
| a certain point, soldering becomes a hobby about how dangerous
| you're willing to get to make things easier on yourself. You
| can swap out non-toxic solder for lead trace if you want a
| cleaner board; then there are high-wattage irons, board
| reflow/fluxing, and even all sorts of scale-specific hacks.
|
| When you zoom out, I think home soldering is about as effective
| as it can reasonably get without fumigating your house.
| 0x1ch wrote:
| You seen knowledgeable. I've used leaded solder in my bedroom
| / apartments since community college, usually with a fan in
| the room or a window open. What damage could have or has
| happened?
| kurthr wrote:
| I'm no doctor, but if you've only done a few hours of this
| and you're 20+ it's probably no big deal. However, you are
| breathing lead vapor and it's not good for you (if you're
| at 100s of hours and 12yo that's really not good). If it
| gets on things you eat, it's also bad. The effects are
| permanent.
|
| We had leaded (Ethyl) gasoline in cars which was banned 25
| years ago and that had noticeable statistical effects on IQ
| an emotional regulation (violence) for more than a
| generation.
| mhb wrote:
| You're not breathing lead vapor. You're breathing flux
| vapor, which is probably not optimal either.
|
| https://www.quora.com/Can-I-get-lead-poisoning-from-
| inhaling...
| getcrunk wrote:
| Yes but lead particulate is going every where and if you
| touch lips, You're ingesting it.
|
| The primary means of exposure in a lab setting is through
| ingestion of particulate matter by getting it on your
| food or clothes -> mouth
| tjohns wrote:
| At hundreds of hours, you're fine. Honestly, even at
| thousands of hours, you're probably okay.
|
| Most of the fumes come from the flux boiling way, not the
| solder itself. (Mind you, I still wouldn't recommend
| breathing flux fumes. Those are bad in their own way.
| Adequate ventilation is important!)
|
| Lead is unequivocally bad for you, but the amount that
| actually enters your system from soldering activities is
| miniscule.
|
| It's good to minimize these substances in our daily life
| since they do add up over decades. The problem with
| leaded gas in cars is that there were just _so many_ cars
| out there burning the stuff. Duration of exposure and
| amount of exposure both matter.
|
| That said... do wash your hands after handling leaded
| solder, especially before eating.
|
| (I used to have a summer job in high school assembling
| circuit boards for an electronics test company. I easily
| clocked a couple hundred hours soldering under a
| magnifying lamp with leaded solder. I'm sure the burns I
| gave myself from accidently touching the soldering iron
| itself did more damage than the lead. :P)
| jtriangle wrote:
| Depends, how much solder did you eat?
|
| In all seriousness, very little. I would personally want
| more than just a bathroom fan to do fume evacuation.
| Outside on a patio/balcony is my usual spot. I also have a
| 120mm computer fan that I hacked onto a gooseneck mount so
| I can blow the fumes away from my face.
|
| The times I can't be outside, usually due to weather, I use
| a table right in front of an open window, and one of those
| dual fan window fans set to exhaust mode, and that sucks
| the fumes outside effectively.
|
| I'd call that a reasonably good setup, and, as a bonus, the
| fumes don't hit me directly in the face, which soldering
| fumes have a tendency to do.
| MarcScott wrote:
| I didn't think lead, in it's metallic form, had a
| particularly high toxicity. I thought it was lead salts
| that were the problem.
| jtriangle wrote:
| I mean, it depends. It's mostly dangerous to kids,
| because it's detrimental to brain development. Not
| exactly vitamins for anyone though.
|
| Also something to remember about ingestion is that, lead
| only forms salts in acidic environments, and, your
| stomach is quite acidic, which is why it's such a
| problem. Combine that with lead accumulating in your body
| and, well, it's best to avoid it, and it's simple enough
| to avoid it.
| mrob wrote:
| The biggest danger that's specific to leaded solder is
| accidental ingestion. Both the common methods of cleaning
| your iron (damp sponge and brass wool) produce many tiny
| little balls of solder. They're difficult to see, and
| because they're round and dense they easily roll and bounce
| to unexpected places. They can get caught in your clothes
| and potentially end up falling in food.
|
| The fumes are flux fumes, not lead fumes. They're still bad
| to breathe but not specific to leaded solder.
| kurthr wrote:
| I think for simple through-hole stuff, this should be fine.
| However, so much stuff now requires SMT reflow and a hot air
| wand (and likely a binocular microscope) that except for home
| builds and power electronics, I rarely use an actual iron.
