Solder Station

[Mikebits]

Jim is nearly right, I have that tool with my soldering station and its function is actually to launch a component into the upper atmosphere for rapid cooling. It works really well but you spend 3/4 of a day looking for the component! Mine has been as handy as a chocolate soldering iron bit

LG your actually quite funny, maybe your true calling is comedy

 

[large_ghostman]

That soldering iron station has been repacked so many times its had more come backs than your average boy band. I have it in the disguise of a WEP 120, it was cheap and yet apart from a ruined soldering element (my fault being careless and over tightening a bit crushing the element), it has been used almost daily for 3-4 years. Temperature is almost accurate on the LCD read out, the read out might say 240C and when measured the bit is actually around 235C, pretty remarkable.

Build wise I have zero complaints, its actually a joy to use and robust. My weller soldering iron station beats it for long period use purely because the weller soldering iron is slightly more comfortable for my hands, but when you compare the prices between the two the WEP is as good and so far the pumps for the hot air gun have been faultless. If I had one moan it would be the hot air gun blows a bit too strong although you can turn it down I dont see why the high end has to be so strong.
As you can see these are nit picks, When I got mine it was more expensive and cost around £100. I expected 1-2 years heavy use and then by that time I could save up and get a better one, 3-4 years later its still going strong and I enjoy using it, you can get soldering iron tips very very cheap in sets off ebay, the bits I had expected to have to replace every 12 months or so, again all this time later and the bits are the same set and show very very little wear. I use 3 bits most of the time and one more than the others, its started to discolour but no pitting, I use mostly multicore full fat lead solder.

So would I buy again?? I cant buy the exact same unit as I have because they keep putting the same parts in different boxs and renaming, apart from that they are the same, and yes I would buy it and highly recommend them, to be fair mine gets more use than you could legit call hobby use, I have used maybe 12 500g reels of 0.3-0.7mm solder since having having it and its still as good as the day I got it.
Its Chinese but a rare beast in being well built and reliable, I have wrapped some tape around the pencil iron to make it slightly more comfortable but I have large hands for my age.

Great station and it should exceed all your expectations.

Sorry for the humor I dont actually mean to be funny!! I kind of write what I think................so maybe it isnt humor its just a messed up mind! I blame ETO and 5 years of hanging out with some very sick puppies, even my dog looked normal before i put the pic on here

 

[Mikebits]

Sorry for the humor I dont actually mean to be funny!! I kind of write what I think................so maybe it isnt humor its just a messed up mind! I blame ETO and 5 years of hanging out with some very sick puppies, even my dog looked normal before i put the pic on here

I was not complaining about your humor, I simply said I thought you were funny. Thanks for the input.

 

[large_ghostman]

I was not complaining about your humor, I simply said I thought you were funny. Thanks for the input.

I know you wernt complaining , if it makes you smile then its a bonus , the feed back was based on experience and I felt that stations like the one your getting are often overlooked and seen as too cheap to be good, this is a rare occasion where your buying a worth while bargain at a good price. I would urge any nooby thinking of upgrading from a hardware store pipe melter where the soldering iron bit rot at the base and the temperature is controlled by plunging it into water, to buy one. If your soldering more than a couple of times a week for more than an hour or so then the fixed temp soldering irons for £4 are just not worth it. The irony being most noobs want to save money, they struggle to make a simple joint and yet most would benefit from a station like this, they would get a decent joint 9 out of 10 times with little effort (as long as they use non edible solder). 5 years hardly makes me an expert and despite a great deal of experience soldering i would struggle to do a decent joint with a hardware store copper pipe melting iron and lead free solder, for the price they could save them selves alot of headaches by putting a decent station top of the list.

Again most noobs start talking about a decent Multi meter while keeping these nasty soldering irons, false economy in most cases as a cheapo meter would be better than a **** soldering iron.

 

[G0WZB]

Jim is nearly right, I have that tool with my soldering station and its function is actually to launch a component into the upper atmosphere for rapid cooling. It works really well but you spend 3/4 of a day looking for the component! Mine has been as handy as a chocolate soldering iron bit

Yep that's what it did for me, After being told what it was for I decided I MUST give it a try.....I might find that part one day....maybe the same place as all my lost socks lol

 

[large_ghostman]

Yep that's what it did for me, After being told what it was for I decided I MUST give it a try.....I might find that part one day....maybe the same place as all my lost socks lol

I found my chip stuck to the bottom of a cloud, maybe your socks are there too? Also check the ceiling for the embedded chip

 

[Mikebits]

Just check my tracking info, my package is out for delivery, so sometime today Geez I am such a nerd lol. I almost forgot, I also ordered one of these board do ma thingies too.

 

[Mikebits]

Well, I got my station yesterday, and now I will share my first impressions. First thing I thought when I open the box was "I'm gonna need a bigger bench". The unit is quite a consumer of real-estate. See image:

Looking at the photo, I guess it is not that much. Anyways, I am not usually one for reading instructions but I did this time. There was a warning slip that came with the solder station.