|
| As you say, it's so much easier to get good solder joints
| (especially for the fine stuff like QFN/BGA) with lead blends
| and flux, that having a vent hood is likely required as well.
| Animats wrote:
| It's cheaper and easier to get a USB microscope and look at
| a laptop screen than to peer through a binocular
| microscope.
|
| I've used only lead-free solder for a decade. Get the good
| stuff with some silver in it and it's not difficult.
| withinboredom wrote:
| I usually use my phone zoomed in + flashlight in video
| recording, and an external macro lens. It probably isn't
| as good as a usb microscope, but it works really, really
| well.
|
| Looking at videos of people using microscopes, the
| quality seems to be on-par or worse than my phone.
| sriacha wrote:
| Can you recommend a macro lens to use?
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Jewler's Loupes work as well.
| bsder wrote:
| In a pinch, but you have to get your nose _way_ too close
| to the soldering iron.
|
| I stumped up for a set of dental loupes many moons ago
| and they were nice, but expensive. They're safety glasses
| to boot.
|
| They're come down dramatically in price since then.
| https://www.practicon.com/Loupes-Magnifying-Eyewear
| neuralRiot wrote:
| I have 2 vision engineering Mantis and I have yet to see
| a video system that can rival it to work under it, no
| lag, "real" 3D vision (you can move your head to see
| behind magnified objects). The only things I miss
| sometimes is more magnification and a camera port to take
| pictures/ videos. As per soldering iron I could write a
| book, I had Hakko, Pace, Metcal, Weller, Ersa and to me
| the best experience is with JBC although the tips might
| not last if you're not careful.
| bsder wrote:
| As much as I'd love to try your suggestions, they're
| _very_ expensive even in that space.
|
| From what I can see, the Mantis microscopes are in the
| $3500+ range and the JBC stuff is similarly expensive.
|
| Most hobbyists would cringe at the price of buying a
| Thermaltronics soldering iron and that's like 5x cheaper.
| However, I can at least conclusively demonstrate the vast
| difference between something like that and a Hakko right
| in front of a person.
|
| This stuff is like the difference between a $100 guitar,
| a $500 guitar, and a $2000 guitar. The difference between
| the $100 and the $500 one is obvious to almost everybody.
| The differences between the $500 and $2000 one won't be
| obviously noticeable until you get a lot of experience.
| bsder wrote:
| > It's cheaper and easier to get a USB microscope and
| look at a laptop screen than to peer through a binocular
| microscope.
|
| I find the lag to be murder when trying to solder very
| small things. I can use a USB microscope in a pinch, but
| it makes me miserable.
| plasticeagle wrote:
| I have a cheap binocular microscope at home, and solder
| most everything underneath it. A USB microscope is much
| lower resolution, and the image lags. They're pretty
| terrible.
|
| At work I get to use a very very expensive Olympus
| binocular microscope. It is extraordinarily good, but at
| about 60k it costs more than a car.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Interestingly enough, the leaded-solder topic is a hot-button
| issue in some online communities. People get angry about it,
| and I don't have an explanation for why.
| talldayo wrote:
| As a (former) owner of a dogshit soldering iron, I think it
| makes sense. People with weaker irons struggle to work with
| unleaded solder and tend to write it off entirely mostly
| because of their equipment. If you have an appropriately
| hot iron, both types of solder will generally behave the
| same which makes it a bit of a no-brainer to use non-toxic
| solder.
|
| That being said - leaded solder is easier to work with
| regardless of what iron you use. It's very easy to fix
| mistakes and even wicks up without a trace on most PCBs. I
| personally don't use it, but I think it's easy to see how
| people will blame their solder before their iron.
| FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
| Be interesting to see how this stacks up to a good entry level
| iron like the Hakko FX-888DX.
|
| https://hakkousa.com/fx-888dx.html
| bangaladore wrote:
| I can guarantee it is leagues better. Frankly, I won't solder
| anymore unless it is with a direct-heat iron. They heat up
| instantly, cool down quickly, provide far better thermal
| transfer, and are much more comfortable to hold.
|
| Don't brush off what I'm saying before you try a direct-heat
| iron (Hakko sells them, Pace does, and JBC is the gold
| standard). They are usually expensive from the big names, but
| even a Pinecil direct-heat iron for $30$ would be many times
| better than non-direct-heat irons.
| globular-toast wrote:
| Is the OP one a direct heat iron?
| bangaladore wrote:
| Yes. The easiest way to tell is the soldering "tip" is
| much more than a tip. It's a cartridge. [1]
|
| [1] https://hackaday.com/2024/09/12/review-ifixits-
| fixhub-may-be...
| epiccoleman wrote:
| Oh man, I don't need to hear this. When I got my FX-888 I
| was blown away by the difference between it and the cheapo
| Radio Shack style one I had muddled through with as a teen.
| And now, for only $200 or so, I can get something that's
| _another_ step change?
|
| I don't even know when I last soldered and that's still
| tempting at a deep-seated nerd level.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| This is the key question.
| manoweb wrote:
| Oh yeah, it will be MUCH better, not even close. And I own a
| Hakko. The new wave of USB irons is incredibly better
| throwgfgfd25 wrote:
| I am, it should be noted, _fucking terrible_ at soldering.
| But my TS-101 actually gives me hope. I'm so happy with it.
|
| (It's also incredibly, incredibly useful for heat-set
| inserts, because you get to decide really precisely how
| long they will take to insert!)
| pkolaczk wrote:
| Hakko fx888 is a good quality iron but quite outdated tech.
| The biggest downside is it doesn't measure the temperature at
| the tip, but at the heater.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| The tips make a huge difference too!
| _pigpen__ wrote:
| >a $40 roll of thin gauge solder (which will last the rest of
| your life)
|
| I dunno, I'm 56 and I'm about to finish the roll I bought as a
| teenager. (Albeit bought in pre-RoHS times.)
| russdill wrote:
| Flux, the secret is more flux.
| ransom1538 wrote:
| I don't let my daughter date anyone that can solder (or
| carnival workers or clowns).
| Pr0ject217 wrote:
| lol
| mrandish wrote:
| After a quick look at the specs:
|
| Plus
|
| * 5 secs to temp. * Heat resistant, vented cap. * User can change
| auto idle and sleep times.
|
| Minus
|
| * Need iFixit power station or computer to change temp and other
| settings. * No temp indicator on the iron. No mention if the LED
| indicates it's reached set temp.
|
| I'd love to keep a small, lightweight, high-quality portable iron
| in my tool bag ready for quick repairs. It needs to heat fast and
| be instantly capped and tossed back in the tool bag without
| waiting for cool down. However, I don't want to carry the iFixit
| power bank in my small tool bag. Yet without it, I'd need to pull
| out a laptop to change temp. And I do need to change temp enough
| for that to be annoying. Especially when there USB irons which
| have temp readouts and controls on the device. While cheap, those
| irons generally don't get to temp in 5 secs, have a well-thought
| out heat resistant cap and aren't high-quality.
| dghlsakjg wrote:
| Look up the Sequre S99 soldering iron. Basically what you are
| looking for.
| w4rh4wk5 wrote:
| I do have a TS100 which I use either with a battery pack or a
| wall charger. For storing it, I am using a metal casing that is
| used for a single cigar. There's also room for a tiny metal
| cleaning brush which protects the tip during storage. Given
| that all of this is metal and that the soldering iron doesn't
| have that much thermal capacity, I can pack it up while the tip
| is still hot and the casing will only get mildly warm, but not
| to the point where it'd cause damage.
| jalk wrote:
| /me going to the store, to buy a cigar
| kwiens wrote:
| The LED on the iron turns orange once it reaches your target
| temperature. It glows purple while it's heating, and blue when
| it's safe to touch.
| KingOfCoders wrote:
| How cultures are different across the globe, I would have
| used RED for hot, orange for heating and green for safe
| (instead of orange, purple and blue - love purple though!)
| scottbez1 wrote:
| If I had to guess, it's for accessibility, for red/green
| colorblindness.
| dmonitor wrote:
| I would settle for red while hot and yellow while heating,
| but keep blue for safe (for colorblind reasons as mentioned
| by other commenter)
| epalm wrote:
| > It glows purple while it's heating
|
| This is not correct, it pulses blue indicating the iron is
| heating, and when turned off, pulses purple while cooling.
| shawndrost wrote:
| A ring light indicates if it's reached set temp.
| adolph wrote:
| This is a really beautiful system. The pen-cap style cover is
| great. The Lamy Safari style cap clip that uses the lugs on the
| battery to become the holder is inspired. (see 0 for better view
| than the linked article's picture)
|
| If this was available back when I got a Pinecil and PowerWheels
| Ryobi adapter [1], I would have been severely tempted to spend
| 400% more.
|
| 0. https://www.ifixit.com/products/fixhub-soldering-toolkit
|
| 1.
| https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil_Power_Supplies#Tool_Bat...