I read "Please Remove" the 3 "Silver" Pump Securing Screws which are located on the bottom of the unit. So I turn the unit on its side and sure enough I found 3 silver screws, and proceeded to remove them. As I loosened the third screw, I heard a plunk, and my thought was Oops! Oh crap, well not to let my new toy end up broken I removed the top panel, and sure enough, I had also removed not only the pump, but a power transformer. I looked around and I did not see any damage, so I just put the thing back together. Took a photo of the inside since I already had it open.

Looking back now, I think the warning label should have said, remove the #3 silver screw, doah . Anyways looks like there is a microcontroller in this thing.
I put the unit back together and powered it up, solder iron only. Heated up quick and nicely, but as I was in the middle of another task, I thought I would do some actual soldering later.

So all in all, first impression are that this thing is solid and well built, the chassis construction was made with durable tough chassis and the Blue LED display looked purrty.
Oh I almost left out the important part. I did measure the resistance of the heating element. There were 4 wires, two clear insulated wires and two colored wires. The ohmic value of the two color wires were 1.1 ohm, and the other pair was 14.8 ohm. The 14.8 ohm made sense but the other pair did not, to me anyways. Thats it for now. Oh a nifty magnifiying glass/lamp came with the unit, but it got set aside until I get a bigger bench top

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

The 1.1 ohm may be a K thermocouple. It seems to be common in some irons.

 

[MrAl]

Well, I got my station yesterday, and now I will share my first impressions. First thing I thought when I open the box was "I'm gonna need a bigger bench". The unit is quite a consumer of real-estate. See image:
View attachment 99008
Looking at the photo, I guess it is not that much. Anyways, I am not usually one for reading instructions but I did this time. There was a warning slip that came with the solder station.
View attachment 99009
I read "Please Remove" the 3 "Silver" Pump Securing Screws which are located on the bottom of the unit. So I turn the unit on its side and sure enough I found 3 silver screws, and proceeded to remove them. As I loosened the third screw, I heard a plunk, and my thought was Oops! Oh crap, well not to let my new toy end up broken I removed the top panel, and sure enough, I had also removed not only the pump, but a power transformer. I looked around and I did not see any damage, so I just put the thing back together. Took a photo of the inside since I already had it open.
View attachment 99010
Looking back now, I think the warning label should have said, remove the #3 silver screw, doah . Anyways looks like there is a microcontroller in this thing.
I put the unit back together and powered it up, solder iron only. Heated up quick and nicely, but as I was in the middle of another task, I thought I would do some actual soldering later.
View attachment 99012
So all in all, first impression are that this thing is solid and well built, the chassis construction was made with durable tough chassis and the Blue LED display looked purrty.
Oh I almost left out the important part. I did measure the resistance of the heating element. There were 4 wires, two clear insulated wires and two colored wires. The ohmic value of the two color wires were 1.1 ohm, and the other pair was 14.8 ohm. The 14.8 ohm made sense but the other pair did not, to me anyways. Thats it for now. Oh a nifty magnifiying glass/lamp came with the unit, but it got set aside until I get a bigger bench top

Hi,

That's the station i was considering before i found the WEP station which was almost half the price.

Yeah that screw is tricky, with mine they painted it red. It should be put back in if the unit is shipped again.

One of my heating elements measures 15.5 ohms. At 24v that comes out to 37 watts.
The lower reading set is a K type thermocouple. This can be verified by heating up the iron with a power supply and measuring the output of the other two wires. I did all these tests when i first got the unit to find out how it worked.

Internally, they use a triac to regulate the power to the tip. The triac turns on and off in a very very slow PWM mode. Like on for one second, off for one second, like that. When it heats up from dead cold the triac stays on for a longer time until the tip comes up to temperature. The current to the tip is actually AC not DC. The AC is supplied from the transformer inside which may be a 26vac unit. The current rating will be limited which limits the tip power.
The type of thermocouple as well as the power of the element limits the type of tip that can be used with these stations, but they seem to be widely available, both the elements and the entire handle with element already installed.
The other type of temperature sensor commonly used is the temperature dependent resistive type, but that measures a higher resistance like maybe 10 ohms (cant remember exactly offhand). The resistance changers as the tip heats up, unlike the thermocouple type where the output voltage changes when the tip heats up (little by little).
It would not be very hard to make a controller for either type though, so if we wanted to move to a higher rated iron we could make our own controller and driver using a 24v power source and small, cheap control circuit (very simple design).

The heat gun is more complicated because it needs that air pump, but then again the heat rating for that is much higher possibly 600 watts.

Despite the lower iron rating i've used mine now for many soldering joints. When i need to solder something bigger i turn to one of my soldering guns, like the hacked Harbor Freight gun which had to be hacked because once the tip burnt out (which was after only two or three uses) i had to use a better tip which causes the gun transformer (just a heavy duty current transformer) to overheat quickly. Harbor Freight sells some decent stuff, but their soldering gun is NOT one of those good ones and is not recommended. A friend got the same one, same thing happened.