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Looks neat. I might have thought web features were cool ten years
| ago but no longer want any more devices with wifi and possibility
| of telemetry in my house. Not to mention having to bring up a
| browser to configure instead of pushing a physical button. No
| desire for limited Tesla-like design.
|
| Is that the case, or did I misunderstand?
| kwiens wrote:
| I completely agree and love buttons and knobs. In this case, we
| didn't think the setting was necessary at all. It's very rare
| that you need to change the soldering temperature. We found
| that most of the reasons that people historically change their
| setting is because their iron isn't responsive enough to the
| actual workload.
|
| With 100 Watts of power and an ultra-fast response time, you
| can flow the joules that you actually need into the material at
| the temperature you set.
|
| Give it a try! If you still feel like you need a temperature
| knob, we'll refund your purchase.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30LOTlQ3Cc8
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Hmm, the power supply has a knob, that's ok. Why does it
| mention a web console? Video didn't mention.
| scottbez1 wrote:
| No wifi - it's web serial so connects locally via the USB
| connection when you plug the iron (or base station) into your
| computer. It's only "web" in the sense that it uses a browser
| and web technologies for the GUI, not "web" as in over the
| internet or wireless.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Cool, thanks.
| tamimio wrote:
| It looks interesting. I know some people will start comparing it
| to workstation ones, but I personally always look for
| portability. A few times I would be in the field with my drones
| and I need something small, battery-powered, and good enough for
| a quick job. So maybe people with similar use cases will find it
| useful. The only thing that I would say would have been good to
| have is a phone app and connection over Bluetooth to adjust the
| settings.
| kwiens wrote:
| Our goal here was to provide workstation-level performance in a
| portable form factor.
|
| Phone configuration: I agree, that would be nice. If we can
| find a way to do it from a web browser on a phone, that's our
| preference. Otherwise we'll take a look at a native wrapper.
| Fwirt wrote:
| Why overcomplicate a simple tool? If you're not soldering
| professionally and only need it a few times a month, I never see
| anyone recommend the Hakko FX-600. I couldn't be happier with
| mine. Heats up in seconds, adjustable temperature, uses standard
| Hakko tips, and very affordable. And takes up no bench space, you
| just shove it in your toolbox (with a tip cover) when you're done
| with it. The only downsides are that it's not as slim as a
| soldering station, and the temperature adjustment is in 20 degree
| intervals. Hakko is a reputable brand, and I have had 0 issues
| with mine.
| wvenable wrote:
| I would recommend a TS100 or TS80 over the Hakko FX-600 for
| occasional hobbyists. Those are both closer in design to the
| iFixit iron. Digital display, standard (replacable) power
| connectors, safety features, etc. Even more compact.
| imp0cat wrote:
| Yeah, another vote for the TS100. It's quite easy to use.
| Zak wrote:
| What I'd really like somebody to do is just stick a field-
| replaceable 18650 or 21700 battery in the handle. If you want to
| get fancy, add a dial for temperature control.
|
| Webserial and such makes for a cool tech demo, but I just want
| portable soldering with standard field-replaceable batteries.
| Ancapistani wrote:
| Is the discharge rate for an 18650 be enough for a decent
| soldering iron?
|
| I normally power mine off either a power bank with PD, or a
| LiPo battery that I also use for drones.
| Zak wrote:
| Yes. The Sony VTC6, for example is rated to deliver up to 30A
| with temperature monitoring to ensure it doesn't exceed 80C.
| At 3.0V (partially discharged and with voltage sag from the
| load), that's 90W.
|
| I don't actually need 90W in the application I have in mind.
| I'd be more than happy with 60, and there are quite a few
| 18650 cells that can do 20A comfortably. Runtime at full
| power would be short of course, but I don't find I'm
| continuously heating work for very long in the field.
|
| Here's a test of the VTC6. It does look like it's struggling
| a bit at 30A, but it's happy at 20. https://lygte-
| info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sony%20US18650VTC...
| kube-system wrote:
| > Max. discharge current vs. time: 30A-40A > 44s
|
| I figure that might be workable for a few power cycles and
| a few big solder joints, but it would probably be a
| frustrating experience for anything more than quick fixes
| in the field.
| Kirby64 wrote:
| If you're using full power for longer than 40 seconds,
| you're almost certainly doing something wrong (or, need
| to switch to a chunkier soldering iron). At a certain
| point, the limiting factor becomes how quickly you can
| transfer heat from the iron into the solder, and you
| won't pull 100W anymore.