My station did not come with a lighted magnifier BTW.
I would have to wonder now if they (XT) use LED's for the lighted magnifier that comes with it or they still use the circular fluorescent tube?

 

[spec]

I have just read through this thread and very interesting it is too. It seems to me that most people messing with electronics would appreciate a recommendation for a reasonably priced high quality iron- any chance of someone doing an ETO Article so that the essence of this thread remains easily accessible?

spec

 

[MrAl]

I have just read through this thread and very interesting it is too. It seems to me that most people messing with electronics would appreciate a recommendation for a reasonably priced high quality iron- any chance of someone doing an ETO Article so that the essence of this thread remains easily accessible?

spec

Hi,

That's a good idea really. I could maybe do a short one. I started a thread about soldering iron ratings being misleading and all, and that's a sticky.
Alternately, we could work out the details here as a group and then one of us post the article. Would be a group effort article

Maybe you could make a list of the important points that people would want to know about. I know one is the rating, maybe another that tricky bottom screw. Oh yeah, handle types and ratings and where to purchase, maybe connector pinouts too for example.

 

[spec]

Hi,

That's a good idea really. I could maybe do a short one. I started a thread about soldering iron ratings being misleading and all, and that's a sticky.
Alternately, we could work out the details here as a group and then one of us post the article. Would be a group effort article

Maybe you could make a list of the important points that people would want to know about. I know one is the rating, maybe another that tricky bottom screw. Oh yeah, handle types and ratings and where to purchase, maybe connector pinouts too for example.

Ok MrAL If everyone agrees I will act as collator/editor and and put together all the information in this thread into one text. I will then post it for comments, if everyone agrees that is.

spec

 

[large_ghostman]

My screws were painted red as well, 3 of them and they stop the pump bouncing around in transport. Lost my screws ages ago after they first came loose

 

[Mikebits]

My screws were painted red as well, 3 of them and they stop the pump bouncing around in transport. Lost my screws ages ago after they first came loose

Well it turns out, only one screw was used to secure the pump, the other two were holding the transformer in place. Mine too had red goop around the screw.

 

[Mikebits]

Ok MrAL If everyone agrees I will act as collator/editor and and put together all the information in this thread into one text. I will then post it for comments, if everyone agrees that is.

spec

Okay, it is official then, your the guy.

 

[large_ghostman]

Well it turns out, only one screw was used to secure the pump, the other two were holding the transformer in place. Mine too had red goop around the screw.

LOL they used the WEP instructions but didnt use all three on the pump , thats pretty funny.
great station, the colour you get for the backlight depends on what they can get hold of, I had one side green and one side blue, the low ohms is the thrmocouple, some dont use it but the elements are the same and very very cheap, I use them for all kinds of stuff. I think I got mine for about £2 each

 

[spec]

Okay, it is official then, your the guy.

I am honored.

spec

 

[MrAl]

Ok MrAL If everyone agrees I will act as collator/editor and and put together all the information in this thread into one text. I will then post it for comments, if everyone agrees that is.

spec

Hi,

That's very nice of you, thanks. I second your nomination

This will mean people will have a place to look up info on soldering stations and related.

 

[MrAl]

Well, I got my station yesterday, and now I will share my first impressions. First thing I thought when I open the box was "I'm gonna need a bigger bench". The unit is quite a consumer of real-estate. See image:
View attachment 99008
Looking at the photo, I guess it is not that much. Anyways, I am not usually one for reading instructions but I did this time. There was a warning slip that came with the solder station.
View attachment 99009
I read "Please Remove" the 3 "Silver" Pump Securing Screws which are located on the bottom of the unit. So I turn the unit on its side and sure enough I found 3 silver screws, and proceeded to remove them. As I loosened the third screw, I heard a plunk, and my thought was Oops! Oh crap, well not to let my new toy end up broken I removed the top panel, and sure enough, I had also removed not only the pump, but a power transformer. I looked around and I did not see any damage, so I just put the thing back together. Took a photo of the inside since I already had it open.
View attachment 99010
Looking back now, I think the warning label should have said, remove the #3 silver screw, doah . Anyways looks like there is a microcontroller in this thing.
I put the unit back together and powered it up, solder iron only. Heated up quick and nicely, but as I was in the middle of another task, I thought I would do some actual soldering later.
View attachment 99012
So all in all, first impression are that this thing is solid and well built, the chassis construction was made with durable tough chassis and the Blue LED display looked purrty.
Oh I almost left out the important part. I did measure the resistance of the heating element. There were 4 wires, two clear insulated wires and two colored wires. The ohmic value of the two color wires were 1.1 ohm, and the other pair was 14.8 ohm. The 14.8 ohm made sense but the other pair did not, to me anyways. Thats it for now. Oh a nifty magnifiying glass/lamp came with the unit, but it got set aside until I get a bigger bench top

Hi Mike,

I hope you are enjoying your new soldering station there

I just have one quick question...

Did they send a lighted magnifier that is lit with while LED's or with a circular Fluorescent tube?

Thanks