|
| I have a JBC iron capable of 130W. It never pulls 130W,
| even on extremely chunky power planes, besides when
| initially heating up (on startup). When trying to heat
| some super thick, I can watch the power meter max out at
| ~70W (and it pulses 70W, not continously). And this is on
| a thick tip, far chunkier than what I see from iFixit.
| kube-system wrote:
| Yeah, I didn't mean to suggest that someone would do that
| whole 40s all in one go... maybe a handful of seconds of
| full-power here and there... but heat accumulates and
| people probably want to put the iron down well before the
| battery in the handle hits its thermal limits. It just
| seems to me like it would be a good candidate to get hot
| quickly and suffer in both performance and comfort due to
| it. I'm sure it would probably be perfectly fine for
| light field use.
| Kirby64 wrote:
| I'd think for the vast majority of uses it'd be just
| fine. The duty cycle of a soldering iron is extremely
| low. Most of the time it's sitting there topping up the
| heat on the iron, barely sipping power. If you're truly
| cranking heat into some ground plane, a wireless iron is
| unlikely to be the correct tool for the job. Also, you
| could set the threshold for backing off the iron to be
| lower than "too hot to hold" if that's a concern.
| themoonisachees wrote:
| I like the idea but you can't ensure the battery supports the
| load and it's a matter of time before someone puts the
| shittiest of 18650s inside it and it explodes
| Zak wrote:
| Something I've seen in flashlights is voltage sag detection:
| if voltage drops faster than expected, power is reduced. A
| temperature sensor built into the handle would also help; the
| risk of thermal runaway starting while the battery is below
| 80C is very low, and for user comfort, thermal limits should
| be set lower than that.
| Ancapistani wrote:
| This looks cool, and I'd buy one if I needed one... but I already
| have a full-sized soldering station and a Pinecil.
|
| The station has a hot air gun and a solder vacuum, so it's far
| more suitable for use on the bench due to those capabilities.
|
| The Pinecil plugs into the Anker power bank that I carry with me
| everywhere anyhow, and runs basically forever on it. The UI took
| a day or so to get used to, but it's simple and straightforward
| enough for field use. I've even used it for bigger jobs on trucks
| and tractors in the past, and it didn't miss a beat.
| ssl-3 wrote:
| Meh. Seriously.
|
| Pros:
|
| 1. "Portable, sorta"
|
| 2. Reasonably high-power
|
| 3. Has an accelerometer (as does everything else in its class)
|
| 4. "Repairable"
|
| Cons:
|
| 1. No Hall effect sensor to detect when iron is placed in holder
|
| 2. A walled single-source garden of soldering tips that doesn't
| even exist yet instead of using commodity COTS parts
|
| 3. _The fucking temperature control is fucking paywalled_ behind
| a proprietary USB power bank. What in the fuck? (And no, it is
| not possible to create an argument that will persuade me to think
| that this is an improvement. (Yes, I know that it can be
| programmed; this changes nothing.))
|
| 4. Expensive.
|
| ---
|
| I'll just stick with my Pinecil iron. It gets all of these things
| right. If it breaks (I haven't broken a soldering iron yet in
| over three decades of trying), I'll fix it or buy another one.
|
| I mean: For the $250 this iFixit product costs (including the
| paywalled temperature control), I will be able to buy several
| lifetimes of worth of Pinecil irons.
| kwiens wrote:
| We considered having a sensor to detect when the cap is
| installed, but found that the accelerometer met that need. The
| default sleep timer is 30 seconds, but I set mine to 5 seconds
| and it works great.
|
| All of the settings, including the temperature setting, are
| available in the web interface for free. The settings persist
| permanently on the iron so you can use it with any USB-C PD
| power source that you've already got. We worked hard to make
| sure that the iron works well standalone from the power
| station. https://www.ifixit.com/fixhub/console
| ssl-3 wrote:
| I mean...
|
| Here I am soldering in the field with my fancy
| microprocessor-controlled portable soldering iron. I've been
| using it with 63/37 and doing SMD work, but in front of me
| now I've got a big wire on a 1/4" TS plug to work on that was
| put together with lead-free solder and I simply need a higher
| temperature in order for anything to melt.
|
| I never expected an audio tech in the US to use lead-free
| solder for anything, ever, but here I am anyway.
|
| So now, I've got choices.
|
| Do I find a computer to plug my soldering iron into so I can
| reprogram it?
|
| Do I use the $170 temperature control (more than twice the
| cost of the iron itself) that I left on the bench for safe
| keeping?
|
| Or do I see this situation in advance, and buy seemingly any
| other temperature-controlled portable soldering iron instead?
| xxs wrote:
| I'd like to have a temperature boost (e.g 50C) somehow at the
| absolute very least to even consider it an option.
| bjkayani wrote:
| I think this is not a bad product, just a bad price.
|
| I agree that changing temperature is generally not done super
| often but I would have loved to see a ring adjustment for
| temperature.
|
| Overall, compared to the competition, I am not sure how much
| people would be willing to pay the much higher cost just for
| promise of quality and high heating capacity which is not as big
| of a edge that iFixit seems to think in my opinion.
|
| But I applaud the effort of trying to make something new and
| different in a crowded and competitive space.
| felurx wrote:
| That looks awesome!
|
| I was wondering if it requires a 100W PD supply, but according to
| the manual everything with at least 20W should work.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| Any plans to make a hot tweezer tip for this? It's hard to come
| by those for a reasonable price and that would be very appealing
| since I've often found myself needing to desolder surface-mount
| components.
|
| I was initially skeptical about the cap vs. a traditional stand
| until I saw that it mounts to the side of the battery pack to
| double as a stand. I like that idea!
|
| Also, is there documentation on the serial protocol used in case
| someone wanted to write a temperature control program that didn't
| rely on a webapp?
| IshKebab wrote:
| Oof PS240 though. That's the same price as something like a
| Metcal PS-900 which is undoubtedly better.
|
| Edit: never mind PS240 is actually for the battery powered
| version
| fnord77 wrote:
| The PINECIL Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron is 26 bucks...
|
| This is just a luxury gewgaw
| riversflow wrote:
| I'm going to go ahead and sling mud at iFixit for using a Battery
| pack instead of individual cells and springs. It also doesn't
| seem that this expensive power supply supports power pass-
| through. A soldering iron shouldn't have a shelf life. Easily
| replaceable commodity batteries with spring terminals are
| massively superior to packs. What a gross product that makes me
| think significantly less of iFixit.
|
| They seem to have gotten so caught up in the "things should be
| repairable" that they've forgotten the true thing most people
| care about is, "I shouldn't have to replace my stuff". They are
| acting like parts salesmen, not consumer advocates.
|
| $200(? looks like you get the iron when you buy the power supply)
| would be a fair price for the base _if_ it allowed me to charge
| and use any 6 18650s(bonus points if it can accept a variety of
| cell sizes) as a power bank and had circuitry to do pass through
| as well as charging. It would also be nice if you could use it
| charge batteries to a specified amount, and use custom charge
| patterns. Considering this is iFixit, it should also have a way
| to use it as a DC power supply as well. $250 for a glorified
| power brick is pathetic.
| kwiens wrote:
| I agree with you. We wanted to use individual 18650 cells _so
| badly_! We designed the whole thing that way. We did exactly
| what you proposed, and built cell balancing circuitry and code.
| It worked great! Then we went to the safety certification
| bodies and they said, absolutely not, there is no way you can
| sell that.
|
| We tried so many avenues to persuade them, from proposing
| 18650s with built-in safety circuitry to showing the safety
| system that we designed into the pack. No dice.
|
| There are a variety of safety standards to blame, but the
| primary one is UL 1642. It needs to change. I'm planning to
| join the standards body to see if I can shift things.
|
| Our pack is a set of six 18650s welded together with a standard
| connector.
| https://valkyrie.cdn.ifixit.com/media/2024/09/10113528/iFixi...
|
| We'll sell replacement battery packs. Or you can make your own.
| riversflow wrote:
| Sorry to hear that, and good luck. Additionally I apologize
| for the undue cynicism, but as a flashlight enthusiast I've
| been frustrated with this problem for years and years. The
| form factor of a battery charger and USB powerbrick/supply
| would be so nice! It's massively annoying to me that I own
| many 18650s and still need to buy and replace power banks.
|
| Worse, it seems like the manufacturers best suited to make
| the product I desire(anker and nitecore) are directly
| incentivized by obsolescence to not ever make it. The best
| thing I've found so far is the Nitecore LC10, but it was
| discontinued. :(
|
| I sort of suspected that it might be the case of safety
| bodies getting in the way. I really hope you make progress
| with UL. I'm rooting for you. There should be a way of
| overcoming this problem.
| xxs wrote:
| Out of curiosity - why not offer tool battery adapters, e.g.
| DeWalt/Makita/Milwaukee/Bosch (depending which color you
| bleed). Those are ubiquitous 18v - have fast charging, and
| drawing 100W is fine even for the 1P types, e.g 2Ah.
|
| Of course, a pack of 6x MJ1 is relatively trial to built -
| esp for 2s/3p, still not very useful aside running that
| particular iron/tool (and most likely end up charging it w/
| the power supply...)
| xxs wrote:
| >Easily replaceable commodity batteries with spring terminals
| are massively superior to packs.
|
| Spring terminals would be sub optimal drawing 10A off them as
| they are made of steel - high resistance. Developing any
| oxidation would make matters worse. Personally I'd not want
| 18650/21700 not properly secured (aside the rare case of
| running a fan with a single cell).
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| I'm going to hijack this thread to see if anyone recommend a
| power screwdriver? I'd like something smaller than an electric
| drill!
| physhster wrote:
| I have a USB-C soldering iron that works with most power-banks.
| Does a better job than my old corded soldering station. I like
| the repairability of the iFixit one, but for $35, mine is hard to
| beat...
| ryukoposting wrote:
| Does that tip mount with... a 3.5mm audio jack? An accelerometer
| instead of a power button? An app to change the temperature? All
| this amateur-hour idiocy, and it still costs 80 bucks before you
| even get a power supply?
|
| I love my iFixit screwdriver kits and I support their mission,
| but this thing is preposterous.
| Animats wrote:
| Nice.
|
| The soldering iron is only US$80, but the battery is US$250.[1]
|
| Not shipping yet, still in pre-order. Does iFixit have enough
| manufacturing capacity to satisfy demand? This should be on
| DigiKey.
|
| [1] https://www.ifixit.com/products/fixhub-power-series-
| portable...
| kwiens wrote:
| We're talking with Digikey! Stay tuned.
|
| Preorders start today and will ship on October 15.
| Animats wrote:
| Is there a holder that doesn't include the $250 power supply?
| themoonisachees wrote:
| My experience in soldering is a hobby one, but I've done hard
| enough things like install a Nintendo switch modchip without a
| microscope. I want to love this product, but I really think
| you're hitting the worst of both worlds in what you're trying to
| achieve.
|
| On one hand, you're competing with "you're in the middle of a
| field and there exist no power outlets nearby" optimized irons,
| and you're offering some nicer features like 100W usb-c, but I
| don't think this is a field where one cares very much about the
| quality of their iron. I've fixed drones with the shittiest of
| usb-c irons, and I've done it with a pinecil, and when you're
| hunched over in a field, it frankly does not matter.
|
| On the other hand, it seems you're also trying to compete in at-
| a-workbench soldering, a class in which your price point is
| simply never going to work for what you offer. You're being
| outclassed by half as expensive stationary stations, even more so
| when you consider that they don't use proprietary tips. My 40EUR
| AliExpress special station came with 3 tips, heats up in 2
| seconds, and offers about the same experience as your several
| hundred dollars one, at the supposed cost of repairability (I
| haven't come across an iron that doesn't work ever. I suspect it
| would be a comparable fix.)
| getcrunk wrote:
| PSA: non leaded solder is chosen primarily for environmental
| concern. Whichever solder you use the fumes are probably toxic
| and are rarely lead. It's probably the rosin or flux or the other
| metals in alt. solder.
|
| The health issue with leaded solder is primarily ingestion. the
| lead particles get all over the place so wash your hands after
| and maybe change your clothes. And definitely don't keep and food
| or water nearby, cus it'll get on that and you'll eat it!
| WheatMillington wrote:
| That price is quite outrageous, and I don't want an app to
| control my soldering iron. Hard pass.
| bagels wrote:
| "MAY BE THE LAST SOLDERING IRON YOU EVER BUY"
|
| It's got batteries in it. Is it really going to last longer than
| something that runs on AC with no chips in it?
| grvz wrote:
| Why the hell would you buy this when a Metcal is the same price
| (new PS-900 or second hand MX)?!?
| tohnjitor wrote:
| I thought this was going to be about a DIY USB-C cable.
| bmurphy1976 wrote:
| Interesting. I like my Pinecil but I agree the interface is less
| than ideal. It's unfortunate the tips aren't compatible across
| the two.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| That looks like something I'll get.
|
| I have a _very_ primitive old iron (and a gun, which I seldom
| have a use for).
| herzzolf wrote:
| I've been thinking about it as well, as I wanted to upgrade
| mine, but I think I'll go with a Pinecil that costs 25$...
| CarVac wrote:
| As a gamecube controller modder who uses a TS101 on the go, the
| handle isn't such a bad deal. I paid the same price for the TS101
| bundled with a barrel jack power supply that I never use. The
| short tip-to-grip distance seems nice, and the higher power is
| good.
|
| But the full station price is kind of outrageous. I got my
| Thermaltronics TMT-2000S for less, and that's a _monster_. But
| then again, I don 't have to use their battery, I can use my $70
| Ugreen one.
|
| My one concern about the cap is: I worry that someone with bad
| depth perception will poke their hand with a hot iron when trying
| to cap it...
| cadr wrote:
| Reading the description of the Thermaltronics TMT-2000S on
| their web page. Do you not have to set a temperature, and it
| just senses and figures out the right temperature?
| CarVac wrote:
| The tip alloy is set to have one of three curie points: 600,
| 700, or 800(ish) degF, and the curie point automatically
| regulates how much the RF energy actually heats the tip.
|
| The _instant_ it cools down, power is delivered.
| kwiens wrote:
| The cap has a magnet on it that auto-homes so that really isn't
| a risk.
|
| The Power Station has a 55 Watt Hour battery, which is where
| most of the cost comes from. It doubles as a battery bank for
| your phone or laptop, or any other USB-C devices in your life.
| CarVac wrote:
| Good to hear that it self aligns.
|
| My battery bank is 72 Wh...
|
| On the other hand, I've had battery banks abruptly stop
| working for no reason and I'd love a repairable one.
| idunnoman1222 wrote:
| But there's a hole in my bucket
| kayson wrote:
| Curious how this compares to something like a Metcal MX-500. Got
| one from work for free a long time ago, and while its old, it
| works great. I only checked just now and it's rated at 40W but
| that's always been plenty for what I do, including big ground
| planes. It's insanely responsive because of the whole curie
| effect thing, and with the tip saver stand, it cools off
| instantly when I put it down. The tips are stupid expensive
| though.
| plasticeagle wrote:
| This device seems perfectly insane.
|
| I have two Quecoo soldering stations :
| https://www.quecoo.com/products/quecoo-t12-956-soldering-dig...
|
| They're very cheap, they heat up just as quickly as any other
| induction iron. They are very repairable. They come with multiple
| tips, which are cheap to replace.
|
| They don't contain expensive batteries or pointless USB-C
| WebSerial-based interfaces. You turn them on. They heat up. I've
| had mine for years, so they're reliable too.
|
| iFixIt have a laudable mission generally, but this product will
| be an expensive failure.
| drmacak wrote:
| Looks really great! I never imagined that we will be "stealing"
| design from Chinese companies.
| johnwalkr wrote:
| I have been a huge advocate of the pinecil and haven't used
| anything else in years. It's just so easy to grab my pinecil and
| temporarily use my laptop's power supply for the iron, or use a
| mobile battery, instead of moving myself and the things I am
| working on to the location of my soldering station. These look
| like upgrades compared to pinecil:
|
| - comfier grip
|
| - shorter tip length and presumably a more solid feel (the
| pinecil's mechanical interface to the tip is pretty loose-
| feeling)
|
| - higher power over usb-c (actually can't think of a time I've
| needed more than 60W for hobby stuff, but I can imagine use cases
| like large ground planes)
|
| - storage cap (this is a major improvement for working in a
| temporary, tight space)
|
| All of these would be worth the price increase over pinecil, but
| unfortunately I think the lack of on-iron temperature settings is
| a dealbreaker. The pinecil in my toolbag is practically the size
| of a sharpie and works with my existing usb-c cables and
| batteries with no extra space taken up, and the killer feature
| (portability) is broken once you need a proprietary battery or a
| laptop to change temperature.
| kwiens wrote:
| Thanks for the feedback! The storage cap indeed makes a huge
| difference when you have to do something quickly and then put
| the iron away.
|
| In our testing, we rarely need to change temperatures. I think
| our algorithm does a better job of responding to the power load
| and flowing heat into the material than other irons. Of course,
| if you're changing solder then you'll need to change the
| temperature setting.
|
| We built the web interface with mobile in mind. We just need a
| mobile browser that supports web serial. Someone else posted a
| WebUSB polyfill, and I'm going to check that out tomorrow.
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